J Robert Smith
- Sept. 20, 2019
- 3 min read
“You listen to a justice like Antonin Scalia, not the most liberal justice who’d served on the Supreme Court, and even he found that there is no absolute guarantee under the Second Amendment and that the government does have a power to regulate those kinds of weapons that are extraordinarily unusual or deadly,” the former Texas congressman said on CNN Wednesday night.
— Beto O’Rourke, CNN, via Fox News, September 19, 2019
QUICK TAKE
There won’t be a President Beto O’Rourke, say you. His polling is feeble. What Beto claims he’d do about confiscating AR-15s is hot air.
No, it’s not.
Beto is the canary in the cage. A warning to liberty-loving Americans that Democrats and the left want to confiscate guns – all guns, and not just semiautomatics that resemble assault rifles. Beto is casting off the pretense that Democrats only want limited gun restrictions. He wants mandatory confiscation – and so do Democrats. They’re just being more artful.
Let’s say Beto and Democrats got their ways. Let’s game what attempts to confiscate guns from law-abiding citizens would look like. Start with AR-15s, if you prefer. But it’s useful to imagine a gun grab on the order of what Australia did in the 90s. Let’s list key consequences.
Post Donald Trump – say, 2025 – President Beto and a Democratic Congress enact legislation. It would immediately be challenged in federal court. Gun confiscation legislation would meet similar fates in blue states.
Thanks to President Trump, conservative federal courts would either strike down legislation or halt enforcement until a definitive ruling could be rendered. SCOTUS would be the last stop. The Supreme Court – particularly if Trump replaces Ruth Bader Ginsburg – would be much friendly turf for 2nd Amendment rights;
Pro-2nd Amendment mass protests and rallies would spring up across the nation. DC would be the epicenter. The District would be shutdown routinely. Acts of civil disobedience – yes, that’s MLK vintage – would occur across the map.
The passion possessed by tens of millions of 2nd Amendment supporters is greatly underestimated by much of the leftist Democratic Party. Look, if the left actually believes that “manmade” climate change is destroying the planet in 12 years, or that someone can buck DNA to “become” the other sex, you’ve got to appreciate how far out-of-touch with realities these zealots are;
But let’s say that President Beto can get his gun-grab legislation green-lighted by the courts. Who would he get to go door-to-door to confiscate guns, levy fines, or arrest and jail resisters?
Local police? Doubtful. Many local police are ardent 2nd Amendment supporters. Many would stand-down. Not to mention that “red” communities and states would pass laws making them “sanctuary jurisdictions.” We need to thank Democrats and the left for setting this precedent. What then? U.S. Marshalls? Not enough of them, and they, too, count many 2nd Amendment supporters among their ranks. The military? More likely to be in step with 2nd Amendment-loving law enforcers. Using the military to go house-to-house? Hey, the redcoats are coming!
Even if President Beto could effect arrests of resisters, jails would be packed to the gills. 2nd Amendment support groups would arrange pro bono legal representation for the civilly disobedient. The potential to paralyze the nation’s legal system would be significant;
Expect the mother-of-all electoral backlashes. 2nd Amendment support would coalesce with historic intensity. 2026 congressional and state elections would produce cadres of pro-gun rights representatives whose express aim would be to overturn any and all anti-gun legislation and/or executive orders. Compromise wouldn’t be in their vocabularies;
Conflict? Actual violence arising from attempts to erase 2nd Amendment rights? Heaven forbid. Anyone care to review Civil War history? The betting is that peaceful uprisings would be so deep and widespread, they’d defeat so flagrant an act of tyranny.
Beto O’Rourke, president one day? Not likely, but stranger things have happened. Doesn’t matter. Democrats are pretty much in lockstep with Beto. They’ll press to end 2nd Amendment rights in the years to come. Don’t bet your musket against it.
What do you think? Weigh in!
