Forewarned is forearmed - so be armed

 

When it comes to our firearms, particularly those most useful for the defense of ourselves, our families and our homes, we should not rely on the Second Amendment and the courts to defend our right to own them.  Politicians are prepared to ride roughshod over those rights by any means necessary, as President Biden reminded us this week.

President Biden said in a speech on Wednesday that he's going to ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines "come hell or high water."

Biden made the comments at the House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, on Wednesday night.

"I know it may make some of you uncomfortable, but that little state above me, Delaware is one of them, has the highest rate, one of the highest rates of gun ownership. But guess what? We're going to ban assault weapons again come hell or high water and high capacity magazines. When we did it last time to reduce mass deaths," Biden said. 

There's more at the link.

"Hell or high water" may cover a multitude of measures that can restrict, if not eliminate, the supply of such weapons and magazines.  For a hypothetical example:

1. The government issues a new assault weapons ban.
2. The ban is challenged in court, but continues in force while the case is being decided.
3. After multiple court decisions and a delay of several years, the ban is eventually overturned by the Supreme Court.
4. On the same day that the ban is overturned, the government issues a new ban on different grounds, under different legal justifications, and the whole process begins all over again.

By doing something like that, an effective ban can be implemented and maintained for decades.  The government has deep (taxpayer-funded) pockets.  It can afford to fight any and every challenge to its edicts, drawing out the court process in the hope of exhausting the will and the finances of its opponents.  Even if it loses every case, it can afford to fight new ones.

There are ancillary measures.  Mail-order ammunition sales can be banned on "security" grounds.  That means the principal source of lower-cost ammunition will be denied to purchasers, who will have to pay the marked-up prices charged by gun stores for what they want.  This can double the cost of acquiring a suitable ammunition supply (which Kim du Toit discussed recently - go read).  Additional taxes can be imposed on ammunition, magazines, etc., making them impossibly expensive for most people.  There are other possibilities as well.  All these measures might be implemented under President Biden's "come hell or high water" threat.

The message is clear.  If you want a personal defensive rifle of appropriate design (usually an AR-15 or AK-47 derivative), and normal-capacity magazines for it, and enough ammunition to fill them, don't delay buying what you need.  You may find them no longer available (or affordable) if you wait.

Right now, basic AR-15 rifles are available for plus-or-minus $500, plus shipping costs and sales tax.  Magazines for them are in the $8-$15 range.  The cheapest good-quality AK-47 clone is $620-$700, with magazines priced a little higher.  You pays your money and you takes your choice - for as long as that choice is available.  There's no guarantee that will continue to be the case.

Peter