Monday, December 7, 2015

A thought experiment, of sorts

The NRA, and by extension the GOP, hold that an individual's right to bear arms - ANY arms - is sacrosanct.
A previous post noted that I cannot today walk into a gun store and buy a Thompson submachine gun, an RPG, or an M1 Abrams tank.

Would the NRA and their GOP enablers rescind this Depression-era law?
SHOULD I be able to walk into my neighborhood gun store (there is one) and buy a Tommy gun, a grenade launcher, or a tank?
These are, after all, "arms".

Does the NRA's and the GOP's support for my Second Amendment "right" to buy a semi-automatic assault rifle extend to support for my currently legally-impeded right to buy a fully automatic weapon? An RPG? A tank?
Where would our friendly GOP candidates - and the NRA - draw the line, were they free to re-draw it?

Would they nominate Supreme Court justices who favored repealing the National Firearms Act of 1934 and the Gun Control Act of 1968?
Would they encourage the NRA to bring cases before the Federal courts to challenge these laws?
Do they believe that my "right to bear arms" extends to the entire available arsenal of military-grade weapons?

Maybe someone should ask 'em.

2 comments:

  1. that's the problem - no one's gonna ask

    if they do there will be a lie for an answer

    business as usual

    ReplyDelete
  2. The argument I heard is that the arms which the 2nd Amendment protects are arms which a militia might carry and use. AR-15 rifle? Yes. Hand grenade? Yes. Tank? No. Heavy artillery? No. Mortar? Yes if light, no if heavy. RPG? Yes. Davy Crockett tactical nuclear recoilless rifle? Hmmm.

    ReplyDelete