Posted on 11/10/2005 5:55:07 AM PST by shortstop
“San Francisco” is a Spanish phrase that means “heads up their butts.”
At least it did earlier this week.
On Tuesday the people of San Francisco went to the polls and decided to castrate the Bill of Rights.
By a margin of 58-42, they decided that they didn’t want the Second Amendment anymore. Specifically, voters approved a resolution to outlaw the sale and possession of handguns and handgun ammunition.
Those who already own such guns will be required to surrender them to the police by April Fools Day or face the prospect of arrest.
America’s dumbest city just got dumber.
The proposition is intended to stop gun violence. With 88 homicides in the last year, the dim bulbs by the bay have decided that if they only outlaw handguns people will live in peace and harmony.
So everybody will be disarmed by spring.
At least everybody who obeys the law.
Which would leave everybody else armed to the teeth. And – surprise, surprise – it turns out that San Francisco’s violence is being done with illegal guns anyway.
So law-abiding people – who are not hurting anyone with their guns – will be disarmed and the law-breaking people – who are actually committing the crimes – will be packing heat.
Call this the Victim Disarmament Act of 2005.
This won’t end violence, it will just make it safer to be a crook. Without the good guys stripped of their ability to defend themselves, the bad guys will sleep easier at night.
And the Constitution will be disregarded even more.
Because while most people aren’t legal experts, they do realize that if some law tells you that you can’t do what the Constitution tells you you can do, and it’s the law that trumps, then the Constitution has been reduced to toilet paper status.
And the fruits and nuts of San Francisco don’t have that right. They don’t have the right to erase the Second Amendment – either for themselves or for visitors. Free Americans are free Americans, even in San Francisco.
And the Second Amendment is the Second Amendment, even in San Francisco.
A community cannot vote to suspend freedom of religion or freedom of speech, and neither can it vote to suspend the right to keep and bear arms.
The Constitution can be amended; its provisions can be changed.
But not like this.
This is an act of rebellion and disobedience to the Constitution which governs this land. The people of San Francisco may be too stupid to appreciate freedom, but they don’t have the right to throw it away. They can wear flowers in their hair, but they can’t trample on fundamental American rights.
And the right to own a gun, even a handgun, is one of those.
The Bill of Rights is clear. Americans have the right to “keep and bear arms.” “Keep” means own and “bear” means carry. And “arms” is not limited to rifles and shotguns. It includes handguns. And the era of ignoring this part of the Constitution must end.
Jim Crow laws were an immoral denial of constitutional rights. So are ridiculous gun-control laws. Such infringements of Second Amendment civil liberties must be resisted and reversed – just as laws which denied Fourteenth Amendment civil liberties were resisted and reversed.
This right is in the Constitution, no matter how much San Francisco may wish it were otherwise.
And the voters of a single city may not overrule the charter of an entire nation.
This law is wrong. You can’t pick and choose when it comes to civil rights. You cannot vote chains to enslave yourself or your neighbor. You cannot surrender freedom.
It’s not the American way.
This law will be challenged in the courts, as it should be. It should be rejected on a variety of grounds. It disrespects the Constitution, it defies common sense and it won’t work.
Because guns don’t kill people.
People kill people.
And lawful gun owners aren’t a threat to public safety, they are protectors of public safety. Targeting them in an effort to fight crime will only foster crime and turn good citizens into potential victims.
This is a ridiculous law.
From a ridiculous city.
They can live the way they want, but they can’t mess with the Constitution.
This law must die in the courts.
Do you have a link that works?
This is the way I look at it, we never have really had a city in the US to look at in which the citizens werent armed. Once crime starts spiriling out of control, this will provide a clear message that gun control doesnt work, and possibly sending a message to the anti-gunners that their philosophy doesnt work.
Not me brother!
FMCDH!
Molon Labe.
Washington D.C. has such a law also. It also has one of the highest homicide rates in the nation. Libs do not see that as invalidating the gun policy though.
They can stay in business, just no selling of handguns or handgun ammunition...Hmmmm what about "dual use" ammo?
It's also long gone. It closed down a couple of years ago - largely due to pressure from the same players in city government who were behind this ballot proposition.
This particular ordinance is contrary to California state law and presumably will be struck down on that basis. But the battle will continue to be fought until such time as the Supremes make the definitive ruling.
Hasn't the DC law been challenged in court?
well, i dont think this is really that bad. ok, a couple of things have to happen to make me support it. first, take every gay gun away, including the shells. next, advertise in all islamic papers world wide that san francisco is open to forced conversion. two problems solved at one time.
Some other idiot court (surprise, it wasn't the 9th) ruled that the 2nd Amendment did not apply to the states.
Just damn...I spent many a saturday afternoon in there shopping, looking at their collections and just chatting with other folks. Always got a kick out of that MG they used to keep mounted on the upper level. Like I said, a real piece of history...gone.
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