TANYA METAKSA
By Tanya Metaksa
The history of the Second Amendment was non-existent until 90 years ago..
For almost 150 years our fore-bearers did not contemplate any changes in the Second Amendment. Americans fought for their independence and even fought a bloody Civil War without any calls for dismantling our Right to Keep and Bear Arms. But in the past century this right has been under siege intermittently.
As we enter the third decade of the 21st Century we are closing in on the 250th anniversary of our birth. At that momentous occasion will the Second Amendment still be a viable part of our Constitution or will it become a greatly curtailed right? As with all things across a country as diverse politically as it is geographically, the answer, I believe, depends on where one lives.
At the federal level the split is between the House—controlled by Democrats—and the Senate—controlled by Republicans. Given that 2020 is a Presidential election year, it is highly unlikely that any federal gun control legislation will be enacted. While at the state level, things may be slightly different.
For the past several decades we have seen an ever widening split between what is called the “heartland” and the coasts. Those of us living on the west coast and the north eastern coast are living under an ever growing loss of Second Amendment rights. Gun owners living in states that are currently or will be governed by members of the Democrat party understand the threat they face. We have seen the legislatures in California, Oregon, Washington, New Jersey, New York, and most of New England pass laws that restrict the ownership, carrying and transfer of firearms among the citizenry. Many of them encouraged by Democrat governors.
While in the “heartland” there are places where Second Amendment freedoms have been expanded. For example, sixteen states—Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming—allow law-abiding individuals to carry a concealed handgun without a government-issued permit. In approximately 99.4% of Montana it is also allowed. In Ohio, a constitutional carry bill, HB 178, is working its way through the legislative process.
As we have just witnessed in a Texas church, a Right-to-Carry Permittee was able to stop a criminal from continuing to fire his weapon at the parishioners and thus save lives, because Gov. Greg Abbott signed SB535, allowing places of worship to decide if they want to allow Right-to-Carry Permittees to exercise their Second Amendment rights, during the 2019 legislative session. He also signed nine (9) additional pro-gun bills.
One of the most insidious gun control measures that has unfortunately become a so-called “bipartisan” proposal is an extreme risk protection order (ERPO) or a red flag law. To date seventeen states have implemented ERPOs. They are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, DC, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. Although the technicalities vary by state, the law allows law enforcement and in many states families to petition for a firearm to be removed from an individual. Once that happens the the order to remove such firearm(s) are issued by a court without notice to the firearm owner. Then a hearing is held by a court where the individual can contest the order.
The major problem with an ERPO is that the person subjected to this has essentially lost their constitutional right to due process and the presumption is guilty rather that a presumption of innocence. Thus when the hearing concerning the firearms is held, the individual is required to prove his or her innocence. Another problem is that the petition may be instigated by a person who has a “problem” with the gun owner and thus may abuse the petition process. As of the end of 2019 the following states has such legislation under consideration: Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania. In the 2019 legislative session it was defeated in Virginia, but will probably be reconsidered in 2020.
After the 2019 elections in the Commonwealth of Virginia where the Democrats were able to win a majority in both Houses of the Legislature it has become obvious that Gov. Northam, who campaigned on a gun control agenda in 2017, will now have the votes to enact many more onerous and restrictive laws. As a result, there has been a reaction to Northam’s proposals in an effort by the more rural counties to enact “Second Amendment sanctuary ordinance.” Even law-enforcement is these areas have publicly announced that they will not enforce laws that restrict citizens’ firearms right. According to an Associated Press (AP) report more than 100 cities, towns and counties have passed such resolutions. On Nov. 6 the LA Times wrote, “Virginia…might involve a potentially seismic shift in gun policy.”
Thus the major legislative story at the state level will probably be Virginia. How this story plays out in 2020 could possibly be the Second Amendment story of the decade. Today it appears that for the most part the legislative process at the state level, with the exception of Virginia, will remain more of the same. Those states that have been passing more restrict gun laws will keep trying to enact more of them, while in the pro-Second Amendment states restrictive laws will not succeed. But the major story of 2020 will undoubtedly be the Presidential election because for gun owners all the Democrats are out to dismantle the Second Amendment.
