New Years’s Message from ISRA Executive Director, Richard Pearson

Illinois –-(Ammoland.com)- A year ago at this time, I was pretty optimistic that our crusade to restore the 2nd Amendment was nearly unstoppable.

With the Heller and McDonald decisions behind us, solid legal precedent was in place to strike down oppressive gun control laws from coast to coast. Upon Governor Walker’s signing of a concealed carry bill into law, Wisconsin became the 49th state to recognize that citizens have a right to defend themselves with the most effective means possible.

Just a few weeks ago, Illinois’ status as the last hold out on concealed carry was dealt a blow when a federal appeals court demanded that Illinois enact a concealed carry law within 6 months.

Yes, things were really looking up for those of us who honor the 2nd Amendment.

As all of you know by now, the sorrow of so many in Newtown served to reignite the gun control movement’s war against your rights. The gun controllers pounced on the Newtown murders like the proverbial chicken on a June Bug – spewing hateful invective against gun owners and promoting all sorts of schemes to put a nationwide end to private firearm ownership.

Of course, leading the charge against your gun rights is the Gun Grabber in Chief – Barack Obama. Yes, the same Barack Obama who has convinced so many gun owners that he is such a friend to the 2nd Amendment and that he’s not the guy who will ever take your guns away.

Well, guess what? He announced Sunday on national TV that he is going to take your guns away before 2013 is over.

The vehicle for Obama’s gun grab is a bill soon to be introduced into the U.S. Senate by veteran gun-hater, California Senator Dianne Feinstein. Feinstein claims that her bill will take the “weapons of war” off our streets while preserving everyone’s 2nd Amendment rights. Any gun-owner who is reassured by Feinstein’s claims needs to have their head examined.

Based on advance materials provided by Feinstein’s office, here is how she plans to “protect” your 2nd Amendment rights.

Once the Feinstein/Obama gun-grab bill becomes law, the government will publish a list of 900 “good” guns – guns that you will ostensibly be allowed to keep – for now.

The government would also publish a list of things that make any particular gun “bad.” It appears that ALL pistols with “detachable magazines” would be banned, as well as “assault rifles” and all rifles or pistols that have “military features.” This list would include all 1911 pistols, all Glocks, Sig-Sauers, Brownings, etc. Imposition of the rifle “military feature” ban would result in M1 Garand, M1 Carbine, and M1A rifles along with pump action shotguns being banned as well. Thus, this first round of controls would eliminate everything in your gun safe except revolvers, single shot, bolt action, and lever action rifles.

If you wished to keep any of your firearms that appear on the “bad” list, you would have to register them with the federal government, just like a machine gun. You’d have to purchase a $200 tax stamp for each firearm, get fingerprinted, fill out a ton of paperwork, and get your police chief’s permission to own the firearm(s).

If your police chief denies you permission, or you cannot afford tax stamps, then you must surrender your firearms to the federal government for destruction. You cannot sell them or transfer them. Oh, and if you fail to register a “bad” firearm, you’ll get 10 years in a federal prison.

One especially troubling feature of the Feinstein/Obama gun grab is that “bad” firearms cannot be transferred – even to heirs. Thus, if you die, the executor of your estate must surrender the registered firearms to the government for destruction. You cannot leave your guns to family or friends in your will – you must bequeath them to the government.

In short, the no-transfer provision of the Feinstein/Obama gun grab would mean that more than half of the firearms currently owned by citizens would be surrendered to the government over the next decade or so as current gun owners pass away. Thus, given the scope of the Feinstein/Obama gun grab, high power target shooting would disappear in short order as would handgun competition including Bullseye, IPSC, IDPA, and the like.

As we have seen in the past when sweeping “assault weapon” grabs are proposed, there is a vocal contingent of “hunters” who announce support for the gun grab because they believe that their “hunting rifles” will not be affected. These “hunters” would do well to remember that the gun grabbers also have their sights set on so-called “sniper rifles.” To the gun grabbers, a “sniper rifle” is any rifle that is accurate beyond 50 yards and is able to accept a scope. Whether these “hunters” wish to believe it or not, it would be just a matter of time before most centerfire, bolt-action and lever-action rifles would be declared “too dangerous for our streets” and thus be banned and confiscated. Consequently, hunting would soon become a thing of the past – which is just what the gun grabbers want.

The Feinstein/Obama gun grab is the moral equivalent of “ethnic cleansing.” It is no secret that the gun control movement has a deep-seated hatred of anyone who would dare own a gun. When combined with a manufacturing ban, the no-transfer provision means that firearms would quickly disappear from public hands and, with no firearms around which to rally, the scourge of the “gun culture” would be eradicated from American society. In effect, the Feinstein/Obama plan would have the same impact as a law that would require babies of a certain ethnic or racial group to be sterilized at birth. In no time at all, that racial group would fade from memory. Clearly, Obama and Feinstein wish to “cleanse” American society of firearms and those who own them.

No, the Feinstein/Obama gun grab is not a mere attempt at improving public safety. Rather, it is a form of forced conversion to a radical leftist viewpoint on civilian firearm ownership. You, as a firearm owner, will be given a choice of voluntarily renouncing the 2nd Amendment, or go to jail. It’s just that simple.

Right now, it’s a toss-up as to just how much of the Feinstein/Obama gun grab will be enacted. Gun owners have a lot of friends in Congress on both sides of the aisle. But the key to defending against Obama and Feinstein will be gun owners speaking up in defense of the 2nd Amendment. All gun owners must call their US Senators and their US Representatives and politely tell them that they are law-abiding firearm owners who do not support any sort of firearm ban. Likewise on the state level, firearm owners must call their state representatives and senators to deliver the same message – NO GUN BANS.

State and national gun rights organizations need your financial support as well. Please donate to the ISRA today. We need your contributions to help fight off this aggressive attack on your rights.

I wish I had a happier New Year’s greeting for you, but I don’t. Over the next several months, things will get very difficult for the nation’s gun owners. But, if we stick together, we will overcome anything that they throw at us. The enemy is powerful, but not insurmountable. Remember that gun control is a disease and you are the cure.

About:
The ISRA is the state’s leading advocate of safe, lawful and responsible firearms ownership. Since 1903, the ISRA has represented the interests of over 1.5 million law-abiding Illinois firearm owners Visit: www.isra.org