Are Some US Towns Using Coronavirus As Cover To Attack Gun Rights?

P. Gardner Goldsmith | March 16, 2020
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Increasing anxiety over the spread of COVID19 appears to be yielding another powerful danger: a clear rise in government overreach. And now, at a time when US residents are worried about food shortages and looting, when they are driving firearms sales to new heights in order to prepare, numerous bureaucrats and government “officials” are making it impossible for them to legally own their guns.

On March 12, Champaign, Illinois, Mayor Deborah Frank Feinen signed a “Declaration of Emergency” in which she claimed for herself the power to ban the sale of alcohol, the sale of gas to be stored in tanks not attached to cars, and the sale of "food, water, clothing, and/or other commodities, materials, goods, services and resources…” including firearms.

Order the discontinuance of selling, distributing, dispensing or giving away of explosives or explosive agents, firearms or ammunition of any character whatsoever;

She claimed the power forcibly to remove any person from his or her home, to shut off power and communication lines, to control all roads and avenues of egress or ingress, to stop anyone from starting fires in their hearths, to close any business, to take over any piece of private property, including a private home, cut off city water, and much more.

All of this coming from a “non-partisan” former Republican who, upon taking office, swore an oath to protect and defend the US Constitution. Indeed, the Constitution, the so-called rulebook that not only prohibits any agency of government from infringing on the right to keep and bear arms, it prohibits the taking of land without so-called "just compensation". And, get this, upon receiving complaints as word of her “declaration” spread, the Mayor’s office issued a “clarification” to all of us dummies out here in Dummyland.

It was, of course, a verbal sleight-of-hand non-denial.

As Katie Pavlich reports for TownHall:

The city is attempting to clarify, by claiming specific details in their own declaration, which you can read below, don't exist. 

In fact, in a Tweet, the Champaign Ministry of Truth (wink-wink) even offered this toweringly insulting line:

To be clear, there is currently no firearm ban, and no intent to seize property or close businesses.

Well knock us over with feathers. The point at issue is not that the city is currently engaging in such malicious and evil actions; it’s that the mayor claimed the power to do so, that doing so is unconstitutional and immoral, and she has not reversed her position.

These are the blowhards who incessantly tell people “the government will protect you”, even as they make it harder to protect yourself and look at you as a pariah for noting their threats.

And the dangerous, aggressive mentality is spreading. On March 14, WesternMassNews reported that the Massachusetts rulers of Northampton, Easthampton, Chicopee, and Greenfield are suspending gun-carry licensing, with the “excuse” of the “emergency” of the virus.

And, as of the night of Sunday, March 15, YouTube creator Jared, of Guns and Gadgets (where I first heard about those towns engaging in this activity) is reporting that the list of MA towns that will not issue or renew “to-carry” gun licenses has more than tripled. MRCTV contacted several communities that Jared listed to confirm, that indeed, the list is growing: Middleborough, Franklin (they will renew online), Norton (canceled for the next two weeks ), Dighton (for thirty days at least), Mansfield (one month prohibition), Salisbury (stopped for two weeks, due to staffing situations, West Newbury (suspended until further notice), Mendon (stopped until April 1, upon which time the Chief will “reassess” the situation, according to Dispatch), and Medford (paused, no word on when they will re-start for renewal or new licenses).

Jared, of Guns and Gadets, is a police officer in Massachusetts, and he is one of the few “law enforcement” figures speaking out about this. His words?

Any right delayed is a right denied.

Funny, but in a damned emergency, people have to PROTECT THEMSELVES, especially if, as noted above, supply lines could go fallow, and predatory thieves and abusers could be spurred to take advantage of strained “police” forces, members of which could be depleted DUE TO ILLNESS.

This is a huge deal, whether the bureaucrats are using COVID19 as opportunistic cover to further their anti-gun leftist agendas, or they simply can’t handle the “licensing offices” to do the job of “granting people permission” to do something they shouldn’t have to get permission to do BECAUSE THEY HAVE AN INHERENT RIGHT TO CARRY FIREARMS.

If this is ‘just” a practical problem (Jared has noted that there are easy ways to avoid physical contact to allow people to get their “licenses” or get them renewed), it exposes a major practical reason why it’s disastrous to have government license gun ownership.

Simply put, when the government “licensing office” shuts down, so does your ability to legally get a gun without government arresting you later.

And this exposes the deeper philosophical problem of all licensing, especially that of gun licensing…

If you have to get “permission” to exercise a right to engage in ANY peaceful activity such as speech, or travel, or trade, or ownership of a gun for self-defense, you’re not “exercising” any right. Your home is not yours – in Champaign, Ill, or anywhere. Your ability to trade is not real. Your ability to speak is as ephemeral as a gust of wind, and your God-given life is not your own.

You’re a beggar, a trained serf, living at your master’s command.

You have the dignity of God-given rights. Government is not a business. It is not voluntary. It can exist only by infringing on your basic human dignity in order to tax you.

Let’s remember these principles during this time of fear, and let’s stand up for our dignity before there’s none left.

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