The Supreme Court’s 2008 Heller, McDonald (2010), and (2022) decisions established that the Second Amendment is an unalienable, fundamental, individual right. It’s a right given by God, which may not be granted or rescinded by man, a right necessary for self-defense, to protect God’s greatest gift: life. As the Second Amendment states, that right may not be infringed, yet blue states, forced kicking and screaming to obey the Constitution, keep erecting impediments—infringements—to the single right that secures the rest.
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Bans on entire makes of guns, declaring most of entire states “sensitive zones,” outlandish and hard-to-get training requirements, excessive fees, restrictive paperwork, and more have all been imposed and are being tried in the courts. Leftist, rogue federal judges tend to uphold most anti-liberty/gun schemes. Honest, constitutional judges strike them down, and it’s on to the Supreme Court, which tends to rule only on the narrow issues before it, which makes judicial sense, but leaves open an enormous number of other infringements which must also make their way through the courts.
Keep in mind it took 14 years for Bruen to solidify and clarify Heller and McDonald. Striking down each individual, blatantly unconstitutional infringement can easily take as long, and in the meantime, lives are ruined and respect for the rule of law damaged.
Washington State provides an example of the malicious, unconstitutional nature of anti-liberty/gun cractivists with its new permit-to-purchase law. Beginning May 1, 2027, Washingtonians must obtain a permit before they’re allowed to buy a gun.
That development is drawing renewed criticism from Franklin County Sheriff Jim Raymond, who says the law goes too far and could ultimately face a constitutional challenge.
“I think this is insane,” Raymond said in a phone interview Wednesday with The Center Square.
Raymond said he believes the new permit requirement is unconstitutional because law-abiding Americans already have a constitutional right to keep and bear arms.
His criticism centers on what he sees as another layer of government approval for people who have already passed existing background checks.
“It’s another level of control,” Raymond said.
Indeed, it is. Imagine the screams of the Press were they required to obtain a permit to publish, to be journalists, or to publish each and every article. Yet most journalists see no contradiction in imposing all manner of infringements on the right to keep and bear arms.
Applying for a permit to purchase costs $90 for the permit and $36 for fingerprinting. Local law enforcement agencies can also charge additional fees for fingerprinting for a permit that is valid for only five years. Renewals are $90 if done before the permit expires, with an additional $25 late fee if done within 90 days of expiration. After that, you have to start over with the full fees.
To obtain a concealed carry permit, Washingtonians must pay up to $250 in state fees and requirements, and $150 or more for a mandatory “gun safety” course. Renewal costs are as high as $60. All of that is on top of permit-to-purchase fees.
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That’s $126 just to get a permit, which can be denied, to buy a gun, and $400 or more to be allowed to carry a handgun concealed. That’s $526 to exercise an unalienable right. WA politicians and cracktivists justify this with the usual nonsense:
“Gun violence in Washington state breaks apart too many families and kills too many children,” Ferguson said after the signing. “We must put commonsense reforms into place that save lives.”
The legislation was championed by gun safety organizations such as the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions.
“Washington’s new law reflects the commitment of local advocates to a public health approach to gun violence prevention,” said Kelly Roskam, director of law and policy at the Center, in a statement after the signing. “Firearm Purchaser Licensing is one of the most effective tools we have for reducing gun deaths.”
That makes as much sense as this brilliant idea of using dildos to protest the Second Amendment:
Graphic: X Post
There is no evidence these “commonsense reforms” do anything of the sort, and how could they? Criminals don’t obey any law, and few legally obtain their guns. And where’s the proof “Firearm Purchaser Licensing” reduces “gun deaths?” There is none, because requiring licensing and fees of the law-abiding has nothing to do with preventing the criminal misuse of guns.
Laws like this exist only to harass and prosecute the law-abiding in the hope of making gun ownership expensive and annoying. And, of course, showing those Deplorable, smelly, Walmart-shopping, missing-toothed inferiors who’s boss is always of utmost importance.
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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, lifelong 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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