-By Warner Todd Huston
If you need any proof at all that governments in this very country intend to use gun registries as a means to track down and confiscate our firearms, California is only the latest example to prove it.
California used its registry of guns to begin a program of confiscating guns from people they claim are “criminals.”
But the system the state has devised to identify these evil-doers seems to be quite screwed up. Just ask Bakersfield resident Michael Merritt who was confronted with this roving goon squad of cops that have been cruising the state and confiscating guns from people who may or may not be guilty of owning guns in violation of “the law.”
Merritt was sitting home one day when cops came slamming their fists on his door demanding he turn over all their guns because he violated the state’s drug laws… back in 1970.
The resident could barely remember the bust for marijuana for which he served five weekends of jail time back in the day, but the cops assured him that he pleaded guilty to “a felony” and because of that–despite that he had no other offenses–he did not deserve to be able to observe his Second Amendment rights to self protection.
Cops told him that he had violated state code 11910, a felony they claimed.
So, to avoid being beaten up and his house destroyed by the cops Merritt gave up his guns. But it turns out that not only is code 11910 off the books today, even back then it was a misdemeanor, not a “felony.”
Merritt was lucky in as much as the jackboots looked up the violation when they got back to their base and realized they had mischaracterized the “violation.” They later gave back the man’s firearms.
But how many others has this happened to? How many California citizens have had their firearms stolen from them under the color of law even though they were innocent of any violations?
Of course, we don’t need just California to prove it. Authorities in New York have also used its gun registry to threaten the confiscation of guns. After the anti-Constitution law the SAFE Act was passed in the Empire State, officials sent letters to gun owners threatening them for owning guns they had registered in the past.
Governor Cuomo also warned that he could begin confiscating guns or set up forced buy-out programs–itself a form of confiscation–to rid the state of guns.
Of course, Canada already proved that already. When Canada initiated its gun registry supporters insisted that it would never be used to confiscate guns. Turns out they lied.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, Wizbang.com, among many, many others. Huston has also appeared on Fox News, Fox Business Network, CNN, and many local TV shows as well as numerous talk radio shows throughout the country.
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