Jon Stokes claims to be a “gun industry insider”, and claims he goes to church on Sunday with his 9 mm tucked inside his fanciest jeans. A quick Intertubz search tells me the first is rather a stretch and totally fails to confirm the rest. However, he’s written a thought piece that should be given a read: A Gun Nut’s Guide to Gun Control That Works
Now, stop yelling. Yes, it’s on Politico, so that’s Strike One. Yes, he says “gun control”, so there’s Strike Two. Yes, when you read it and he goes on and on AND ON about those uber-deadly semi-automatic rifles and it becomes painfully obvious that the guy’s never been to a SASS match in his life and seen what people can do with lever actions, well, that’s Strike Three, and in any normal baseball game he’s out.
We, my friends, are not in any normal baseball game. He points that out, although I believe he overstates his case. And while we appear to have once again beaten back our enemies this time; as has been often pointed out, we have to win every time and they only have to win once.
He’s correct when he points out that “Our side faces a potent new enemy in the form of private-sector companies like REI, Delta Airlines, Citibank, YouTube and Reddit, which are taking an increasingly anti-gun stance.” Add to that Bank of America, Yeti, Enterprise Holdings, Hertz, TrueCar, Walmart, Kroger, LL Bean and the list goes on. There are a lot of private companies out there who have not been against us before who are against us now. This does not bode well for us, at least at the moment. At best, we have some significant damage control to do. At worst, we’ve taken a significant hit that we won’t recover from.
If it’s the latter, then we had better consider a Plan B, because our traditional Plan A, otherwise known as “Because Fuck You!” isn’t going to work so well for us.
While his proposal for a federal license for semi-auto long guns isn’t something I can support, it might be something we could work from. Just for fun, what if they tossed in all NFA items plus national concealed carry reciprocity in addition to his proposal, then what would you think of it? A sort of one-stop license for all of it. Maybe we have to cough up semi-auto pistols to keep the other side happy. (Remember Jerry Miculek–we aren’t giving up much).
Yeah, it gets a little harder to say “Hell No!” and be all Second Amendment Absolutist when the Giggle Switch comes into play, doesn’t it?
Just sayin’.
once you get special licensing for certain types of guns (that are NOT Full AUtO) then they will simply move the goalposts to "rate of fire" and "Magazine capacity"….and pretty soon you'll be left with a single shot bolt or break action rifle…Then they will want restriction on amount of ammo you can buy (and later, possess) and then the types of ammo…some will be "too Powerful" and such
While I see your point, I think that this is, rather the opening wedge disguised as "Common Sense Gun Control"….do.
Licensing does nothing to prevent violence that a NICS check does not already
Not One Inch Further. Yes, I know folks think that that is a losing game, but so is capitulation.
I'll stick with Plan A. His plan is just another nibble of the cake.
Lawdog's Cake Analogy
https://thelawdogfiles.blogspot.com/2010/09/ok-ill-play.html
You know, I've waited a week, and I simply can't get any takers. It's hard to play Devil's Advocate when so few people want to play. 🙂
B, what you say is true, but the problem with your argument is that it's already happening. I'm sure you as well as I can name a dozen places that have magazine restrictions, have special licensing for guns other than full auto and so on. We're not debating something that isn't already happening, what we're trying to do is take that card off the table, at least on a semi-reliable basis. Obviously, as you say they can move the goalposts, but they're trying that now with moves to repeal the Second Amendment. What the guy is proposing is a way to reset the table and tip the rules, if not in our favor, at least not in their favor. Like I said, Im not going to support it as is, but you throw in all the stuff that they've managed to take from us since 1934 and we can talk.
Jim, I've read LawDog's piece, and as far as it goes I agree. But we're not talking a compromise, we're talking a reset and a new set of rules. Obviously no guarantees, but at a minimum it would take all of their biggest and most popular arguments off the table, not by giving them what they want, but by making it possible for us to keep what we have under a different legal framework. It seems to me it would work like a CCW–you can have a CCW without owning a gun. You could have the semi-auto license without owning one, or you could have it and own a safe full–they aren't being tracked.
In any event, I doubt this goes anywhere, any more than the whiny kids from Florida are going anywhere–if you don't count that big win in their legislature. But I can't help being concerned about the whole "We have to win every time, they only have to win once" thing. That's a high stakes bet with our civil rights. I'd sure like to hedge that sucker somehow.
Crap. That first sentence should read "many takers".
Freeholder, I've been thinking over the article and your points. There already exists a license for all of the NFA items. It's called a class 3 FFL. The only thing it doesn't have is a nationwide CCW. If the other side opened with adding nationwide CCW to a class 3 FFL and made it cheaper and more accessible, I might, MIGHT, be willing to talk. However, the anti 2A crowd has proven repeatedly that they can't be trusted to stop pushing to further restrict 2A rights. They always want "just a little more" or "just one more thing". That only leaves the option of being unwilling to budge any further. There is no more room to back up to help start the conversation.