Dear Conservative,
A few weeks ago, we told you about the tragic case of Shaneen Allen, a single mother from Pennsylvania who brought her otherwise legal firearm into the gun-control State of New Jersey.
Ms. Allen is a trained gun owner with a Pennsylvania License to Carry a Firearm (LCF). She mistakenly believed that, like her drivers license, her LCF would be honored in the State of New Jersey. This proved to be a tragic mistake.
Ms. Allen drove into New Jersey with a handgun in her purse. When she was pulled over by a police officer for a minor traffic violation, she voluntarily admitted that she had a firearm in her car (something that the State of Pennsylvania suggests that gun owners do).
The rest is history. New Jersey has the “Graves Act,” which is a law that prescribes mandatory minimums for people caught illegally possessing a handgun without a New Jersey permit. Even though the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the individual right to bear arms, New Jersey restricts that right. Unless you are well connected or happen to be sleeping with a judge, it is impossible to get a carry license in New Jersey.
Shaneen Allen, like so many others who came before, mistakenly believed that gun-control states like New Jersey would honor the constitution.
The truth is that in these gun control dystopias (opposite of utopia), instances like this are far too common.
For example, people trying to fly out of New York’s JFK airport with a firearm are routinely arrested for unlawfully possessing a gun. Even though Congress passed the 1986 Firearm Owner Protection Act, protecting interstate travel with firearms, these liberal courts have always sided with the states.
Gun control laws are designed to ensnare law-abiding citizens. These laws do nothing to stop illegal gun owners and only serve to punish the otherwise law-abiding!
Shaneen Allen is an African-American single mother. She owns a gun for protection after personally experiencing several robberies. She owns a gun because she realizes that government will not always be there to protect her.
However, the State of New Jersey is about to sentence this non-violent offender to a 3-year minimum prison sentence, even though the state’s laws conflict with the Second Amendment. The prosecutor could have shown leniency, but he has chosen to throw the book at her.
Most people will think that this case doesn’t matter because it doesn’t affect them. I am here to tell you that not only is that logic flawed, but also it is dead wrong.
As long as there are laws on the books suppressing Second Amendment rights for some people, then we are all oppressed! There are no “shades of grey” when it comes to constitutional rights. Either the Second Amendment applies to all of us, or it applies to none of us!
There is no doubt that Shaneen Allen broke the law when she brought her licensed handgun into the State of New Jersey. But just because it is the law doesn’t mean we should take it lying down!
Martin Luther King, quoting St. Augustine, said that an “unjust law is no law at all.” As American citizens, we have a right – nay, a duty – to oppose all unjust laws!
I used to live in New Jersey, behind the gun control iron curtain, and I can tell you that there are MILLIONS of Americans who are living in states where their Second Amendment rights are being denied.
In New Jersey, for example, it is illegal to possess a handgun outside the home unless the state gives you permission. Massachusetts just passed a law that gives the police the authority to prevent citizens from even owning a gun, for no reason at all!
I am an expert on the U.S. Constitution, and I am telling you that when the Founding Fathers wrote the phrase “shall not be infringed” into the Bill of Rights, they meant to protect against just these types of circumstances! The Supreme Court has already ruled that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms.
It is easy to read about these stories and come to the conclusion that people like Shaneen Allen ‘should have known the laws.’ I agree that ignorance of the law is no excuse. But it is also important to remember that there is no obligation to obey an unjust law!
Most people will read this article and see it as a warning not to travel with a firearm to these gun control states.
I challenge you to see this not as a warning, but rather as an opportunity to stand as ONE against these unconstitutional gun control laws!
Man has an inalienable right to defend himself in public. The Supreme Court has ruled that police officers have no constitutional duty to protect citizens. Considering how the police don’t have to protect you, that responsibility falls to individual citizens.
However, for a whopping 26% of Americans, there are laws in place that deny them the opportunity to defend themselves in public!
I am here to tell you that the Second Amendment doesn’t apply to more than a QUARTER of all Americans and I refuse to just sit back and watch as a quarter of all Americans have their rights trampled on!
In states like New York, New Jersey, California, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and the District of Columbia, citizens are being denied their fundamental right to defend themselves in public. When you calculate the number of Americans who live in these states, that adds up to 26.15% of the total U.S. Population!
People who live in Guam, a U.S. territory, now have more rights than those who live in these gun control states! Think about that for a second...
Despite the Constitution promising American citizens the right to carry a weapon, Liberal states across the country are forcing residents to prove why they need to carry. No one asked Rosa Parks why she needed to sit at the front of the bus and no one has asked Oliver L. Brown why his African-American children needed to attend the White schools in Topeka, Kansas. It would be unconscionable to apply a “justifiable need” or “substantial reason” test to any other part of the Bill of Rights. Yet through our silence, we continue to allow the Democrats in Congress and the State Legislatures to violate the rights of our fellow Americans without fear of repercussion.
It is called the Bill of Rights, not the Bill of Needs. If you continue to accept clear civil rights violations in states like New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and California, then Congress will see your silence as a show of support!
But if you raise your voice, if we all raise our voices to tell Congress that this assault on Americans’ Second Amendment rights is UNACCEPTABLE, then success is possible!
As long as the Second Amendment is denied to one group of Americans, then ALL OF OUR RIGHTS are in jeopardy!
If there is to be any chance of restoring Second Amendment rights to ALL Americans, then we need to stand as ONE and tell Congress that these violations will not be tolerated!
Not resting until the fight is won,
Max McGuire
Conservative Daily
Advocacy Director
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