In the Heller and decisions, the Supreme Court ruled the Second Amendment acknowledges, but does not create, a fundamental, unalienable, individual right. Unalienable rights are bestowed by God; government cannot give or take them. The Court also ruled Americans may carry guns—mostly concealed handguns–wherever they go, with some exceptions such as courtrooms, jails, law enforcement facilities, and other “sensitive” areas. An equally important ruling was that guns in common use are presumptively constitutional.
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Those decisions made Democrat heads explode and contributed mightily to their cries of Supreme Court illegitimacy. How dare those unelected judges uphold the Constitution! That translates into English as: how dare they rule against Democrat preferences! So, blue states and cities have enacted a variety of blatantly unconstitutional laws, virtually all of which have been immediately challenged in courts by pro-liberty/gun individuals and organizations.
Those anti-liberty/gun cracktivists are more than willing to spend untold millions of taxpayer dollars to defend laws they know are unconstitutional. They know they’re almost certain to lose, but they don’t care. While the cases wind their way through the courts, they get to virtue signal, damage the business of gun sellers, and even put some honest Americans in jail for daring to exercise their Second Amendment rights. They’re spending other people’s money and harming the people they hate, so there’s no downside for them.
Arguably, the most egregious and prima facie unconstitutional anti-gun law is Maryland’s ban on the most popular and common handgun line: Glocks.
Instead of targeting gang members and other violent criminals driving serious violent crime in his state, Maryland’s Gov. Wes Moore has signed legislation to ban the sale of popular self-defense pistols. The new law targets GLOCKS and similar guns that can accept a (highly illegal) switch to make them full-auto. Because nothing says tough on crime like disarming the victims of gang violence
If you guessed Maryland’s Gov. Wes Moore is a Democrat, you guessed right. The Dems have gone hard in support for unconstitutional gun control for law-abiding citizens in response to crime carried out by criminals they refuse to prosecute and jail. All while party leadership live with armed bodyguards close by.
Maryland becomes the second state to enact such a gun ban after California. For now at least, existing owners can keep their firearms. Violations carry fines up to $5,000 and up to three years in prison. Anticipating the all-too-predictable move by Governor Moore, the National Rifle Association, Second Amendment Foundation and Firearms Policy Coalition have already .
Graphic: Top to bottom–G17, G19, G43X. Author
In every field, someone does it first and right, and everyone else follows. Glocks were the first commercially successful handguns employing a polymer frame and other polymer parts. They weigh much less than steel handguns, have not a single bolt or screw, and are accurate and reliable. They’re easy to shoot well, and feature models from the near-pocket pistol-sized G42 to the full-sized G17. They have the features one used to have to pay hundreds to gunsmiths to add, and they’re affordable because they don’t require the extensive machining of all-steel guns. Virtually every manufacturer makes polymer-framed, striker-fired models similar to Glocks. Glock currently owns between 74% and 90% of the police market, with similar civilian market saturation.
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Glocks, the most popular handguns in America, are the definition of handguns in “common use,” as envisioned by the Supreme Court.
With that reality, why would Maryland Governor Wes Moore sign a ban on Glocks and other popular arms?
Despite some well-documented problems he’s had with the truth and falsifying his resume, Governor Moore is rumored to have presidential aspirations. He badly wants to become the nation’s second black president. The gun ban bill is party orthodoxy and intended to appeal to urban, low-information Democrat voters who favor more failed gun control laws over actual law enforcement.
Gun bans and anti-liberty/gun cracktivist rhetoric have sold more than a million guns per month for the last six years, with those totals dipping below a million only a few times. But gun banners aren’t only banning guns to harry Normal Americans. They’re building what they hope will be a foundation for a Democrat-packed Supreme Court to uphold, and eventually, to entirely obliterate the Second Amendment.
Past Supreme Courts have been reluctant to overturn prior court decisions. It took half a century to overturn Roe v. Wade, despite abortion not being mentioned in the Constitution. We can be certain a Democrat-packed Court will immediately move to undo Heller and Bruen and rule the Second Amendment doesn’t mean what it plainly says.
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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer, and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.
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