Writing at Forbes, journalist Chris Dorsey says there is a looming “showdown” over Second Amendment rights and efforts by the government under Democrats Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to push a gun control agenda.
With the death of conservative pro-Second Amendment national talk radio icon Rush Limbaugh, other conservative broadcasters will remain to energize grassroots activists. From all indications, they’ll have their hands full.
However, the Forbes piece takes a hard look at the possibility federal gun control laws pushed through by the Biden administration will not be enforced by sheriffs’ departments across the nation because local lawmen will refuse to enforce statutes they believe to be unconstitutional.
When Biden recently used the third anniversary of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida to demand Congress “enact common sense gun law reforms,” he ignited a backlash among gun rights activists. According to American gun owners, there is nothing “common sense” about Biden’s extremist agenda. He wants states to require licenses before people can buy firearms. He wants a one-gun-a-month limit on firearms purchases. He favors banning so-called “assault rifles” and “high capacity magazines,” which Dorsey notes is dishonest.
He quotes the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), which asserts, “President Biden’s demand that Congress ban the modern sporting rifle (MSR), which he knowingly mislabels as an ‘assault rifle’ and ‘weapon of war,’ denies the reality that more murders are committed with knives, fists and clubs than all rifles combined.”
With the National Rifle Association under fire from the governor and attorney general of New York, there is the impression the organization is somewhat on the ropes. Alan Gottlieb, founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation, told the Christian Science Monitor, “Obviously, it’s not good for the firearms rights community to have the NRA filing bankruptcy. Of course, most of us in various groups around the country are trying to pick up the slack as quickly as we can.”
And White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki recently told reporters Biden is “not afraid of standing up to the NRA.”
But the showdown to which Forbes alludes will likely erupt with county sheriffs taking the lead. Dorsey’s report refers to the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, which represents “thousands of deputies nationwide.”
“Many of them have gone on-record saying that they will not enforce laws that they view as unconstitutional,” Dorsey noted.
An observation by Larry Keane, NSSF senior vice president and general counsel, adds this perspective: “As elected officials and law enforcement officers, Sheriffs take an oath to defend the constitution. That oath extends to the Second Amendment which the Supreme Court held applies to the States and local government. Sheriffs have a legal obligation not to enforce laws that blatantly violate the Second Amendment.”
SAF, meanwhile, is on the offensive. It has been reaching out to gun owners for contributions and other support. In a recent email message, SAF warned, “Right now, Joe Biden and his gun-ban ring leaders in Washington, DC are promising to pass a disastrous anti-gun rights agenda that will COMPLETELY GUT the Second Amendment.
“Gun haters in the media are pouring fuel on the fire by VICIOUSLY ATTACKING every gun rights group and any pro-gun Congressman or Senator who dares stand up for your freedom,” the alert continued.
“Make no mistake,” says SAF. “They’re attacking your Right to Keep and Bear Arms because they don’t think America’s gun owners and YOU have the nerve or the backbone to stand in their way.”
If there is a showdown, the gun prohibition lobby may suddenly find out how wrong they are.
