Tens of thousands of Connecticut gun owners failed to register, surrender, destroy or remove from the state their modern sporting rifles (a.k.a., assault rifles) and standard capacity ammunition magazines (a.k.a., high-capacity ammunition magazines) by the January deadline. They refused to comply because the law infringes on their natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms. This act of civil disobedience has made them Class D felons. So now what? There are lots of ways this could get real ugly real fast. Here’s how I see it going down . . .
A doorstep firefight between Connecticut gun owners and state or federal police come to confiscate their “assault rifle” or “high cap mag” is unlikely. The State will not go door-to-door to grab guns. There will be no midnight no-knock raids or flash-bang police parties. For a while.
If Connecticut political leaders and their law enforcement lackeys can hold off on forcible confiscation until after the November mid-term elections, they will. But they probably can’t/won’t. As Ralph reminds us, history is driven by events. If there’s another AR-related spree killing, or an unrelated arrest goes seriously awry (with an “assault rifle”), or a gun rights protest turns violent, the State will not let a good crisis go to waste act on behalf of public safety.
Why not? The State enjoys overwhelming public support for their gun control policies. That’s how the laws came to be. The State being what it is, its functionaries are predisposed to preserving law and order (i.e. defending their own authority). The Democratic machine controlling Connecticut knows that gun owners are not “friends of ours.” And they know how easy it will be to paint lawbreaking gun owners as public enemies.
Bottom line: they will move against Constitution State gun owners in violation of the law when the time is right. The good news: the cops in charge of making the collar will make damn sure that any firearms confiscation campaign is a complete success – at least from their point-of-view. By that I mean that law enforcement will do everything possible to make sure they don’t get killed. Or even fired upon.
As we saw with the Department of Homeland Security’s arrest of gun dealer Bob Adams in New Mexico, the cops are smart enough to intercept ostensibly felonious gun owners away from their homestead, using speed, surprise and overwhelming force. So when Connecticut chooses to make a symbolic collar on a Class D gun owner, that’s how it’ll go down. And there’s not a damn thing sympathetic gun owners anywhere will be able to do about it.
After the fact, gun rights advocates/patriots will kvetch like crazy. But they will not mount anything other than a legal rescue effort to spring the gun owner(s) from prison. Which is just as well; the security surrounding the scofflaws will be extremely tight and the cops will be equally on edge. Both the fact of the arrest(s) and their own impotence to correct the situation will inflame gun owners in Connecticut and across the country. They’ll organize themselves into militias.
Note: the point of a citizen militia is not self-defense. Citizen militias are created to liberate fellow citizens from tyranny. See where I’m going with this? Well so does the government. Citizen militias aren’t illegal (they get an honorable mention in the preamble to the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution), but the government hates them with a passion undimmed (Hutaree anyone?). When talk of protecting gun rights turns to group preparation for armed, post-confiscation conflict, that’s when the situation will start to get seriously ugly.
You’ll know what’s coming when you start hearing the words “domestic terrorists” in relation to gun rights groups. The government will feel “forced” to “respond to the threat” proactively; they will swoop down on militia leaders and do some wet work on web work (killing websites to prevent “criminal” communications). In the aftermath of these raids, the State will no doubt producing damning evidence of terrorist intent and a HUGE arsenal of guns (including illegal “assault weapons”) and ammunition (including “high-capacity” magazines).
Hopefully not; the State may not be as stupid as they have shown themselves to be by passing these laws in the first place. They may hang fire. But they will not back down. As I said above, the State must exert its authority. It’s what governments do. No matter how measured or reasonable their reactions to gun rights protesters, he situation will continue to grow increasingly contentious. Both sides will be looking for an excuse to act. One side to recover their lost rights, the other to establish the rule of law. At some point, worlds will collide. Violently.
I don’t think it will be a massacre. I think it’ll be far worse than that: an armed stand-off. MRAP-equipped SWAT teams will be forced to wait-out a heavily armed Class D felon or felons. Et voila: Waco redux. Only this time, the cops may face opposition from the other side of the barricades, from armed Americans hailing from in-state or across the country. Not many. Not the first time. But some. Enough for the situation to descend into bloody chaos.
If that kind of conflict occurs, things will go completely out of control. The crackdown on gun rights supporters by government agents will be intense, on both the State and the federal level. Gun rights advocates’ response will be no less intense. Quite how it plays out from there I have no clue. But it will be a civil war of one sort or another.
As the weather warms and temperatures rise, there are only two ways to avoid this escalation into bloodshed in the Constitution State: the Supreme Court strikes down the Connecticut gun control laws or the Connecticut legislature repeals the laws. Neither is bound to happen. Although I don’t know the future, the future I see ain’t that pretty at all. And what about gun owners in California, New Jersey, New York, Maryland and Rhode Island? God help them all.
If you have a “Bathroom Gun”, you might be a member of The Armed Intelligentsia.
Better them than me. Love it or leave it.
I don’t think that is gonna happen Robert. There will be no civil war the govt wont act against gun rights (it is political suicide). if the republicans win the senate this year no national action on gun control will even be brought up. Connecticut has its problems but there wont be swat arrests. the law is unenforceable from a police standpoint and unconstitutional. the Connecticut government knows this law was a mistake and like the snakes all politicians are will pretend they never passed it and it will quietly come up though the courts and make its way to SCOTUS with luck on our side will rule all AW bans illegal i know tons of people in California who have and use standard ar-15s with the baby killing mags and shoulder
thing. the 5-0 has bigger problems( for the most part) than to go after “illegal” guns that are NEVER used in crimes
I hope you’re right. But what if the Dems win again?
they wont win the house for a quite a while but if they do we will see nation wide non compliance with gun bans do you honestly think states like Texas or Utah or Georgia would go with ANOTHER AW ban.
Trying to account for all the variables to predict the future has landed you on a slippery slope. Will a violent revolution occur? Only time will tell.
JM, I dont think there will be a revolution over this. Maybe a re-Waco, but not revolution, I say this because most Americans have gotten REALLY lazy. After all, they didn’t do a THING about all the crap Obama and Co have pulled, and I wont list them all here- we all know the crap. Government knows this, too, and is banking on it. I mean, we cant even get upset people to actually pick up a phone and CALL their DC reps and bark at them. They wont even go that far! Just a simple 5 days of upset folk picking up the phone and tying up the phone lines in DC for ONE workweek would totally change the flavor in DC… cant get the People to do it, even with the advantage of speakerphones, so it doesn’t even have to tie up a person’s hands, yet they still cant get that done. There will be a mass murder of noncompliants, but most people will be terrified that it will happen to them after that, and there will be a few more smaller ones then, just to pound the fear home. After that, people will belly-up. Land of the free, home of the brave? REALLY? Maybe once. Makes me so sad.
I foresee an epidemic of “blue-flu” among officers that don’t want to get shot or shoot someone else while on the wrong side.
I came across an interesting concept called Fourth Generation Warfare or 4GW for short. A crash course may be prudent for all interested parties. Hey you government agents that have been monitoring my posts for the last year: don’t forget what I’ve asked you. You can be the ones that prevent this. This isn’t Alice in Wonderland. The politicians have made up a crazy game to grab power. Don’t believe for a moment that it’s “for the children” and don’t be the ones who enforce the nonsensical rules in their stupid game. There’s a lot of people who are deadly serious about this. Tell your masters humble pie is a whole lot easier to eat than some alternatives they might be offered.
Good thing Janet Reno isn’t running things, “kill them all!”
Wipe them out. All of them.
Australia and CT bans share a lot of similarities, the one big difference is the Countitution, violent resistance in Australia would have been murder under their law, here on the other hand any killing done by CT gun owners defending themselves against tyranny and un-countitutional laws is righteous.
That may be how you and I see it but the criminal politicians that run this country will try to paint anybody that stands up against them as anti govt extremists.
If you have refreshed TTAG over 10 times in a minute.
About 30 years ago, I walked into my favorite gun store just after a police officer somehow managed to put a .45 caliber hole in the palm of his hand while “examining” a 1911.
Makes me think of that whole using the thumb to line up a shot thing.
If Connecticut gun owners dont stand up against confiscation there will be a domino effect. First it will happen in the blue states like Cali and New York but it will eventually cross into the red states as well. By the way, Republicans want your guns too, just wait and see.
Why did the dude get out of his car? Seriously. You don’t get out of your car for a traffic stop. No wonder the cop was hyper tense and thought the cane was a rifle.
If the cop asked him to get out, which according to the report he didn’t, all the driver had to do was request his cane.
No matter what what way it played out, sounds like there were idiots on both sides.
Yeah, SHOOT everyone who gets out of the car! I am SO happy you’re too stupid to be an LEO.
What if a child had hopped out, happy to see a policeman, who he’d been taught to believe is a “good guy”?
If you want cops to behave like automatons, your wish is already fulfilled.
If you get get into arguments with your coworker over articles you both read on TTAG. And you agree with each other.
Also, if you bought a waterproof cellphone so you can read TTAG in the shower, you might be a member.
If you find YouTube DGU montages soothing, you might be a member.
I consider myself a 10-22.
Cheap, reliable, you can dress me up if you want, but you’re okay that I’m a little small.
I think there will be sustained noncompliance, and about a zillion tons of lawyer/court crap to resolve the issue in our favor.
You’ve highlighted the best outcome. We use the G’s own courts against them.
My hope is no actions are taken by the government and non compliance continues without incident, to whatever peaceful and righteous end.
However, my concern is that the gummint’s (ie politicians and bureaucrats) interests only lay in protecting its (ie their) own interests.
And, the government has an big interest in the people doing as they are told, and an even bigger interest in forcing the people to do as they are told. Scary stuff, indeed.
Having been told numerous times over the years that members of the general public shouldn’t try to do the police’s job, I would just assume that I’m not qualified to intervene and would’ve run as fast as possible in the opposite direction squealing like a stuck pig.
“Stupid is as stupid does.”
Will it come with febreze inserts? If so I might use it in my car on the way to the range and also at the range Hawaiian Aloha smell with the smell of freshly burnt gunpowder. Priceless 🙂
Move out of the slave states. It’s the only way. Vote with your feet. Even a liberal state like Michigan is very pro gun.
I left Connecticut over 25 years ago. It was the best decision I ever made.
Yes Dear, we DO live in interesting times….*sigh.
This would also be good for kites. * grins *
Long range shooting is a mix of art and science. External ballistics is the science and is pretty easy to master. Reading wind is the art and not so easy. The problem with wind meters is that they read the wind speed at your location, but they may have (most likely will not have) not any bearing on conditions at your target and between the shooter and the target. Wind can, and often does, vary tremendously down range.
If you are serious enough about long range shooting to get a wind meter, best off with a Kestrel which gives you not just wind, but all of the atmospheric conditions. If you get the ATRAG version, it will even calculate all of your atmosphere corrections in MOA or MIL for you–either way, you still have to master the art.
This is a sad story for sure, I feel for his family.
I always thought that “NEVER LET THE MUZZLE COVER ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO DESTROY” should be the first rule. “Be sure of your target” is really an extension of that rule. People are fallible, arrogant, and sometimes willfully ignorant by nature. They have these things happen even though they were sure it wasn’t loaded, Mr. Schramm thought it wasn’t loaded I bet. It doesn’t matter if it’s a man, woman, or child I’ve seen them all slip that finger onto the trigger. I think because it’s the natural mechanics of the human hand, when you grasp something you fully close your four fingers. People do it so often it’s hard to resist, like with a frying pan, a knife, a ratchet or a steering wheel. It’s hard to un-teach this everyday thing. You really have to drill it into some people.
When my father taught me he decided to show me what a .308 Win does to a piece of steel, then he reminded me that I’m made of something much less sturdy! As a 9 year old I put my finger on the trigger rarely, I would have got my butt whooped. It’s hard to instill that kind of fear in grown-up folks though, because “Damn it, I know what I’m doing because I’m a grown ass man/woman!”, not to mention the lack of respect for the awesome power a firearm has. I don’t think I could ever be an firearms instructor, not enough Pepto in the world for the ulcers I’d get. This will always be remembered as an avoidable tragedy, unfortunately it’s one that’s soon forgotten by most.
What happens when the cops are also the felons…
http://www.callthecops.net/connecticut-halts-plans-round-firearms-finding-cops-state-list/
That’s a satire site as it turns out.
“Let’s lob all out beers over to the Jerries, and ask them if they wanna PARTY!”
“They bring the potatoes and sauerkraut!”
“So… tell me again why our foxhole is literally the shape of a target?”
Pretty cool product.
All tactical operators need extra rail space. You know the angled rails that you put on the foregrip’s rails attached to the quad rail?
Connecticut: “Constitution State” my ass.
The last thing that went through his mind was………. a 55 grain bullet. Thank you, I’ll be here all week, please tip your waitress!
Great. I recently moved from Seattle to Maryland without knowing what I got into. Figures.
That’s really good! What do know, my state can pass a pro gun bill.
Read “Unintended Consequences” by John Ross. In that fictional portrayal of a citizen rebellion against oppressive gun control, the most effective tactic was targeting the employees of the most abusive agencies (ATF) and the politicians who voted for the laws. They were targeted not in some sort of mass confrontation, but selectively as individuals.
As long as we continue to live in at least a semi-free society, the names, addresses, and voting records of elected officials are a matter of public record. Individual citizens seeking redress for outrageous infringements on their liberty have it in their power to make the responsible individuals pay personally for their crimes.
See? He was right, THERE are the droids we’re looking for!
I believe it was the late great Samuel Adams that said,”the reason for an amendment to the Constitution to be the same as an amendment in the Bill of Rights is so that if Congress should attempt to repeal one,the fact the other exists,nulls the repeal process.”( Or something to that effect).Basically stating that Congress CAN’T repeal amendments1-10
I’m not sure I follow you. The first 10 amendments is the bill of rights. There isn’t a separate document that is identical to the first ten amendments. They’re one and the same.
Wasn’t there a thing about no Congress ever limiting the power of a future Congress?
Just so you know, I’m all for your proposed 28th Amendment.
It would be great if the 28th amendment–the very same one written here, became an idea spread across the nation and we could show support for it in some way. I would. I would vote for it. Who does not agree with this?
This will teach Santa not to leave me coal.
Wikipedia: [Alan] Dershowitz is strongly opposed to firearms ownership and the Second Amendment, and supports repealing the amendment, but he vigorously opposes using the judicial system to read it out of the Constitution because it would open the way for further revisions to the Bill of Rights and Constitution by the courts. “Foolish liberals who are trying to read the Second Amendment out of the Constitution by claiming it’s not an individual right or that it’s too much of a public safety hazard don’t see the danger in the big picture. They’re courting disaster by encouraging others to use the same means to eliminate portions of the Constitution they don’t like.”
The only legitimate means of negating the text of the Constitution and it’s amendments is a constitutional amendment. Dershowitz is wrong in denying our right to keep and bear arms, but he’s right that circumventing the legitimate constitutional process to destroy it’s protection of our rights through judicial means will set the precedent that none of the rights protected by constitution are absolutely rights of individuals.
So he hates the 2ndA, but doesn’t want to do anything about it because that would mean we could repeal the rest of the Bill of Rights? He may be a douche nozzle, but he’s right in that one regard.
Oh, that’s kind; they’ve painted bulls-eyes on the fuselage for us.
Damn, still can’t chop my Saiga-12. Regardless, wonderful news.
Remind me, what’s the definition of tyranny?
So does this mean there will be any interesting rifles I can now think about getting, or is it just ARs?
Well, it’s just plain wrong to take money from American citizens to spend butting into other countries’ internal affairs, meddling in some civil war that has nothing to do with “American Security Interests,” whatever the frak that is.
In fact, it truly iis among the oldest residing tree spexies with some specimens claimed to bee mokre than two,500 years
old. The term diabetes (or diabetes) usually refers to diabetes mellitus but
there are many other dsease conditions, rarer, also knhown as “diabetes”.
It is also advised to uuse guarana supplementfs wikth the advice of doctors.
Teachers who are tired of getting shot will want to shoot back.
Wouldn’t be the first time an armed citizen helped stop a bad guy. Even when the police were in trouble ! I can’t forget this Texas gentleman. God bless him….
http://www.khou.com/news/Armed-good-Samaritan-praised-for-shooting-suspect-in-trailer-park-standoff-165655456.html
Yeah this writer has no more credibility with me, I own a 783 30-06 the bolt is metal. For him to make this type of statement is ridiculous and unprofessional.
Note to newcomers to guns – Unless you work third shift at a Chicago liquor store or are employed in some similarly dangerous occupation, you are highly unlikely to ever be involved in a DGU. Also, unless you live in Leftistville, you are more likely to be injured by a flying mastodon bone than you are to be improperly arrested and prosecuted for a justifiable DGU.
If you want to worry about something, fret about your inability to quit smoking, your lack of exercise, drivers who text, and all the other things that are far more likely to cause you temporal harm.
The next American civil war will be the ugliest ever. Drone operators and fighter jet service crew’s homes and families will be targets. You cannot fight the might of the gov’t, but you can target the individual functionaries. They have to get fuel, food, a thousand other things off-base. And the sides will not be well defined. Many Molon Labe stickers on private military family cars. The real bad guys targeting conservative patriots will be a small minority, and easily identified and dealt with. The rest will take note and crawl back under their rock.
The concept is called Fourth Generation Warfare or 4GW for short. Don’t go after the policy makers go after their enablers: i.e. those that aid the implementation of the policies. That’s why NGOs are often targets in asymmetrical warfare. Insurgents know they can’t fight the organized military forces so they go after the cooks and bottle washers or the civilian contractors delivering food and supplies. They hold a gun to the head of the gate guard’s family members so they can get on base without setting off an alarm. Remember the God Father movie where Michael Corleone brought the old uncle into the court room. 4GW.