Requiring licenses for firearms may sound like a way to keep dangerous individuals from acquiring means to do harm to the innocent. But, as we have seen in the case of the coronavirus lockdowns and the case of Kyle Rittenhouse, licenses are a way for governments to tyrannize us when we are at our most vulnerable.
Obtaining a firearm in 2020, a little more than a month before a presidential election, means long waits that are doubling time from purchase to possession of the firearm. In Washington, D.C. the wait is over a month to acquire a firearm after purchase.
The lessons are clear from the Rittenhouse trial (sic) and actions of governors during the Chinese coronavirus crisis. When the state asks for new powers, it is under the guise of furthering a public interest. But as we have seen, laws that appear mundane can be used to oppress Americans for otherwise legal, normal, and even ethical activities. We must also scrutinize the details of all proposed legislation. Laws must be carefully circumscribed to ensure that a future legislature, governor, or president cannot read into the law more than the drafters of that law intended. Laws must be narrow and specific. Otherwise the state will abuse these laws, and abuse us, during the next time of crisis.
– Philip Reboli in The Petty Tyranny of License Laws