You may or may not have seen this letter circulating the web. This letter is inciting a lot of controversy. Please read it, but the jist is that this person has received this letter because he owns rifles that hold more than 5 rounds of ammunition at a time in the New York City limit.Since firearm owners in NYC must register their firearms, of course they have record of every gun you legally own. If the guns you own do not abide by their specific rules (in his case 5 round max) they force you to sell it, move it or surrender it. This ladies and gent's in gun confiscation 101.
Being from the good ole' South, I had to look into this. I've never heard of a local government telling its people to hand over their guns. Now, from my research, the rules inside NYC are more stringent than those of the state (the NY SAFE Act is a whole other topic). From what I read, this regulation has been on the books for some time now. Here is what I have a problem with. If you live or move to NYC with a legal firearm in the rest of the country, you must permanently modify the weapon to comply, sell it or literally give it to the local police. Wait a cotton-pickin' minute... I can buy, say a Ruger 10/22 with a 10 rd magazine in New Jersey, then move into the City and suddenly it becomes illegal? How does geographical location make a gun any more or less dangerous? Aside from the the magazine capacity, the city also bans features like collapsing stocks, pistol grip, fore grip, bayonet mounts, flash suppressors or a thumb hole stock. Explain to me how these features make a gun more lethal. Seriously, someone tell me how, when I had my telescoping stock to my Ruger 10/22, it somehow becomes evil and hellbent on destruction?
So here we are in NYC where 80% of firearms are not legal to own, who is going to enforce the rules? Well the local law enforcement of course. Oh, but did I mention that current and retired law enforcement are exempt from these rules? So they are allowed to have them but you aren't? Ya, that seems fair.I'm fairly certain that's how dictatorships and mass murder/genocides start (See Stalin and Hitler).
Now, as far as I know, it's not like the local police are going door to door in riot gear demanding people give up their guns. But I'm not saying it couldn't lead up to that either. This is why the idea of universal background checks do not sit well with many gun owning citizens. Its not that we all own illegal black fully auto silenced firearms once owned by the KGB and frequently trade them in a dark alley some where. Don't get me wrong, on the surface it sounds like a good idea to keeps firearms out of the hands that have proven themselves unworthy to own them. But, if you follow the bouncing ball, for universal background checks to work, everyone must register their guns. Obviously if they weren't registered, how would we know they changed hands. Once they are registered, new laws can and would get passed changing what you are legally allowed to own. Then letters like the one above start getting sent to everyone stating you must modify your firearm or give it up. Then, since you didn't comply due to cost or disagreement with the law, you have a bunch of people with firearms coming to your door telling you to give up yours. Sounds like Utopia doesn't it?
It's states like New York, California or Massachusetts that are the breeding ground for this level of gun confiscation, and dare I say it, tyranny. I believe that a government that preemptively bans firearms to its citizens is one that does not trust its citizens to make informed decisions. A quote from Benjamin Franklin states "Never trust a government that doesn't trust its own citizens with guns." Its places like New York who have attempted to pass laws banning soda size, salt and smoking outdoors. Really? Does the NY government think its people are too stupid to handle these items on an individual basis and must legislatively dictated? I will drink my Big Gulp, eat my sodium drenched fries and have a cigar if I damn well please!
So when did the idea of personal responsibility go out the window? When did the government suddenly know what is best for everyone? Last time I checked, this was the land of the free, not the heavily regulated.
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