Attacking 2nd Amendment Rights By Making It Too Costly to Exercise
March 13, 2013
Just another attack on our 2nd Amendment rights (in 17 states!). This one is well recognized by gun rights advocates - the attempt to make it too costly to own or use firearms legally. Unfortunately, this has a disproportionate affect on the poor who arguably may have more urgent needs for firearms for self defense.
"Democrats seem to think that waiting for police to arrive from a 911 call is good enough for the poor"
I found this interesting. I hadn't seen it before: "Next week Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) will introduce legislation that will ban the production of inexpensive guns in the United States. While it is true that some criminals use these guns, these smaller, lighter handguns are also ideal for self-defense. And of course they are particularly helpful for poor would-be victims who can't afford more expensive guns." I wonder what qualifies as an "inexpensive gun". I also wonder if any of these gun control advocates have any idea what the capabilities are with 3D printing technology. Guns and so-called "high capacity" magazines can be manufactured TODAY. The designs are publicly available and FREE. For a few thousand dollars, gangs can buy a printer and some raw materials, download the designs, and "print" as many "inexpensive guns" and magazines as they want - putting them into the hands of every drug dealer on every street corner, including the children they enlist to peddle their products or "earn" their way to membership. Once again, our laws and law makers cannot keep up with technology.
This article details some of the existing and proposed proposals and expenses in various locations including those in Chicago and Illinois, well known for their anti-2nd Amendment stance.
"The bill passed this week by the Maryland state Senate appears to allow only one office in the state for filing for the license -- the current state police headquarters in Pikesville, Maryland. Kempton, Maryland in the western part of the state is a 4 hour drive away from Pikesville. Crisfield, Maryland in the east is over 3 hours away." Gee, no one can see the not-really-veiled intentions of that.
"If you want to see the impact of these fees and training requirements on the ability of the poor to defend themselves, people need to look no farther than Washington, D.C. and Chicago, where only two and three thousand people, respectively, have gone through the licensing process.
Despite major Supreme Court victories that technically allow people to own handguns, it is something clearly beyond the reach of poorer citizens. For Chicago, there is a $100 city license fee plus another $15 per gun. Illinois adds another state license, though that only costs another $10. Then there is the five hour training classes that frequently cost around $150.
While gun ownership nationally varies very little with income, there is a huge difference in Chicago: zip codes with a median family income of $120,000 have twice the handgun ownership rate as those with a median family income of $60,000 and those families are in turn twice as likely as those at $30,000."
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/03/12/can-poor-people-be-trusted-with-guns/
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