by Kssavage » 03 Jul 2018, 6:24 am
Hello to you all from North America!
First and foremost, I would like to apologize on behalf of the rational section of our population for our President. I hope he hasn't said anything that adverse about any of you, but he still has 2 1/2 years if he doesn't get impeached so I will apologize in advance if he does.
I have a childhood friend whose father was a pilot for Quantas and when he retired they lived here in South Central Kansas before moving to wine country in California. I stumbled across your forum completely by accident when trying to troubleshoot a problem I had at the range on Saturday and I notice that you're having to fight a back and forth battle. Here, at the Federal level we are protected (2nd Amendment to our Constitution, Supreme Court decisions from 2008-2010) but due to people getting angry and stupid there's a huge movement to push enforcement on us, although it is unlikely to hold as the Supreme Court has consistently ruled in favor of gun rights. Oregon just got a ballot initiative struck down by the Oregon Supreme Court because they were trying to ban AR-15 pattern rifles and other cosmetic bits that have no function on how the gun works. The court struck it down because it is a voter initiative that was put on the ballot by petition and its language as read would have been a complete ban on firearms with the exception of a few single shot bolt action rifles and break action guns.
Here in the Midwest, we are pretty well protected with a strong state Constitution and a law making it illegal for someone to enforce a law or deprive people of their legally owned guns in violation of the Constitution and because the domestic arms industry is critical to our police and military, etc. Our government no longer makes guns or ammo, it sold all the facilities to private companies.
But, that's not a guarantee. A retired Supreme Coury Justice John Paul Stevens vocally advocates the repeal of the 2nd Amendment, and the billionaire former mayor of New York (which, along with Hawaii, required surrender of certain banned guns) is funding the "kids movement" to ban scary looking guns even though they got the law they claimed they were after within 2 weeks of a shooting in Florida and before they trotted out Martin Luther king Jr's granddaughter (Martin Luther King, Jr. was always faced with death threats, had guns, and applied for but was turned down for a concealed carry permit because he was black and a civil rights activist) to say she had a dream of America with no guns.
I say this, because as you all full know it's easier to fight against a loss than to get it back once it's gone. Suppressors here require a heavy tax, about a 10 month wait, the creation of an estate trust with, say, your kids so they can inherit it when you die and not have to surrender it to the government or go to prison, or the permission of your chief law enforcement officer in your area, and the cost of the suppressor and the fee to transfer it plus shipping costs and the paperwork to transfer it and the certificate that allows you to not go to prison for using it.
I know America's a poor example of laissez-faire gun laws up until 1968 and more in 1986 given the gun crime rate, but as a marksman, long distance shooter, and sporting clays enthusiast as well as carrying a handgun and working hard to push for more enforcement of the 100 thousand (literally) laws nationwide and not taking guns away from the only people that would turn them in: people who obey the law.
Sorry to hijack your thread, but I wish you all well in your endeavours and it's disgusting (and part of the reason America declared independence from Britain) that you would pay that kind of money for something only to have it made illegal and taken away with no compensation. I fear they will try to enact similar laws here depending on the outcome of our elections.
Best wishes,
Kevin