M62Posted on 02/20/2014 12:13:48 PM PST by neverdem
M62
A bit of miltary wisdom has it that you should never give an order you know won't be obeyed. Issuing such an order accomplishes nothing except to undermine your authority and expose the extent to which, no matter what enforcement mechanisms are in place, you rely upon voluntary compliance. But now that Connecticut's resident class of politically employed cretins has awoken to the fact that, in their state, like everywhere else, people overwhelmingly disobey orders to register their weapons, they're acting like this is a shocking revelation. They're also promising to make those who tried to comply, but missed the deadline regret the effort (proving the point of the openly defiant). And the politicians' enablers in the press are screaming for the prosecution of "scores of thousands" of state residents who, quite predictably, flipped the bird at the government.
Three years ago, the Connecticut legislature estimated there were 372,000 rifles in the state of the sort that might be classified as "assault weapons," and two million plus high-capacity magazines. Many more have been sold in the gun-buying boom since then. But by the close of registration at the end of 2013, state officials received around 50,000 applications for "assault weapon" registrations, and 38,000 applications for magazines.
Some people actually tried to comply with the registration law, but missed the deadline. The state's official position is that it will accept applications notarized on or before January 1, 2014 and postmarked by January 4. But, says Dora Schriro, Commissioner of the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, in a letter to lawmakers(PDF), anybody sufficiently law-abiding but foolish enough to miss that slightly extended grace period will have to surrender or otherwise get rid of their guns.
Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection
This, of course, is the eternally fulfilled fear of those who oppose registration of things governments don't like—that allowing the government to know about them will result in their eventual confiscation. Such confiscation, despite assurances to the contrary, occurred in New York, California, and elsewhere. Connecticut has accomplished something special, though, by making "eventual" a synonym for "right now."
You know who won't have to surrender their weapons? People who quietly told the state to fuck off.
This successful example of mass defiance horrifies the editorial board of the Hartford Courant, which shudders at the sight of the masses not obeying an order that, history, tells us, never had a shot at wide compliance. According to them:
It's estimated that perhaps scores of thousands of Connecticut residents failed to register their military-style assault weapons with state police by Dec. 31....
...the bottom line is that the state must try to enforce the law. Authorities should use the background check database as a way to find assault weapon purchasers who might not have registered those guns in compliance with the new law.
A Class D felony calls for a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Even much lesser penalties or probation would mar a heretofore clean record and could adversely affect, say, the ability to have a pistol permit.
If you want to disobey the law, you should be prepared to face the consequences.
Such shock! Such outrage!
But compliance with gun registration would have been a historical aberration. Gun restrictions of all sorts breed defiance everywhere they're introduced. About 25 percent of Illinois handgun owners actually complied when that state's registration law was introduced in the 1970s, according to Don B. Kates, a criminologist and civil liberties attorney, writing in the December 1977 issue of Inquiry. Then, when California began registering "assault weapons" in 1990, The New York Times reported after the registration period came to a close that “only about 7,000 weapons of an estimated 300,000 in private hands in the state have been registered.”
Similar defiance occurred in Australia, Canada, and many European countries. People, unsurprisingly, seem to think that being armed is not a bad thing, and that governments can't be trusted.
Can't imagine why.
Here's the thing: Laws rely, almost entirely, on voluntary compliance, with enforcement efforts sufficient for a tiny, noncompliant minority. If a large number of people to whom a law applies find the law repugnant—and a majority of a group, consisting of scores of thousands of people, constitutes a large number—than the law is unenforceable, no matter how many politicians and newspaper editorial writers think it's a swell idea. Governments that try enforcement, anyway, will be stuck in a pattern of escalating brutality and declining legitimacy.
Gun registration, let alone confiscation has, always and everywhere, fallen into that "unenforceable" category. We saw the same phenomenon with Prohibition, and we've also seen it with drugs.
To insist, now, that Connecticut authorities try to chase down "scores of thousands" of gun owners (using background check records that don't actually prove they still own the forbidden firearms) displays wild ignorance of the limits of government power. It also expresses disgusting deference to authority at the expense of any respect for liberty—an immature morality that sees no good beyond obedience to rules. And, it's sheer lunacy.
“Governments that try enforcement, anyway, will be stuck in a pattern of escalating brutality and declining legitimacy.”
This is how armies of revolution rise and grow strong.
Well, I have the desire to see those who would make a slave out of me or deprive me of my Constitutional rights killed by me or fellow patriots, so I can almost see a parallel, but not quite.
Well I certainly trust that they deleted every one of those background checks, don't you? </s>
Once you have applied for a background check you have, for all intents and purposes, registered your gun.
Jimmy Carter claimed it elected Reagan, I am sure it helped.
Maybe they should just watch Barky and the boys as they demonstrate how.
Even under Bush 43, the NIC check data was being bogarted and squirreled away by the FBI and ATF, in defiance of Congress and the black-letter laws they had made that forbade disposing of the data.
Presumably this activity had Mr. Bush's acquiescence. Gentlemen, you see, agree that the helots should not be armed, in a well-ordered society, such as the New World Order, in which everyone knows his place.
Jimmy Carter didn't busy himself with the necessary organizational preparations to steal elections.
'Tis so. These agencies seem not to care what "legitimacy" means.
I’ve read a piece that said that the 55 mph speed limit was one of the main reasons for disregard of all laws - people just didn’t see it as anything but arbitrary and unnecessary, and therefore raised questions about other laws of the same era.
"Did you really think we want those laws observed?" said Dr. Ferris. "We want them to be broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against... We're after power and we mean it... There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Reardon, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with."
- Ayn Rand, 1957 -
Ayatollah Khomeini elected Ronald Reagan.
...the bottom line is that the state must try to enforce the law. Authorities should use the background check database as a way to find assault weapon purchasers who might not have registered those guns in compliance with the new law.
A Class D felony calls for a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Even much lesser penalties or probation would mar a heretofore clean record and could adversely affect, say, the ability to have a pistol permit.
If you want to disobey the law, you should be prepared to face the consequences.
This is where jury nullification comes in. Every jury should either return a not guilty verdict or be hung by those who will not vote "guilty".
Apparently the libs in Connecticut never understood the concept that obeying laws is voluntary. If the laws are unconstitutional, then ignoring the law is the only option.
The White House spits on the laws daily. Nobody should expect others to exhibit behavior better than the President.
Well, Jimmuh Carter placed Khomeini in power, so I guess he had a hand in it.
It would be wrong to underestimate how much effect the Double Nickle speed limit had on the election. Federal Department of Education was a big issue as well, but even with both houses Reagan could not undo it. Even something as evil as the National Endowment of the Arts still lives.
>> “Even something as evil as the National Endowment of the Arts still lives.” <<
.
Thanks to Noot Gingrich kaboshing the GOP effort to scuttle it, along with PBS too.
It’s been the RINOs doing the damage every time.
You don’t find many creeps in shooting ranges. Perhaps you meant shooting galleries (drugs) or peep shows, which some people confuse with galleries.
No, I meant government gun law enforcers showing up at shooting ranges to check if the guns are registered.
Think Lexington Green.
Yup. Unfortunately, from what I've seen there are unionized SWAT types just dumb enough to try it. Body armor and automatic weapons change a lot, not to mention the "us versus them" attitude being inculcated in "public servants."
The cops I know are on our side. Maybe those cops are different.
The guys who took down Patricia Koine were California Highway Patrol officers.
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