When will all Americans enjoy the freedom of the 2nd Amendment?

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vito

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Here in Illinois many of us are rejoicing that finally, finally we are close to being able to exercise our 2nd Amendment rights now that the first concealed carry law has passed. It's anyone's guess how long it will be before we actually have an application form to complete, actually have certified classes to enroll in (for the mandatory 16 hours of training) and actually receive our concealed carry licenses. And then we have to contend with the myriad restrictions placed upon where we can carry, But it is good that we least have come this far.

But how free are we? For example, I am going to a wedding this fall in New York State. Even if I had my IL license in hand, as well as my current PA and Utah licenses, I could not carry in NY. Most concealed carry guns are now banned in NY, let alone if I wanted to travel to Connecticut or Massachusetts. In fact, the restrictions in some of these states would put me at great risk just to have my handgun in my car when I travel there. In effect I have to leave my gun at home despite being legally able to carry from IL, through Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania because once I reach NY I would be breaking the law. To get to where I need to go for the wedding will take me unavoidably through New York City, where possession of a handgun is effectively illegal by itself.

Until such time as we have the Supreme Court rule on the legality of national concealed carry we will be denied our rights as Americans. We are still far away from being able to exercise the freedoms supposedly guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, and those who would further restrict our freedoms have never ceased in their efforts.

I guess if I lived in Texas and never ventured far from home (even into neighboring New Mexico) I would feel relatively unencumbered by restrictions on my rights, but it would really be an illusion. So until we have real freedom, that seemingly is granted by the 2nd Amendment, we need to be vigilant in our efforts to support gun rights everywhere in the country, and the best way we can do that is by joining the NRA and getting as many fellow gun owners as we can to do the same.
 
Texas wasn't as easy either. Someone somewhere is taking action to ensure laws are consistent and closing loopholes in which citizens can be abused. Even taking steps to ensure municipalities don't restrict gun rights.

Recently I tried to figure out where I could carry in Louisiana. A group of confusing and conflicting laws made it near impossible and LEOs are now choosing to enforce the more stringent restrictions.
 
As large and diverse as this country is, having full coverage for the Second Amendment will probably never happen.
The folks who live in the most restrictive states must be mostly comfortable with things as they are, or they would change it.
Traveling there from a free state is like going to another country.
Guess we'll just have to treat it as such.
Or not go - my preference.
And make up for it by sending a better gift.
Which do you think they will remember more, just another relative to feed, or a really nice wedding gift?
 
Look up the meaning of the Japanese term - gambaru

Ok - I'll tell: The literal meaning of gambaru is "to adhere to something with tenacity."

I've seen interpretations that say keep trying even when you think defeat may be inevitable.

Other groups fighting for what they think are basic human rights seem to hang in there.

We still have hope in TX that Rick Perry may do something for campus carry even though that seems a pipe dream. Or maybe the next governor?
 
Never Give Up, for sure.
No telling what may transpire.
Probably, one of the best examples was the eventual success of Christianity in the ancient Roman world.
Another, unfortunately, was the triumph of Communism in Czarist Russia.
The prospects for both were not good, for a very long time.
 
vito said:
...We are still far away from being able to exercise the freedoms supposedly guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, and those who would further restrict our freedoms have never ceased in their efforts...
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Nor will they cease there efforts.

We live in a pluralistic, political society. There are a bunch of people out there who don't like guns (for whatever reason). There are also a lot of people who are scared of guns or of people who have guns or who want to have guns. Some think guns should be banned and private citizens shouldn't have them at all. Some may be willing to go a long with private citizens being able to own guns as long as they were regulated. And these people vote.

We may think these people are wrong and that they have no valid reason to believe the way they do. We might think that many of them are crazy (and maybe some of them are). Of course some of them think that we have no valid reasons to think the way we do, and some of them think that we're crazy. But they still vote.

Of course we vote too, but there are enough of them to have an impact. They may be more powerful some places than others. But the bottom line is there would always be some level of gun control.

Of course there's the Second Amendment. But there is also a long line of judicial precedent for the proposition that Constitutionally protected rights may be subject to limited governmental regulation, subject to certain standards. How much regulation will pass muster remains to be seen. But the bottom line, again, is that we are unlikely to see all gun control thrown out by the courts; and we will therefore always have to live with some level of gun control.

How much or how little control we are saddled with will depend. It will depend in part on how well we can win the hearts and minds of the fence sitters. It will depend on how well we can acquire and maintain political and economic power and how adroitly we wield it. It will depend on how skillfully we handle post Heller and McDonald litigation.

So whether or not we like it, whether or not we think the Second Amendment allows it and notwithstanding what we think the Founding Fathers would have thought about it, we will have to live with some forms of gun control. We're left with opportunities to influence how much.


vito said:
...Until such time as we have the Supreme Court rule on the legality of national concealed carry we will be denied our rights as Americans....
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This can be a two-edged sword. In general, federal imposition of nationally uniform law tends to rely on an expansive reading of the Commerce Clause. But we in the gun community lean toward a politically conservative perspective and would rather not see any further expansion of the Commerce Clause. On the other hand, in other contexts we rail at the confusion created by a hodgepodge of state gun laws that comes from the federal government not occupying the field.
 
Sometimes the choice to visit or not visit a non-free state is a complicated decision. I left NY 47 years ago and avoid going back more than I need to. But one of my "needs" is to visit and pay respect to my 98 year old mother who resides in a NY nursing home. I may not have many more chances to see her, so even though I abhor going to NYC, I will go anyway.
 
While I respect you need to visit your mother, the use of free or non-free state doesn't get us anywhere. States vary in the ways they try to infringe on basic liberties. Your view of such may vary with others.

Thus, one might characterize a state as anti or progun. But I certainly can find states that might have good gun laws but try to curtail various other personal freedoms.

It is not a useful blanket description.

Good people live in most states and fight for civil liberties of all kinds.
 
"In democracies as well as dictatorships, subordinates illegally obey their rulers. Subordinates who remain true to their oaths of office by opposing their rulers are rare."
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Thank you Mr. Snowden............a true hero
 
When will all Americans enjoy the freedom of the 2nd Amendment?
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Unless there is a total breakdown in the current system, I don't think that freedom will ever be complete and uniform across all 50 states and DC. The anti-gun strongholds are too "secure" in some areas where the people have abdicated their rights.
 
Im not all that fond of concealed carry. I would much rather see them out on display. You don't see very many policemen being mugged.
 
Quite a few police are shot with their own gun. Look it up.

Civilians are not as well trained as police (yes, YOU are - blah, blah).

Near where I live a member of a SWAT team had that terrible fate.
 
Glenn is correct, many of officers shot that I know of was with their own gun. That's also why many use guns with magazine disconnects
 
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