1994-2019 - 25 Years To Virginia

[ImminentDanger]

In 1994, the US Government (Congress & President Clinton) decided that the appropriate response to violence in our nation was to limit the access of law-abiding citizens to weapons that look scary. That is the only definition that truly fits the way firearms were targeted for banning. I'm referring to the decision known as the 1993 Assault Weapons Ban.

This ban was perpetrated on the unspoken concept that guns, sans criminal actors, do, in fact, create Gun Violence. It further asserts (in unspoken concepts), without considering any criminal actor that might be involved, that this Gun Violence is to be so feared that no law-abiding citizen should have access to such firearms. Coupled with the lack of a firm resolve to deal with violent and habitual criminals in a long-term solution to their danger to our society, this gun ban (which is still promoted) has and will place law-abiding citizens at risk.

The argument claims 'reasonableness' on the basis of the type of weapon defined. Yet the actuality of the ban is based on fear. Fear is highly variable. Fear can be produced from nothing more than mental perceptions, totally devoid of reality. Fear can exist as a mental disorder. Psychiatrically, a phobia can be defined as "a type of anxiety disorder that causes an individual to experience extreme, irrational fear about a situation, living creature, place, or object." Jeff Cooper coined the term 'Hoplophobia' to refer to 'an irrational fear of weapons', firearms or armed citizens.

The Hoplophobic fears of mostly urban dwellers, who were not raised with weapons as part of the tools of rural living, and of those who fear their weakness to confront criminality but must rely upon the police (who do have guns), and of those who fear their own inability to handle firearms safely, were manipulated to engender support for the passage of the 1993 Assault Weapons Ban. Wholly separated from the criminal element of society that can make any tool into a weapon (even in prison), the idea that the specified guns were uniquely dangerous and caused Gun Violence was foisted on society as a valid reason for the ban. Yet, as seen over the following years, expanded fears begin to include any and every type of firearm within the irrational perspective of Gun Violence.

It is significant that four presidents promoted this ban (Ford, Carter, Reagan & Clinton). The ban passed with a 216-to-214 vote, violating the rights of millions of Americans with a simple majority of one vote that went for YEA instead of NAY. While not elected directly by the people, the Supreme Court has also had a role in the past and present nature of this question of firearms rights. And it will continue to have an influence into the future. The silence of the USSC in the past and it's refusal of cases to be considered has allowed many infringements on the 2nd Amendment Rights, or as Pennsylvania's Constitution prohibits, it has been 'questioned' and stepped upon on many occasions. The Supreme Court has allowed these violations to linger on.

Which raises the question of who can be trusted in today's political climate to look out for and promote the 2nd Amendment Rights of the entire citizenry? Despite Justice Roberts' vehement denial, the policies and perspectives of the president who appoints Supreme Court justices is reflected in many ways by the 'judicial temperament' of the selected justice. While clear partisan perspectives may not be evident in every individual case, everyone knows that the appointing president selects those of similar ideas.

In the rulings in Heller and McDonald cases, the decisions were clearly a 5-4 outcome from essentially the same justices (Scalia, Roberts, Kennedy, Thomas & Alito FOR - Stevens, Souter (replaced by Sotomayor), Ginsburg & Breyer AGAINST). While some may think this coincidental, they would be in the far left field of analysis.

So - Elections have consequences. And an electorate that undervalues the ballot box gets the results of Virginia. It took 15 years before the US Supreme Court began (with Scalia in 2008) to reign in the most egregious violations of the 2nd Amendment. Many are holding their breaths waiting for it to follow up after the McDonald ruling (2010) with an even greater delineation of the valid Constitutional actions protected by the 2nd Amendment.

But Virginia is a warning to all that think that would put an end to the issue. Past Supreme Court Justice J.P. Stevens, and others, have asserted the need to change the Constitution, including the wording and intent of the 2nd Amendment. Unless those who value the US Constitution, and specifically those who value the 2nd Amendment, find a way to convince more people to get out and vote for representatives in government who also value the current US Constitution, with 2nd Amendment Rights, who are willing to fight for ALL the Rights recognized in the US Constitution, then Virginia is a bellwether to the future for all of us.

Pennsylvania and Virginia are similarly populated, as urban & rural, with diverging values. When those in power believe they can impose on all others, their own perspectives, regardless of the Constitution, only social upheaval can follow. Removing firearms is the first successful step to tyranny! The Founders knew this. Every person in Pennsylvania who supports the 2nd Amendment should be looking with wide eyes at the quick turn-around that can occur, as demonstrated in Virginia, when those in power are dedicated to leveraging their Hoplophobic fears to move forward against THE PEOPLE. In Pennsylvania, we have already had our warning in the current governor and his expressed attitudes.

As a law-abiding public, having seen the destruction of the Civil War, WWI, WWII, etc., it is important to actually VOTE people into local, state and federal offices who will promote the Rights of the people - over seeking for power or money or ego-stroking.

Elections Have Consequences. Character Matters. But do not sacrifice the current Good for the eternally pursued Perfect. Move forward in the right direction even if currently only in inches.

Fight now while the battle can be won at the ballot box. The alternative is frightful.

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