“When guns are outlawed, only the Government will have guns. The Government - and a few outlaws. If that happens, you can count me among the outlaws.”
― Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast
Guns.
Americans have a centuries-old respect for firearms ownership. From the early years of settling “The New World” through the Revolution… Firearms play an important role in defining who we are, how we got here and where we are going.
The discussion of what to ban, how to ban it and what the Constitution allows is all very interesting, from a law porn perspective. Certainly Heller and the like make excellent reading. A recent poll was used to suggest that the majority of Americans favor banning the ubiquitous AR-15 (in its plentiful forms). The Second Amendment was written to remove this question, in the main, from the vagaries of public opinion. But…
Nothing is absolute. Much discussion is being had about gun confiscation. Reckless opinions are everywhere - some suggesting that the police and military will refuse to comply with orders to take guns from American citizens.
I disagree.
I wrote A More Perfect Union not as a cautionary tale, but as an exploration of how gun prohibitions might begin, and what might be expected of public servants torn between their personal opinions and their sworn duty.
Click on the link and give it a try. I’m not asking you to agree. I just want you to think about what would be asked of good men and women who made certain promises to themselves, and their country.