(from yelp.com)
Attention Californians! Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom wants to eliminate your right to self-defense. His legislation will eventually end your right to own a firearm in the Golden State.
Newsom believes that just owning a gun means an undue interest in “massacres and hate”. Now, being a clever fellow, he’ll stop short of trying to ban guns at a stroke. Instead, he’s going to subject all gun owning Californians to death by a thousand cuts. If you’re a professional cage fighter, knife fighter, black belt of some kind, or maybe an Olympic weight lifter, skip the next paragraph. The rest of us should pay attention. At a time of increased risk, Newsom wants to do away with our best means of protection.
Let’s face it, if you don’t have a weapon, unless you’re expertly trained and in very good shape, you’re not going to be able to withstand a direct physical assault by one or more criminals. Criminals and terrorists choose their victims the way predators choose their prey. They’re always on the lookout for the weak and the unwary.
If you or a loved one come under attack, the thug is already ninety-nine percent sure that he’s going to take you down. If you’re lucky, you’ll wake up in a pool of your own blood with your wallet gone. Or you may not wake up at all.
That’s why being armed with a firearm is so important. Even if you’re the proverbial 95 lb. weakling, when you press the trigger, you will release more energy than the best punch of a heavy weight prize fighter. In short, a gun is the great equalizer. In this regard, it’s worth remembering an old doggerel about Samuel Colt’s six-shooter: “Have no fear of any man no matter what his size; when danger threatens call on me and I will Equalize”.
In truth, if you are sane, if you are sober, and if you practice regularly with the firearm of your choice, you stand a good chance of prevailing when the chips are down. Now, some might object. After all, unlike the Old West, we now have well trained police forces patrolling our cities. That’s true. The cops will apprehend most murderers eventually. However, the only thing they can do for you personally is make a chalk outline of your body on the pavement.
So doesn’t Newsom worry about his own safety? Why has he protected the right of criminal juvenile aliens to stay in San Francisco? Good question, easy answer. As a big frog in his pond, he rates his own security detail. Remember, to him you’re just a tadpole!
Are you with me so far? Good. So maybe you’re getting uncomfortable with the actions of the California Legislature this year. These elite protected people passed:
- bills that would reclassify many firearms as assault weapons and therefore illegal;
- bills that restrict magazine capacity;
- bills that forbid the loaning of a firearm to a friend without background checks and fees; and,
- bills that allow the confiscation of a fire arm without due process.
In addition, Lieutenant Governor Nuisance . . . er . . . I mean, Newsom, is sponsoring a ballot initiative. This would require background checks for the purchase of ammunition and micro-stamping all cartridges. Newsom claims he’s acting responsibly. However, he also favors legalizing marijuana, despite the Ninth Circuit Court having ruled that even presumed marijuana use prohibits gun ownership.
Hmm . . . he favors legalizing a drug that disqualifies citizens from owning guns? Newsom is a clever fellow.
So here’s what will happen: Labeling more guns as assault weapons, restricting magazine capacity, requiring background checks for ammunition, upping the prices, etc., etc. and suddenly it’ll become just too much of a bother to own a gun. Bingo—the death of legal firearms ownership by a thousand cuts.
In response, all of us need to “fight folly with fire”(bad pun intended). Become an informed voter. Get on board with our great Olympic shooting champion Kim Rhode to stop the erosion of shooting sports in California. Challenge inane gun laws and oppose the Gavin Newsom initiative in November.
And never forget that the 20th century left us with a legacy of some 56,000,000 slaughtered people. All were murdered by their own governments after being made defenseless by firearm confiscation. Predictably, the confiscatory gun laws of Chicago have given rise to the highest murder rate in the nation.
Californians must choose a better way. American gun owners are the freest people and the largest armed force in the world. This is no coincidence. Let’s keep it that way.
—Wallace Schwam, MD is a retired internist with interests in geriatrics and pharmacology who trained at Duke University. He rated expert in marksmanship in the Army and continues to enjoy hunting and tactical training with handgun, rifle and shotgun.