I believe the political stars are aligning right now for the opening of a new front in the battle against our gun rights, via the election and work of an anti-gun president, the disarmament passions of the Washington elite and the United Nations, the appointments of gun prohibitionists in the White House and Supreme Court, and the funding of an anti-Second Amendment movement by billionaire progressives, such as George Soros.
Two weeks ago, I discussed President Barack Obama's anti-Second Amendment record and his administration's goal to use dormant treaties and global agencies to loosen the boundaries and binds of the Second Amendment. Last week, I further discussed the United Nations' participation in that treaty development and "consensus" process.
It is bad enough to have a plethora of government officials in Washington who abandon and abolish the principles of the Second Amendment, but it is far worse to have them in the highest court in the land, the U.S. Supreme Court, dutifully designated with the honor of interpreting and applying our Constitution to cases across the land -- and with lifetime tenure, to boot.
To add insult to injury to the degradation of the Second Amendment, months back Obama appointed new Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who has a narrow view of the amendment. Then, a few weeks ago, Justice John Paul Stevens said he will retire in June, leaving Obama with an open field of liberal appointees.
Gun rights advocate and scholar David Kopel offered a summary overview of how Obama's potential replacements for Stevens measured up to the Second Amendment:
--Strongly ideological, highly committed gun prohibitionist: State Department legal adviser Harold Koh.
--Extensive records of anti-Second Amendment leadership: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.
--Limited but clearly negative records on right to arms: judges Diane Wood and Merrick Garland.
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--Mixed record but with very little positive: Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
--Mixed record: regulation czar Cass Sunstein, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano (negatives include the ridiculous Department of Homeland Security report that conflated political dissent with terrorism and the fact that as governor of Arizona, she signed some pro-right to arms legislation and vetoed other bills) and Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (like Napolitano, a mixed record as governor, including signing some important reforms).
--Unknown: Solicitor General Elena Kagan.
It's that "unknown" Elena Kagan who has gun owners particularly concerned at the moment, not only because she's now Obama's official Supreme Court nominee but also because evidence for her beliefs on gun control is extremely scarce. Then again, does anyone suppose Obama's desire to appoint her implies her conservative stance on the Second Amendment?
The gist is that none of the people Obama considered has any firm respect for the Second Amendment, and this "missing link" will become pivotally important if the United Nations passes a gun ban treaty. Any such treaty would conflict directly with our Second Amendment freedoms, and it's entirely possible that the Supreme Court will have to resolve the issue.
We are not dealing with the likes of the hapless "Brady Campaign" on the international front. The international work and funding of groups such as the International Action Network on Small Arms receives tremendous support from anti-gun financial backers, such as moguls George Soros and Michael Bloomberg. IANSA is made up of roughly 500 nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs, around the world that are lobbying and working alongside government officials to eliminate the possession of firearms by "non-state actors" -- you, me and anyone else who isn't a recognized government. Some governments, including Britain's, have given grant money to this London-based organization, and the head of IANSA, Rebecca Peters, has close associations with George Soros and his Open Society Institute, which provides openhanded funding to anti-gun initiatives and its global gun agenda, including in America.
Even UNICEF, which is sponsored by U.S. tax dollars, confesses on its own website that it "has collaborated with NGOs on the child-focused agenda within the (link to) International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), a forum for over 300 NGOs from around the world to network and undertake advocacy activities."
The National Rifle Association has explained: "Directly and through (Soros') organization Open Society Institute (OSI), he has funneled cash to various anti-gun groups, such as the Tides Foundation, the HELP Network and SAFE Colorado. He and seven rich friends founded their own political committee -- Campaign for a Progressive Future -- and spent $2 million on political activities in 2000, including providing the prime financial backing for the Million Mom March. OSI has supported UN efforts to create international gun control regulations and has singled out the United States for failing to go along with the international gun-prohibitionists."
Through the domestic influence of the present Washington regime and the global influence of the U.N. and groups such as IANSA, the Second Amendment rights of more than 80 million gun owners in this country are destined for grave jeopardy. No wonder some are calling the gun issue the "new abortion."
The present administration in Washington doesn't merely bend, pull and break the Second Amendment and hence the Constitution; it acts as if there were no Second Amendment at all. If it revered and respected the amendment as our Founders did, it would not only follow it but also enforce it.
During the Revolutionary period, even other contemporaneous state gun laws aligned with that federal measure.
As George Washington stated, "Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the people's liberty's teeth."
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