Gun registration a step toward tyranny

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http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2009/may/05/gun-registration-a-step-toward-tyranny/

Gun registration a step toward tyranny

By LARRY PRATT

Tuesday, May 5, 2009


Some have defined consistency as the hobgoblin of small minds. Certainly the American left has easily avoided the small-minded hobgoblin.

Take the case of boycotting countries to leverage the regime. Boycotting South Africa under its apartheid government was good. Boycotting Cuba, ruled by dictator Fidel Castro and his brother Raul, is bad.

Not only has the Obama administration ended the boycott of Cuba, a congressional delegation already has forged the path to improved relations with Cuba with a personal visit.

One wonders how previous U.S. governments could have been so mistaken about the Castro brothers. The delegation found nothing of the men who have murdered tens of thousands of Cubans in imposing their tyranny on the once-prosperous island nation.

Rep. Laura Richardson, D-Calif., reported of Raul: “He looked directly into my eyes.” Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., said of Fidel: “He’s one of the most amazing human beings I’ve ever met!”

A comment about Fidel Castro by Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., was typical of the other members of the delegation. Speaking of Raul Castro, Rush said, “Castro was a very engaging, down-to-earth and kind man, someone who I would favor as a neighbor. It was almost like visiting an old friend.”

Rush was a street thug in the 1960s — a co-founder of the Illinois Black Panthers. He did time in jail on illegal weapons charges. Now this wannabe Castro neighbor wants to register all semiautomatic firearms and all handguns, the target of his House Bill 45. His fascination with Castro is unsettling to say the least because the Castros consolidated their power precisely through their use of gun registration in Cuba.

The first full day the Castros were in power, their goon squads went to every address where a gun was registered — and either the gun on the list or the owner of the missing gun was surrendered. Castro rules by monopoly of force, not popular support.

The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States is in place precisely to prevent government monopoly of force.

Registration is not a legitimate exercise of government power. The Constitution does not read that “the right of the people to keep and bear registered arms shall not be infringed.”

Moreover, registration is not a crime-fighting tool, assuming fighting crime is a legitimate reason to infringe. Registration of handguns has been in force in Hawaii and in Canada since the 1930s but has never been used to solve a single crime.

Registration of guns is good for only one purpose, and the Castro regime is proof registration is efficient for disarming the people.

Some assume Rush’s gun registration bill will go nowhere, but that is a happy thought not supported by the facts. Speaking to ABC’s Robin Roberts on April 7, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said quite plainly: “We want them registered.”

Who might the “we” be? Well, a co-sponsor of Rush’s bill in the last Congress, Rep. Rahm Emanuel, is now President Barack Obama’s chief of staff. Pelosi also would qualify as substantial support.

From Rep. Bobby Rush’s gun registration plan to the Castro gun confiscation plan is not such a leap with all of the above in mind. We have an administration and members of Congress who admire Castro.

Not only have they not criticized his confiscation of firearms, they have been supporting the system that made it possible for confiscation of guns under Castro.

Who can dare oppose registration?

The administration has found fear of gun control is one of the key views of right-wing extremism that might result in terroristic activity. It seems the message coming from the Obama administration is: “Only a terrorist would oppose the president.”

Larry Pratt is executive director of Gun Owners of America, a national gun-rights lobbying organization with more than 300,000 members.