This is exactly what Second Amendment Sisters is concentrating on with our members. The war has just begun. We may have won a small battle in that war, but we must remain ever vigilant and work to knock down every new gun-grabber law that shows up.
Posted on 08/21/2008 1:33:43 AM PDT by neverdem
In one of the first lower court rulings since the Supreme Court handed down the weakly-worded Heller Decision, a government restriction on firearms has been upheld.
Steven Mullenix, a federal firearms licensee (FFL), was denied permission to import German WWII replica rifles by the notoriously anti-gun Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE). The BATFE used arguments from the 1968 Gun Control Act to argue that the replica BD-44 held no "sporting purpose" and therefore Mr. Mullenix could not legally import them.
In return Mullenix sued the BATFE for infringing upon his right to keep and bear arms, calling their ruling "arbitrary and capricious."
Just a few short days after the Supreme Court ruled on the Heller Case -- the supposed victory for the Second Amendment --the North Carolina Circuit Court used Justice Scalia's own words to uphold the BATFE's restriction on firearms importation.
The lower court agreed with the BATFE's findings that the firearms Mr. Mullenix wanted to import were not "generally recognized as particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes."
They went on to restate the Heller Decision language that the Second Amendment wasn't unlimited, and that the government has the right to restrict or ban any type of firearm, stating that the right only applies to certain types of firearms.
Clearly, the ripples of the Heller Decision will be felt for years to come. Unfortunately we can only speculate on the future unintended consequences of this weak decision.
This much we do know: the Heller Decision is far from a victory for gun owners. It is already being used successfully to infringe upon the rights of gun owners across the county.
Read the full lower court ruling in Mullenix v. BATFE here. pdf link
For all the latest Heller Decision related news, click here:
http://www.nationalgunrights.org/truthaboutheller.shtml
This is exactly what Second Amendment Sisters is concentrating on with our members. The war has just begun. We may have won a small battle in that war, but we must remain ever vigilant and work to knock down every new gun-grabber law that shows up.
This is the approach that Second Amendment Sisters is taking with our members. We have won a major battle, but the war is just beginning. There will be many battles to follow, and we must prepare ourselves for knocking back each new law that infringes on our rights. DC V Heller gave us a start--but that's all it is, a start.
Saying the AK is a rip-off of the StG44 is like saying a Hi-Point is a rip-off of a Glock. Sure they are similar in their outwards appearances (wood furniture, banana magazine, visible gas tube), but internally the roller-delayed blowback system of the StG44 is much more like that of the G3 or the MP5 than the gas piston set-up of a Kalashnikov.
And on another note, we should create a sport called “Foreign Assault Rifle Target Shooting” so that there COULD be a “sporting purpose” for importing foreign rifles... and so that when you fill out the ATF application you could say the purpose for importing the rifles was for F.A.R.T.S.
I’ve counted three execellent posts, and yours in one of them.
Nicely done, if I may say so. Firehoses and German Shepards won't keep me from exercising my right to 'keep and bear arms'.
It's just those pesky waterfountains and bathrooms labeled: "Armed, Unarmed" that get to me. If they could just change them to "American, UnAmerican" I'd have no problem. ;^) Excuse me while "I have a dream".
You don't understand. It is not new gun laws that are the threat.....it is liberal judges.
Existing gun laws are being challenged far and wide. Many of these courts are going to find the Second Amendment does not guarantee you some right, so it will have to go to the Supreme Court.
An Obama win in November could load the court to the left....not by replacing existing justices, but by expanding the court from 9 members to 11.
Very huge. It buttresses "the right of the people" in a way the left can't misconstrue.
To think an ammendment so simply worded could be misinterpreted by so many suggests we have a problem. Still, we're headed in the right direction and in a generation or two, we may be able to shoot back in life threatening situations outside our homes. Historians will look back and wonder why we didn't exercise our right sooner. And they'd be right: Why?
So where do these people think they have the Constitutional authority to limit my ownership of a firearm to what THEY consider "sporting purposes"?
Heller was a lovely first step, but it is also a textbook lesson in that any time the purpose of words can be bent in order to conform to a totalitarian agenda, it will be.
The predilection toward seeing the Bill of Rights as a series of Amendments empowering the Federal Government to limit the Rights of the States and the People--instead of rightfully limiting the power of the Federal Government, not only flies in the face of original intent, but underscores the willingness of our public "servants" to do whatever they are not specifically prohibited, and to ignore completely the phrase "...shall not be infringed".
Had those Amendments not been added to limit the Federal Government and protect the rights of the people and the States, the Constitution would not have been adopted.
No law is sacrosanct, not even the Consitiution, and those who would support poorly crafted or worded legislation of any type should take note. In the absence of specific safeguards against it, and sometimes in spite of those safeguards, those usurping power will only usurp more.
I read that book.
Not THAT big of a deal. Now if it was an APPEALS court, it would be.
The best advice I ever heard and which I pass on now is,
get the best semi-auto military pattern rifle you can afford (AR-15, FN-FAL, Springfield M1A, etc.), learn to *shoot* it and stock up on enough ammo.
Barring that, a good lever-action rifle, and/or a scoped bolt-action rifle.
Keep “Imperial entanglements” to a minimum.
Not in Brooklyn
I refuse to buy anything, firearm or not, that I have to register.
Well, except for a car. That has some form of registry. Mainly because I’m hoping to get a band together when I move. But that’s a different story.
“Not in Brooklyn”
Well, I can’t advise anyone to break the law. But if it’s possible to legally acquire one out of that jurisdiction and keep it there...
What does the gas tube do for this modified blowback action?
did Bush do anything to clean up the ATF?
did Bush do anything to clean up the ATF?
TM is on a sentimental and well deserved journey.
Thanks for the info.
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