Prosecutors Agree He Shot a Man in Self-Defense. They’re Still Trying To Put Him in Prison. LaShawn Craig may spend years behind bars—because the gun he used to justifiably shoot someone was unlicensed. [More]
You know who agrees with that?
Every goddam gun owner and “gun rights leader” who says “Enforce existing gun laws.”
[Via Michael G]
Probably a good idea to take a step back and not live in or visit a state that licenses guns or gun owners. Life is hard enough without subjecting yourself to that sort of nonsense.
This is a clear Constitutional issue. Years ago SCOTUS determined in a case brought before it that the then-mandated poll tax, levied as a precondition for the exercise of one’s right to vote, was an unconstitutional infringement on the right to vote. Since then no such tax could ever be levied or collected.
We clearly have the RIGHT to vote. And to bear arms. These fees and permits mandated as a precondition upin the right to vote or bear arms are clear violations of the Constitution.
An ordinance which… makes the peaceful enjoyment of freedoms which the Constitution guarantees contingent upon the uncontrolled will of an official — as by requiring a permit or license which may be granted or withheld in the discretion of such official — is an unconstitutional censorship or prior restraint upon the enjoyment of those freedoms. And our decisions have made clear that a person faced with such an unconstitutional licensing law may ignore it and engage with impunity in the exercise of the right of free expression for which the law purports to require a license.
–SHUTTLESWORTH v. CITY OF BIRMINGHAM AL, 394 U.S. 147