The new in-thing: state-sanctioned discrimination
By JIM MATTHEWS www.OutdoorNewsService.com
State and federal lawmakers are not only condoning discrimination, they are codifying and making government discrimination mandatory.
You would think that a country that has been struggling since the before the Civil War to end racial discrimination would be as sensitive to all types of ignorant and needless discrimination against people who are different in ways other than race.
But we are actually moving in the opposite direction. We are passing laws that are nothing but discriminatory. They affect no positive change except to punish the people targeted in the legislation.
Think about it. Think of news you’ve heard from across California and the country that attempt to regulate our behavior.
If you believe in disciplining your own children with a swat on the butt, you are discriminated against.
If you think you should be able to buy a large soda for the rush-hour, stop-and-go drive home, you are discriminated against.
If you are European descent and grew up eating horse meat, you are discriminated against.
If you want to own a fur coat, you are discriminated against.
If you want to smoke, you are discriminated against.
You and I might not do any of those things ourselves, but do we have the right to tell other people they can’t do those things or tax them and regulate them far beyond what could be justified “for the public good”?
Well, apparently at least some of the populace believes we should and we have. And we are doing it more and more. The politically-correct police are getting laws passed because they simply don’t like something or because they “think” it’s a good idea. Even when it discriminates against a group of people who do that thing and “know” the law is a bad idea.
There is one gun control law on Governor Jerry Brown’s desk waiting for his signature (or hopefully his veto) that makes thinking people howl about the stupidity and discrimination contained in that bill, a bill that passed our enlightened legislature.
This is a bill that eliminates due process and could make all gun owners guilty of an unspecified crime until they are proven innocent. You read that right: Guilty until PROVEN innocent.
Jason Kissner of the American Thinker website called AB 1014, “the most draconian and flagrantly unconstitutional bill in the state’s, and maybe even the nation’s, history.”
Authored by assemblyperson Nancy Skinner (D-Loontown), the bill would allow anyone to claim that a gun owner is dangerous to himself or someone else, and with the help of some local magistrate have local law enforcement seize that person’s property (the firearms) without any due process. No hearing. No arguments.
They come, kick down the door, and haul your private property away. (They will probably haul you away, too, if you protest at all.) And they do this all because your neighbor is afraid of guns. There doesn’t even have to be any compelling evidence that you are a threat to anyone, just that you own a gun. The gun owner is essentially convicted with no evidence and no trial.
The only requirement is that your neighbor be a convincing liar or act frightened. Or your ex-husband. Or a co-worker who thought they should have received the promotion you received. Or…. Well, you get the point.
What are the odds of getting our guns back? Well, we’ll get one shot to prove our innocence two weeks after the guns are taken. And even if that goes well, what is the likelihood that our guns will come back in the same condition they were taken, if at all? Will the police let us help them package them for transport? Will they pay for any damages? Will we have to sue for any missing firearms?
And the law doesn’t say what the police should do with any ammunition on hand. Surely that will be taken, too, and since there’s no provision for its return….
Is your head ready to explode? Naw, you’re among the nearly 80 percent of Californians who don’t own a gun and you really don’t like guns or guns owners anyway. (Yes, most of us are Conservatives who believe in the Constitution. How stupidly arcane, right?) But when do you see these kinds of things as infringing on your rights? Does it have to affect you directly? Will you pay attention when you have to register as an alcohol drinker to buy beer or wine and pay an additional tax on the beverage under the guise of stopping drunk driving? Would you wake up when you are required to take a “drunk driving awareness” course before you can buy alcohol?
Would you? Well, gun owners have to do these things now. Yet, an equal number of people are killed by drunk drivers as firearms each year, and alcohol-related deaths and costs to society are thousands of times greater than firearms. So doesn’t it make sense to register all alcohol drinkers? Make them pay a fee each time they buy booze? Make them take training and awareness courses on drunk driving or the dangers of drinking? Shouldn’t the cops be allowed to come to your door and take all your booze if a neighbor says they were sure you were driving drunk two days ago?
When will you see this gun legislation (all gun legislation) for what it actually is? This is discrimination. It has nothing to do with preventing gun violence. It is about discrimination against a huge class of people you don’t know or like? It is about ignorance and an unwillingness to look at the facts and say, “Wait! That’s wrong!”
This is racism without skin pigment.
If you let this stand, if you don’t phone the governor’s office and urge him to veto this kind of legislation, you are that person who condones discrimination. I would bet you are a closet racist, too.
[You can call Governor Jerry Brown's office at 916-445-2841 to ask him to stop state-sanctioned discrimination against gun owners with his veto AB 1014.]
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