On the heels of a nationwide disruption of the 911 emergency services system, a Washington State-based national gun rights group declared the crash to be “a reminder that the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms has hardly outlived its usefulness,” which is bitterly ironic to young adults who will see their Second Amendment-protected right to bear arms impaired and infringed due to passage of an anti-gun initiative in November.
This comes as gun rights groups are challenging gun control laws in California, New Jersey gun owners are facing criminal prosecution over the ammunition capacity of their gun magazines, and a group in Florida wants to amend that state’s constitution on gun rights.
These developments raise an important question: Will 2019 be the “year of the Showdown” on Second Amendment rights?
The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in a statement about the 911 system crash reminded citizens that the disruption was something of wake-up call about being “on your own” in an emergency. That’s when having a gun in the hand beats having a police dispatcher on the telephone.
“Typically in a life-threatening emergency,” noted CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “a call for help means police or sheriff’s deputies may be several minutes to maybe an hour away. But when the 911 emergency services system crashes, the police won’t even answer the telephone, and that means that citizens are on their own.”
Anti-gunners dislike such reality-based rhetoric.
“The use of firearms for personal protection saves innocent lives, which is why more than 17 million citizens are licensed to carry, and that number is growing every day.”—Alan Gottlieb, CCRKBA
But an incident in Florida the other day further underscores the value of being armed. According to Fox News, a city commissioner in Palmetto had to shoot an intruder in his garage. That suspect, identified as Avelino Misreal Vasquez-Perez, was allegedly fleeing from local police after crashing a car into another house.
Commissioner Brian Williams shot the suspect twice Local Police Chief Scott Tyler told reporters that Williams was “lawfully defending home and family” and will not be charged.
Washington’s new gun control law will not be actively enforced by a growing number of lawmen. Many cite constitutional concerns, and rights activists argue that no constitutionally-protected right can be subjected to a popularity contest or public vote. That’s not how rights work.
The Second Amendment Foundation and National Rifle Association are challenging the Evergreen State’s gun control initiative in federal court.
Several gun rights organizations have sued the Trump administration in federal court over the ban on bump stocks.
In separate actions, SAF and the Calguns Foundation are seeking Supreme Court review of their lawsuit challenging California’s extremist handgun regulations, while CCRKBA is asking the high court to review its challenge of the 50-year-old prohibition on interstate handgun sales.
Grassroots activists in several states are bracing for upcoming legislative sessions in which Democrats have made no secret of their intention to push for stricter gun laws. And nobody has forgotten the threats from incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that gun control will be high on her party’s agenda when Congress convenes later this week.
Perhaps something CCRKBA’s Gottlieb said in reaction to last week’s emergency services crash summed up the situation heading into 2019. He implored the pubic to question any legislation designed to hamper the ability of citizens to exercise their constitutional right to keep and bear arms.
“We cannot allow our self-defense rights to be nullified by legislation that would prevent honest citizens from having the necessary tools to defend our lives, and the lives of our loved ones,” he observed.
