Sanity refers to a human mind that is sound, rational, and healthy, and the condition is woefully lacking in great numbers of Americans on a number of issues. One could not possibly expect any sane human being to actively support policies that give people the tools to cause mass destruction of human lives, and it is precisely why gun zealots advocating for more guns in the hands of more people are considered at least irrational and likely insane. On Thursday, a federal judge issued a ruling that probably drove irrational gun fanatics crazy because she upheld what any rational human being would consider sane gun safety laws.
Since suffering two very high-profile and deadly mass shootings in their state, and witnessing, with the entire nation, the mass execution of twenty innocent school children and six adults, Colorado Democrats had seen enough and passed two gun safety laws. The laws, one requiring background checks for all private gun sales and transfers, and one banning ammunition magazines holding more than 15 rounds were the subject of a lawsuit filed by gun fanatics and Colorado County Sheriffs whose job is, among other things, protecting the public from gun violence.
After a two-week civil trial a U.S. District Chief Judge, Marcia Krieger, ruled the lawsuit lacked standing and dismissed it, and said the plaintiffs presented absolutely no evidence that limiting gun magazines to 15 rounds seriously diminished anyone’s ability to defend themselves.
She said, “Of the many law enforcement officials called to testify, none were able to identify a single instance in which they were involved where a single civilian fired more than 15 shots in self defense.” Addressing the county sheriffs complaint that expanded background checks were abusive and a violation of Colorado gun fanatics 2nd Amendment rights, Krieger said there were over 600 firearm dealers in the state actively performing private background checks and that it took less than 15 minutes for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to run a simple background check. However, the county sheriffs did not file suit over the time it took to run a background check, they sued to strike down the law and allow any lunatic, or criminal, to easily acquire a firearm; especially one with a high-capacity magazine.
Joining the Colorado County Sheriffs in the lawsuit was the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners Association (RMGOA) represented by Dudley W. Brown who was recently elevated to lead the National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR). The county sheriffs could not bring the lawsuit of their own accord, but they could join the other gun-zealots and give credence to the gun fanatics’ claims that background checks and 15-round magazines were an atrocity. Dudley W. Brown spoke for the gun zealots as a chief lobbyist for the gun owners’ groups.
Oddly, Brown claimed his group was responsible for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s primary defeat. Brown claims NAGR attacked Cantor for “giving lip service” to a proposed Virginia gun sales check after the Virginia Tech mass shooting in 2007 despite Cantor’s “A” legislative rating from the National Rifle Association. It gives new meaning to lunacy when a staunch supporter of 2nd Amendment rights faced attack ads for a passing remark in the wake of a mass shooting seven years ago. However, groups like RMGOA and NAGR are going to oppose any sane gun safety laws, but the Colorado County Sheriffs should welcome the idea of fewer guns in the hands of lunatics. Unfortunately, it is groups like the county sheriffs and other law enforcement officials who are most likely to champion more guns in the hands of more lunatics and openly refuse to enforce existing gun laws.
Last Monday, an official with New York Oath Keepers called on all law enforcement officers to disobey orders to enforce constitutional laws they deemed unconstitutional and then denied his group held “far-right, anti-government views.” The Oath Keeper, John Wallace, was incensed over an “alleged” New York State Intelligence Center counter-terrorism bulletin that linked the Oath Keeper’s organization and similar groups to the recent shootings of law enforcement officers by extremists. Likely, the bulletin referred to the Oath Keepers joining the Cliven Bundy armed standoff with federal agents and the murder of two Las Vegas police officers and a “good guy with a gun” at the hands of two lunatics who joined the Bundy standoff. Wallace bemoaned the bulletin was the product of “left wing” and “communist” organizations such as the New York Times, CNN, and Huffington Post.
Wallace’s call for law enforcement to disobey laws they deem unconstitutional mirrors other Oath Keepers, former sheriff Richard Mack, and assorted lunatics gathered at the Bundy standoff as an integral part of the “fight against socialist tyranny.” Wallace’s main complaint though, like the Colorado County Sheriff’s suing the state, is that New York’s Safe Act, which stiffens gun laws, was another unconstitutional law police should not enforce even though a state Supreme Court judge dismissed a challenge to the law in April. According to Wallace, “honorable men and women simply will not submit to a tyrannical lust for power by the political incompetence of the governor and the president,” and said law enforcement officers would interpret laws on their own to determine whether they were constitutional.
Even if one sets aside the asinine idea that law enforcement refuses to enforce legally passed laws due to their absurd contention they have authority to determine the constitutionality of a law, it is sheer lunacy to oppose gun restrictions meant to protect the lives of innocent civilians. What most Americans will take away from the federal judge dismissing Colorado sheriff’s lawsuit against sane gun laws is that there is no reasoning with gun zealots and gun safety laws are reasonable. One may have thought the brutal murder of two Las Vegas police officers by gun fanatics standing with seditionists Cliven Bundy, Oath Keepers, former sheriff Richard Mack, and armed militias would stun some sense into gun-crazed law enforcement officers, but obviously that is not, and will never be, the case.
At least, and this is important, a federal judge recognized that Colorado’s two basic gun safety laws do not abridge any 2nd Amendment advocates’ rights, and it should embolden other sane state legislatures to follow Colorado’s lead and protect their citizens’ lives. Because one thing is certain, many county sheriffs and other law enforcement officials have no interest in, and no intention to, protect the public from more mass shootings; even when police officers are gunned down. The real tragedy is that despite overwhelming public support for sane gun safety laws, there are just enough 2nd Amendment lunatics who support county sheriffs, the NRA, Oath Keepers, open-carry bullies, and Republicans who love the idea of well-armed citizens with “far-right, anti-government views” armed and ready to “fight against socialist tyranny” and destroy any semblance of sanity in America.
Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn't look good.
Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.
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