Death of the Second Amendment

I wish I thought that this was premature, but I fear it is not.

The Supreme Court refused to hear a case from Maryland, where the right has been severely abridged for many years.

In case you don't live in Maryland, right now it is necessary to get a license to think about buying a handgun.  After you get the license, you still have  the paperwork and delays for which Maryland has become notorious - but you have to spend more money, get training (not a bad idea, but redundant for many of us, and costly for all of us) the survive a background check - then see if you can find a gun dealer that has what you want - or learn that the gun dealers are flummoxed by the way the rules are written.

An example of the last - I wanted to buy a Smith & Wesson Governor - a popular revolver that chambers .45 Long Colt and .410 shotgun shells.  It is a great home defense weapon, less likely to kill someone outside the house than most, and noisy as hell.  I know of folks in Texas thats hoot skeet with them, even. Right now, no dealer will even order one for me - because the law disallows drum magazines on shotguns but is written in a way that does not specifically call out long guns, and in a way that uses 'revolving cylinder' as a term describing the mechanism that is prohibited which, of course, could include any revolver-type handgun as well. Taurus is also impacted - ordering a Judge might be problematic, as they also are chambered for .45 Long and .410 shot.

Weapons are being banned not because of some function (like select fire) but because they look like they may be easy to use. There is not a particle of (functional) difference between a long-range hunting rifle and a sniper rifle - except perhaps for appearance.  Even one of my .22 rifles qualifies as an assault weapon by some readings.

Were it not for the fact that my family and friends are here, I'd be looking really hard at Texas right about now, or some other place that has legislators smart enough to understand that the primary identifying characteristic of a criminal (or a crazy) is a pronounced lack of interest in laws and in obeying laws.  Our legislators appear to think that if they make enough laws, at some point the criminals and crazies will count them up and say to themselves "Oh shit - this new law makes 147 (or pick your own number) laws - maybe I should start paying attention to them."  It just won't happen.

Many ideal defense weapons are being made unavailable for the most ridiculous of reasons.

An example occurred several years back - in the small .32 caliber (semi)automatic pistol market. There are several fine .32 ACP pistols made, among them Beretta, Seecamp and too many others to mention. KelTec began making one - a very nice little pocketable pistol, reasonably accurate, well made and decently priced. This pistol never made it onto the Maryland List of Things You May Own because, they said, it was too small.  Seecamp, which is smaller, made it onto the list. Seecamp sent representatives to appear before the committee that determines what you may own to plead the case and KelTec did not - they are a small firm noted for good design and manufacture and reasonable price and apparently thought that the money to do so would be better spent improving the products.  The P-32 is, so far as I know, forbidden for Marylanders to own.

It really is not about guns at all - it is about legislators who think that, having been elected, they get to think for us and determine for us what is good and proper for us to own.  They have bodyguards and don't have to dirty their hands protecting their homes and families. Mere citizens like the rest of us do not have  that luxury, but it does not make the obligation to protect our homes and families and less, it just makes it our personal responsibility unless we can afford to hire the guards - which the legislators get from the state (which is us, and our taxes.)

Some folk will say 'It is only property' - but I don't consider wife and children to be property, and I  doubt there are many who do.  It has already been established in court many times that the job of police is to show up after Something Bad has happened, collect spent brass, draw chalk marks around the bodies and gather up anything that might help them catch whoever it was that did the terrible deed. Their responsibility does not include protecting folks unless they happen to be around when something nefarious is being perpetrated, and they are not charged with preventing any crime except one that they see happening. Indeed, they arenot permitted to act on imputed intent - they have to wait.

The Powers that Be in Maryland will not rest until citizens are disarmed. If I were young and single, I'd begone already.

Is there anyone out there that believes that more laws are the answer to anything?