True North

All of you Republicans who sat out the 2006 election because Mark Kennedy voted for Ethanol subsidies,or Norm Coleman voted for ANWAR, or Tim Pawlenty called a “tax” a “fee”?

Bad things happen.

Big, bad things like the Mass Transit Subsidy “Transportation” bill, of course - and slightly smaller things, like the DFL’s universal gun registration bill.

Joel Rosenberg explains:

It’s HF 3324. The companion bill — same language — in the Senate is SF 2989 . Buried in jibber-jabber about “assault style weapons” and the usual gun grabber gibberish, this is nothing more or less than a permanent gun registration scheme for the state of Minnesota. If this bill becomes law, every time a handgun or supposedly scary rifle is transferred — even between two private parties — the state would keep a list of who bought it, and who sold it, and when.

The DFL believes they can get away with this because - well, they can. They won a majority in both houses, and it’s almost veto-proof. With the aid of a couple of Republicans in Name Only - “Republicans” but not conservatives, people who crave the approval of the likes of Lori Sturdevant - the DFL pretty well gets its way.

And not only do they get to romp and play in your wallet, and your schools,and your businesses, but they get to do what they want in your gun locker. Citizens for a Supine “Safer” Minnesota - a group with maybe ten members, run by one Heather Martens - has an inordinate amount of sway with the DFL.

Joel explains the way this bill is going to work:

Got an old revolver that your buddy has an eye on? No, you couldn’t just ask to see his carry permit or purchase permit and hand it over — or even loan it to him for a couple of weeks.

Nope; the two of you would have to go down to a gun shop — if your local gun shop hasn’t been zoned out of business you might not have that much of a drive — hand it over the the clerk,, have him book it in, and pay the clerk to run a background check on your friend. Your friend who, by the way, already has either a carry permit or a purchase permit, and who already has gone through a criminal background check that can be repeated — under current law — by the authorities any time that they please.

And it gets worse. If there’s a glitch in the NICS system, and your friend doesn’t get immediately approved, the clerk can’t just give your own gun back to you; he’s got to run a background check on you — which, of course, you have to pay for — before he can.

And the state gets to keep records of that transaction forever. Forever.

The answer, of course, is to get on the line with your state legislators - now - and tell them not to support this fascist travesty. Be polite; write your spiel down beforehand, if need be. But contact them.

Especially if your Senator or Rep is a wobbly Republican.

Oh, yeah. And if you’re a Second Amendment supporter who is thinking about staying home in November because Tim Pawlenty went to the Arctic? Grow up; real life isn’t about getting everything you want; it’s about making sure you show up to drive the compromise the right way.

Cross-posted at Shot In The Dark.