Ranger Al- what would happen if I were to keep my 14 rnd capacity mags completely disassembled with the parts stored in separate locations? Surely it cannot be illegal to own "parts" to firearms!!
The BATFE has defined a shoelace as a "machine gun," and rubber O-rings as a "silencer." And people have been prosecuted under those theories.
Perhaps you're not aware of just how
bad things are in some areas of Second Amendment rights in this nation. California is not as bad as some, but is much worse than many. And now you can see why everyone is so wound up about the Heller case and the possibility of a definitive ruling on the meaning of the Second Amendment.
mvpel- It looks like I will have to break down and get some 10-rnd mags to play it safe. I have also heard that Vermont is one of the most lenient states as far as gun laws go. Since you are in NH do you know anything about this?
Yeah - due to a Vermont Supreme Court ruling in the early 1900's, which recognized the plain meaning of Article the 16th, Vermont has essentially no gun laws. The 1793 Constitution of Vermont had this article in its Declaration of Rights, and its wording has endured unchanged since then right through today:
That the people have a right to bear arms for the defence of themselves and the State--and as standing armies in the time of peace are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up; and that the military should be kept under strict subordination to and governed by the civil power.
The only laws that apply to firearms use, carry, possession, and purchase in Vermont are the Federal laws.
Unfortunately, New Hampshire's drafters didn't have the foresight to explicitly protect firearms in the Constitution, perhaps thinking that enumerating the right to defense of life and liberty self-evidently encompassed the right to arms.
The NH right to arms was only added to the Constitution in 1982, so we're still stuck with some unconstitutional 1900's laws such as the concealed-carry licensing system and a ban on unlicensed carry of a firearm in a vehicle.
