Voters, when will enough be enough?

Here are excerpts from a letter sent to me by the National Rifle Association of America (NRA). Why me? I can’t imagine.

Unless you fight back starting right now, you’ll soon face the real threat of having your guns confiscated along with your right to self-defense.

No, I’m not talking about run-of-the-mill gun control.

I’m talking about an actual ban on the firearms you currently own, government confiscation of those firearms, and you facing actual jail time if you fail to comply. 

Yes, that paragraph was in bold type.

That’s why I’m urging you to join the National Rifle Association right now to save your guns and your freedom before it’s too late.

In fact, your membership is so vital that, for a limited time, you can get your one-year membership for only $30 (normally $45).

Time is running out. To stop the gun banners from taking our guns and crushing our liberty, you and I must fight back right now with all the strength we can muster.

Of course, it’s all bullshit. There is no movement for “an actual ban on the firearms you currently own.”

It’s the typical right-wing “we must fight” grievance, the same one Trump screamed when he sent people to the capitol in his attempted coup.

What made the above letter special was my receipt of it on the same day I read an article in the Florida Sun Sentinal. Here are excerpts:

Devices turn regular guns into machine guns on South Florida streets By Shira Moolten South Florida Sun Sentinel

Last year in March, a car unleashed a spray of bullets as it passed outside of a Miramar restaurant, killing two best friends as they were waiting for their food. 

One of the guns may have had a “Glock switch,” a tiny metal cube that attaches to the back of a pistol and turns it into an automatic weapon.

An influx of Glock switches and (similar devices, called “auto sears”) is on the rise, nationally.

They represent only the cusp of a new era in which technology like 3D-printing makes guns deadlier and easier to access.

The trendy devices cost as little as $20, popular among young people and others who can’t get legal licenses to carry machine guns.

With 3D printers, switches that turn guns automatic can be manufactured in less than an hour. The tiny cube slides onto the back of the gun, typically a Glock.

One pull of the trigger releases a 100-round magazine in a matter of seconds. Greater access to these devices means more shootings with higher numbers of victims, especially innocent bystanders.

You pull the trigger one time, 30 rounds fire in 2 seconds. The likelihood of striking the intended target more than once or twice is nil. Rounds are flying everywhere … they’re just letting them fly and people are getting shot.

On a national level, police agencies are seeing these weapons wielded in increasing numbers of shootings.

In Sacramento, the gunmen involved in a mass shooting that left six people dead and 12 injured are thought to have been using switches; in Houston, a man with a switch opened fire at two police officers, killing one and injuring the other.

Though switches are currently only made to attach to Glocks, it’s only “a matter of time” before people start using the same technology to manufacture devices that attach to other types of firearms.

Switches are also trendy. People post pictures of them on social media to show off; South Florida rappers brag about using them in songs.

It’s just the attraction of being able to have something that’s capable of firing fully auto.

The uptick in switches caught the attention of Broward State Attorney Harold Pryor, who worked with Florida Senator Rosalind Osgood to get legislation passed last session including language about the devices in Florida’s existing firearms laws.

The bill never made it to committee.

Osgood, who represents District 32 in Broward, said that the wording of SB 368, titled “Machine Guns,” may have given it the appearance of a bill that would not be popular in the pro-gun leaning Legislature.

“I think that gave them wrong idea of what it was,” Osgood said. “Especially in a time when the majority of legislators are fixated on permitless carry.”

Osgood worries that people, especially minors, may have even more access to guns equipped with these devices in Florida compared to other places because the gun laws are more lax.

You may not remember all the years before our current Republican Supreme Court decided that these thirteen words in the Constitution had no meaning whatsoever and could be ignored: “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State.”

Back then, people did not believe allowing every nut on the street to own guns increased public safety. And for many years, the Supreme Court agreed.

The Republicans changed all that.

Now, “well-regulated” means “not-regulated.” and “Militia” means nothing at all, at least in the minds of the self-described “originalists” on the SCOTUS.

Because of that decision, the killing has increased massively, supported by the new law of the land, as interpreted by the Republican Party.

Today, even the slightest effort to control “machine-guns-for-every-nut and criminal” immediately is vetoed by the “party of law-and-order” and the Supreme Court it appointed.

This is the political party that votes against abortion because life is precious.

In contrast, it votes against Obamacare because health is not precious and wants guns-for-everyone because hey, life isn’t so precious after all.

If you voted Republican and someone you care about is wounded or killed by a gun, please spare us the crocodile tears.

You get what you vote for.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

Monetary Sovereignty Twitter: @rodgermitchell

Search #monetarysovereignty Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

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The Sole Purpose of Government Is to Improve and Protect the Lives of the People.

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