Posted on 06/02/2005 5:16:17 AM PDT by Puppage
In what world are crimes NOT defined by governments?
In my mind, they are guilty of nothing except being old. More guns, more guns.
I will tell you exactly what your judgment would be - $0.00. Minus whatever money you spent on a lawyer chasing this will-0-the-wisp.
Notice that the article says that he was only CHARGED with selling the weapons, not convicted. Apparently he was NOT convicted or he wouldn't have been allowed to keep his guns or continue buying them.
Staying at a Holiday Inn Express last night doesn't make you a lawyer.
If you gree that those laws are UnConstitutional, then what crime has this guy committed? Operating a business without a license? Not exactly a felony there.
He was target & set up by the feds (Entrapment). So was Randy Weaver. The feds saw fit to shoot his wife while she was holding their infant. An interesting fact that the person who shot Weaver's wife was also at WACO shooting his rifle at the Branch Davidian compound. Your screen name just seems so appropriate. What an excellent choice.
At this point, the information on any conviction is unknown. I'll agree that that is curious in in line with the usual media smear, but we still don't know for sure. If he was guilty as charged, believe me, it is possible for anyone with wealth to acquire such a collection from scratch in the intervening 31 years.
About 200 guns were found in the basement, about 100 more in the attic, about 100 in a garage, and 60 in the television room, the chief said.
Ammunition turned up for guns that weren't even found in the home, he said, adding that the Raymonds also had illegal, high-capacity magazine clips.
Ah, the dreaded "high-capacity magazine clips". I'm guessing that the "illegal" part refers to a state law.
"There is a Federal RKBA clause. They don't need the State Constitution redundance."
Oh, as a point of "legal belief", I agree with both of you. It just appears to me that those states wherein there is a SPECIFIC CLAUSE enumerating the RKBA in the state constitutions, gun owners are having much the easier time defending their rights.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
I didn't say that unrestricted sales of Class III weapons was something I agreed with - only that I have have no problems with their sale under current laws. In fact, I'd like to see a return to the pre-1987 (?) status for sales of new manfacture Class III weapons.
As expected.
That wasn't the question, but to answer yours....In a world with a *Republican* form of government.
The question I asked was WHERE does our government get its authority to define crime?
Can YOU find it in the Constitution?
I can't.
__________________________________________________________________
The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others.
Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 17, 1782
"The constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests."
--Patrick Henry
"When all government, in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the Center of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated."
– Thomas Jefferson
Of the Simplicity of Criminal Laws in different Governments
In republican governments, men are all equal;
equal they are also in despotic governments:
in the former, because they are everything;
in the latter, because they are nothing.
THE SPIRIT OF LAWS Book VI
By Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu
(One of the treatise used by the Founders in shaping our government)
Geez, I hope that by the time I'm 82 years old I'll be fortunate enough to have accumulated an assortment of 500 firearms and 100k rds of ammo.
He will save a lot of money by going to a free prison that takes good care of the elderly, instead of a private nursing home which would cost him $5000 a month. If you have alzheimers, or are dibilitated and cant get out anyway, why not go to a place that will take care of you in your old age for free?
If you want to own guns, don't live in New Jersey. Even the people in charge of enforcing the laws (like during hunting season) get confused about what is and is not allowed.
We have a collection of antique rifles, a number of shotguns and a deer rifle, a couple of pistols, and some repro black powder weapons.
I have images of people talking about the arsenal in my gun safe, how we have a sniper weapon and assault guns. And wait til they see the antique civil war and Indian war bayonettes.
I agree there. However, it shouldn't be necessary. The Texas legislature passed a bunch of Laws changing certain portions of our firearms laws. Why do those laws exist in the first place? In Texas? Why not just follow Alaska's example?
Republican governments define crime just like all others. Not only did you NOT ask the question posed in your response but none of your quotations have any relevance to this issue.
Now if you are asking where does the Federal government get the right to decide what is a crime or not try looking under the powers of the Congress. State governments are similiarly empowered by their constitutions to enact criminal laws not in conflict with the US Constitution. The fedgov power is irrelevant to this since the actions were those of the State.
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