Blue States Defy SCOTUS With Extreme Gun Bans

Above, Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger. 

Leftist/liberal states such as Colorado, Virginia and others are passing laws that are already in violation of the U.S. Supreme Court's District of Columbia vs. Heller decision. They are flouting the Heller ruling.

They are passing laws banning firearms that are commonly used for hunting and other shooting sports. 

This defiance of the Supreme Court is a major concern.

AMAC (The Association of Mature American Citizens) posted an article on this. They begin it with:

Earlier this month, Virginia Democrat Governor Abigail Spanberger added the Old Dominion to the list of states taking square aim at the Second Amendment by signing a so-called “assault weapons” ban into law. The move was met with immediate legal challenges from pro-Second Amendment groups and even a promise from the assistant attorney general for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, Harmeet Dhillon, that she will “see you in court!”

Days later, Spanberger herself unintentionally aided those challenges by admitting that the law she just signed bans guns “frequently used for hunting.” In fact, the law applies to vast swaths of firearms that can hardly be considered “weapons of war” as Democrats claim, including many pistols commonly owned for home defense.

But given the state of play in other Democrat-controlled states throughout the country, one can forgive Spanberger for thinking that she can get away with such a blatantly unconstitutional gun grab. Despite the Supreme Court ruling that such bans, like the one Spanberger just signed, violate the Second Amendment in the landmark District of Columbia v. Heller decision in 2008, liberal states continue to flout that ruling and unlawfully infringe on Americans’ constitutional rights.

To read more, go here.

Semi-Automatic Bans Are Unconstitutional

A proposed "assault weapons" ban was considered in the most recent New Mexico legislative session. Fortunately, the measure failed to pass. 

Currently, a proposed assault weapons ban is sitting on the desk of Virginia's governor. Citizens have been rallying to urge a veto of the unconstitutional bill. 

The American Rifleman online website discusses the unconstitutionality of semi-automatic assault weapons bans by leftist Democrats. 

They begin it with:

If the logical application of the rule of law means anything in this constitutional republic, bans on massively popular semi-automatic firearms will be found unconstitutional.

That might seem a bold claim to Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D), who, as this is being written, seemed poised to sign a ban on yet another political definition of the term “assault weapon.”

This would make Virginia the 12th state with some such ban on some version of the definition of the politically shape-shifting term “assault weapon.”

Before stepping into the semantic and legal rhetoric of the potential Virginia ban on sales of America’s rifle—and the NRA’s coming legal response—some context is always beneficial.

To read more, go here.

Heinrich Sponsors Unconstitional Bill Banning Most Rifles

Above, New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich.

"Life is tough. It's tougher when you're stupid!" 

The above line is generally attributed to John Wayne, but there's no evidence to support this. However, New Mexico's Senator Martin Heinrich is showing that someone can be just as stupid even with an easy life.

Heinrich, Arizona's Sen. Mark Kelly and others have introduced an unconstitutional extremist anti-gun bill.

The Piñon Post reported:

In a recent move that has stirred controversy, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich, along with Democrat Senators Angus King of Maine, Mark Kelly of Arizona, and Michael Bennet of Colorado, introduced the extremist Gas-Operated Semi-Automatic Firearms Exclusion (GOSAFE) Act to outlaw most firearms in the United States.

Heinrich claimed there is an urgent need for Congress to take away Americans’ right to bear arms by banning some of the most popular weapons in the country.

The proposed legislation will negatively impact law-abiding gun owners while neglecting the root causes of violence. 

The GOSAFE Act seeks to regulate gas-operated semi-automatic weapons by establishing a list of prohibited firearms, preventing unauthorized modifications, and mandating pre-approval for future designs. The bill has a few exceptions but still bans rifles with 10 rounds or more — a majority of AR-15s and other rifles. One in 20 Americans own an AR-15 rifle. 

The article then lists the exempted firearms.

The bill is clearly unconstitutional. The Heller decision by the U.S. Supreme Court held that banning the legal sale and possession entire classes of firearms is unconstitutional.

To read the full article, go here.

Firearm Storage Laws Make NO SENSE...

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed HB 9 into law a few days ago. 

According to the press release on her website, she said:

“Today, New Mexico is making it clear that responsible gun ownership is the law of the land,” said Gov. Lujan Grisham. “This bill is about keeping New Mexicans safe by requiring gun owners to take reasonable steps to secure their weapons – plain and simple.”

Fortunately for us, this is not "the law of the land" as similar laws in other states have been struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court as unconstitutional, most notably in the Heller and Bruen decisions. If a statute is facially unconstitutional (as this one obviously is), the courts have stated that it cannot be enforced. It is null and void.

The issue of safety locks and storage of firearms is not new and Mark W. Smith discusses them in the video below. Such laws are stupid and unconstitutional, he says.

NRA Sues To Have Illinois Semi-Auto Gun Ban Tossed

Above, the Illinois state capitol (center, background) in Springfield, Illinois. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The National Rifle Associated has filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Illinois seeking to overturn a newly-passed law banning some semi-automatic firearms.

The state of New Mexico is asking for a similar lawsuit if it should pass a bill banning semi-automatics now under legislative consideration.

From CBS News:

Springfield, Ill. — Illinois' two-week-old ban on semiautomatic weapons outlaws "ubiquitous" firearms in "radical" defiance of the Constitution's Second Amendment, a federal lawsuit filed by the National Rifle Association Tuesday claims.

The powerful NRA joined a parade of gun-rights activists seeking to toss out the newly minted prohibition on dozens of rapid-fire pistols and long guns, as well as large-capacity magazines or attachments.

Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the law Jan. 10 in response to the shooting deaths of seven at the Fourth of July parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park, where 30 were also injured.

Two individual gun owners from Benton, nine miles northeast of St. Louis, are lead plaintiffs in the NRA lawsuit, the second to be filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. They are joined by two southern Illinois gun dealers and shooting range operators, as well as a Connecticut-based shooting sports trade association.

The NRA pleading notes that the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 2008 Heller decision refuses to let stand any restriction on "weapons that are in common use" today unless - another ruling last summer found - there is evidence of an "enduring American tradition" of restriction.

The Illinois law "takes the radical step of banning nearly every modern semiautomatic rifle - the single-most popular type of rifle in the country, possessed by Americans in the tens of millions," the document says.

To read more, go here. 

Gun Control: Democrats Are Ignoring The Heller Decision

Before proceeding further, I want readers of this blog post to first keep this firmly in mind (source: Britannica.com):

District of Columbia v. Heller, case in which the U.S. Supreme Court on June 26, 2008, held (5–4) that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to possess firearms independent of service in a state militia and to use firearms for traditionally lawful purposes, including self-defense within the home. It was the first Supreme Court case to explore the meaning of the Second Amendment since United States v. Miller (1939).

In the aftermath of the tragic Uvalde, Texas school shooting, Democrats have been clamoring for more gun control laws, including red flag laws (confiscation), bans on so-called "assault weapons" (there's no such thing, by the way) and other measures (including holding gun and ammo manufacturers liable).

Some, like His Fraudulency Joe Biden, claim that the Second Amendment is "not absolute" Others want to amend the Second Amendment or repeal the Second Amendment and the list goes on. This is all in the name of "do something".

I've noticed that during all of this chatter over gun violence they've ignored that the Heller decision settled the question on individual rights to possess firearms. But this isn't too surprising, since the Democrats ignore constitutional provisions and laws when it suits them. 

So, whenever a Democrat says the Second Amendment is not a "sacred right" or is "misinterpreted", as a reader of the Sparta Independent recently wrote, just remember the District of Columbia vs. Heller Supreme Court decision.