The Constitution, without qualification, states that the individual right to own and carry weapons will not be infringed. Title 18, U.S. Code, Sections 241 and 242, ordains as a crime the violation of anybody's civil rights. Part of the XIVth Amendment requires removal of any politician who defies the Constitution, barring him (or her) from public office in perpetuity. And, of course, betraying one's oath of office is perjury, which is a felony.
By attempting to ban semiautomatic weapons (or weapons of any sort), city authorities in Dayton, Ohio and Rochester, New York have broken all these laws. It's possible that conspiracy and racketeering statutes apply to their illicit activities, as well.
We all know how slight the chances are that any of these miscreants will be prosecuted for having violated our natural, fundamental, inalienable human, civil, and Constitutional rights under the current political circumstances. So do they, or they wouldn't have broken the law. However as students of history, we also know that political circumstances change -- a fact they seem to have overlooked.
If they can't be prosecuted now, why not a year from now? If they can't be prosecuted a year from now, why not four years from now? And if they can't be prosecuted four years from now, why not twenty? Simon Wiesenthal never gave up on the Nazis. Why should we -- who feel that the Bill of Rights is all that keeps America from becoming the world's biggest banana republic - ever give up on the Dayton or Rochester perpetrators, or on any public servant who introduces, sponsors, or votes for gun control?
Perhaps more to the point at the moment: why should we have any more regard for any law they pass than they have for the highest law of the land supposedly governing us -- and them -- already?
Von Clausewitz, the eminent Prussian strategist, said you should always give the enemy a way out, so he won't fight like a trapped animal and be likelier to retreat. So what can these criminals in Dayton and Rochester do to avoid weeks, months, and possibly years of looking over their shoulders, waiting for the long arm of the highest law of the land to seize, humiliate, and punish them?
Three things: they must repeal the offending legislation; they must resign from office immediately afterward; and they must promise, publicly and in writing, never to seek or hold public office again.
Meanwhile, we can offer them a few words of advice: don't listen to the torrent of lies spewed out by Sarah Brady and her fascist front-group. Don't let that pickle-faced harridan and her tent-revival meat-puppet get you into more trouble. Her First Amendment rights are unimpaired by any oath of office to uphold the Constitution and she's not going to jail when the reckoning comes due.
You are.
L. Neil Smith is the award-winning author of 19 books including The Probability Broach, The Crystal Empire, Henry Martyn, The Lando Calrissian Adventures, Pallas, and (forthcoming) Bretta Martyn. An NRA Life Member and founder of the Libertarian Second Amendment Caucus, he has been active in the Libertarian movement for 34 years and is its most prolific and widely-published living novelist.Permission to redistribute this article is herewith granted by the author -- provided that it is reproduced unedited, in its entirety, and appropriate credit given.
Talk to me!: lneil@lneilsmith.org