(RightWing.org) – Democrats have an infatuation with minimizing the Second Amendment. It’s a convenient pattern for them. If the Constitution fits the need, they support it. If it doesn’t, then they will try to redefine it. The proof is in their words.
On Monday, April 11, President Joe Biden made an executive move to regulate ghost guns. These guns are sold in do-it-yourself (DIY) kits and are privately made, assembled at home, and don’t require serial numbers by federal law. In his announcement of the new regulations, Biden made his usual claims that one constitutional scholar says are wrong.
Pros and Cons of Biden’s New Ghost Gun Rules
Ghost guns enjoy a 30-year history as an American pastime. They are often sold with 80% of a rifle or pistol already built, and the average person can finish assembly in around 30 minutes. The Department of Justice (DOJ) branded the kits as buy, build, shoot, and said they are firearms even though they are not ready to shoot until assembled.
There are several perceived pros and cons to the new rule.
The pro is that the DOJ says each kit will require a license and registration number on the gun. Additionally, the government would require gun dealers to run background checks before someone could purchase a ghost gun, just like they do commercially made firearms.
According to the DOJ, between 2016 and 2021, law enforcement at crime scenes recovered over 45,000 ghost guns used in a crime. These guns were untraceable. Federal officials believe ghost guns are popular among gangs and other criminals. Additionally, the president argued that terrorists could easily acquire ghost guns and said allowing them to do so was extreme.
The con is that Congress has never passed a law requiring ghost guns to be treated like commercially manufactured guns. They are legal to manufacture and own, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has never defined a ghost gun as a firearm.
Problems With Biden’s Argument
Once again, President Biden returned to a familiar theme to justify his view about the Second Amendment. On Wednesday, he repeated the claim that he supports the Second Amendment but argued that, when Congress ratified the Constitution in 1787, the Constitutional amendment didn’t say you could own any gun you want, including a cannon.
George Washington University Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley said Biden’s claim is untrue. In the 1780s, there were no laws prohibiting cannon ownership, or any kind of gun for that matter. Turley said that didn’t come until much later in history, and even then it was a local issue.
Additionally, Turley said the Constitution actually makes a case for gun and cannon ownership by private citizens in Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11 through the words “grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal.” The clause allowed private parties to sail the high seas with cannons in times of war – meaning private individuals had to own the cannons to use them. Recently, lawmakers introduced legislation allowing private US citizens to seize Russian assets using Letters of Marque.
So, Biden may be on the wrong side of history.
Regardless, once the rule goes into effect later in the summer, it’s likely to be challenged immediately in federal court.
Stay tuned. This could get interesting very quickly.
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