We hear the tired old shibboleth trotted out by civilian disarmament advocates in the debate over the Second Amendment again and again: “Nobody wants to take your guns.” Except when they do. It’s a transparent attempt to portray gun owners concerned about protecting their natural, civil, Constitutional right to keep and bear arms as a bunch of conspiratorial crazies. Yammering yahoos raving about the black helicopters that are coming for them and their firearms in the middle of the night. But every once in a while, one of the wannabe gun grabbers lets the mask slip just a bit too far. Case in point: Boston Police Commissioner Bill Evans . . .
Here he is on Boston Public Radio, second hour, starting about 9:20:
“For the most part, nobody in the city needs a shotgun, nobody needs a rifle, and I don’t know a lot of people who are into hunting who, being lifelong residents, would actually want that who lives in the city, but, especially here in the city I want to have discretion over who’s getting any type of gun because public safety is my main concern and as you know it’s an uphill battle taking as many guns off the street right now without pumping more into the system.”
There are several more minutes of ignorance of crime statistics and a simple desire for more power over people’s lives documented here. But what’s abundantly clear is that Commissioner Evans doesn’t think people need any kind of guns in his city, and short of an outright ban, the police should have full authority to decide who gets one and who doesn’t.
At one point, the “moderator” asks, well, if it was unconstitutional for police to decide who can own a shotgun, then it would be unconstitutional for handguns as well, wouldn’t it? Clearly the moderator never read — much less understands — the Heller decision. And it’s clear where her sympathies lie.
The police commissioner, tireless servant of the people that he is, says several times that he doesn’t want people to own rifles or shotguns because they might be stolen and used by criminals. His solution is to trample on the rights of honest, law-abiding people because criminals do what criminals do. It’s obvious that he does not consider the RKBA of any real importance at all.
If you live in the approximately 95 percent of the country where police can’t prevent you from owning guns by fiat and, for some reason, you move to Massachusetts, the commish thinks he should be able to tell you what firearms are good for you. And if he decides that you shouldn’t own them? I suspect that if he gets his way, he’ll either send someone to take them or force you to turn them in.
The end game has always been to reduce the number of firearms owners until it is practically insignificant. Commissioner Evans is obviously miffed that it hasn’t happened yet. As a matter of fact, he does want to take your guns. At a minimum, he wants the power to decide whether or not you can own them. It’s ultimately a distinction without a difference.
©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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