Survival And Prosperity

Rudy Giuliani Blasts Obama Gun ‘Control’ Push As ‘False, Misleading, And To Some Extent, Unconstitutional’

Yesterday morning I happened to catch a segment on FOX News in which former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani ripped on President Obama’s new push for more gun “control.” From the exchange:

FOX NEWS: So, from your point of view, how do you characterize what’s been presented so far from the White House?
GIULIANI: I think the President’s program is false, misleading, and to some extent, unconstitutional.
FOX NEWS: Where is it unconstitutional?
GIULIANI: Well, I think that, the original Assault Weapons Ban was passed before the Heller case, before the Supreme Court made it crystal-clear that there’s a constitutional right to bear arms, that includes the right to defend yourself. So now, if you are reducing, significantly, the ability of a legitimate person to defend themselves- aren’t you violating that Constitutional right? Now consider that there are somewhere between 270 million and 300 million guns out there. A large percentage of the guns are in the hands of bad guys. So now you pass a law and you say in a Glock, you have to have a magazine that carries only 10 bullets, right? Now, it carries 15 or 16 bullets, I forget exactly what- but only 10. So now, all the legitimate people have to comply with that. Even if that’s possible to do, they all go down to 10. Every bad guy doesn’t do it (laughing). Every bad guy is now at 15 or 16. So now if you think of it this way- we have these 300 million guns, some of them are in the hands of good guys who follow the law, some are in the hands of bad guys who don’t care about the law- you’ve just increased the firepower and advantage of the bad guys over the good guys, including the police. I don’t know if the police are exempt from these laws- I’m not sure, I hope they are. I’m not sure if the ex-police officers, many of whom are in security jobs, are exempt from these laws. And then, with regard to me personally, being able to defend myself, you’ve just reduced, significantly, my ability to defend myself. You’ve just given the bad guy a great advantage over me that he didn’t have before. Does that violate the Constitutional right to bear arms where it says you cannot infringe? Cannot infringe. I think it might. It think that would be a very, very good argument.

Second, everyone agrees that the definition of “assault weapon” is vague. It’s very hard to define an “assault weapon.” When does something become an “assault weapon?” The first law was notoriously ineffective because it defined “assault weapon” very vaguely. You define it vaguely now, with the new Constitutional decision, then you have an argument that it’s void for vagueness. You can’t write a vague law that restricts a Constitutional right. You have to write a very specific law that is clear. So, I think this if filled with Constitutional issues that didn’t exist the first time they went through this. I don’t see any of these people who are kind of just being very political even talking about this.

You can watch the entire FOX News segment here.

By Christopher E. Hill, Editor
Survival And Prosperity (www.survivalandprosperity.com)

Tags: 1994 Assault Weapons Ban, 1994 AWB, assault weapons, assault weapons bans, AWBs, Barack Obama, criminals, District of Columbia v. Heller, gun bans, gun control, police, Rudy Giuliani, Second Amendment, Supreme Court, U.S. Constitution

‘Summary Of 2013 Feinstein Assault Weapons Legislation’ Calls For Gun Registration Besides Bans

New information about U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein’s promised new gun “control” legislation that seeks to ban “assault weapons” and “high-capacity” ammunition magazines has just been released. The California Democrat shares a summary of her proposed bill, entitled “Summary of 2013 Feinstein Assault Weapons Legislation,” on her Senate website. And by the looks of things, it seeks more than just bans. From Senator Feinstein’s website:

Summary of 2013 legislation

Following is a summary of the 2013 legislation:

Bans the sale, transfer, importation, or manufacturing of:
• 120 specifically-named firearms
• Certain other semiautomatic rifles, handguns, shotguns that can accept a detachable magazine and have one military characteristic
• Semiautomatic rifles and handguns with a fixed magazine that can accept more than 10 rounds

Strengthens the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban and various state bans by:
• Moving from a 2-characteristic test to a 1-characteristic test
• Eliminating the easy-to-remove bayonet mounts and flash suppressors from the characteristics test
• Banning firearms with “thumbhole stocks” and “bullet buttons” to address attempts to “work around” prior bans

Bans large-capacity ammunition feeding devices capable of accepting more than 10 rounds.

Protects legitimate hunters and the rights of existing gun owners by:
• Grandfathering weapons legally possessed on the date of enactment
• Exempting over 900 specifically-named weapons used for hunting or sporting purposes and
• Exempting antique, manually-operated, and permanently disabled weapons

Requires that grandfathered weapons be registered under the National Firearms Act, to include:
• Background check of owner and any transferee;
• Type and serial number of the firearm;
• Positive identification, including photograph and fingerprint;
• Certification from local law enforcement of identity and that possession would not violate State or local law; and
• Dedicated funding for ATF to implement registration

Note that part about “requires that grandfathered weapons be registered under the National Firearms Act.”

(Editor’s note: Italics added for emphasis)

The discussion of the bill summary can be found on her website here. A .pdf of the bill summary is here.

By Christopher E. Hill, Editor
Survival And Prosperity (http://www.survivalandprosperity.com)

Tags: 1994 Assault Weapons Ban, 1994 AWB, assault weapons, assault weapons bans, AWB, Dianne Feinstein, gun bans, gun control, gun registrations, handguns, high-capacity ammunition magazines, high-capacity magazine bans, National, National Firearms Act, NFA, rifles, semi-automatic firearms, shotguns, Summary of 2013 Feinstein Assault Weapons Legislation