The United States Justice Department recently filed a brief in the DC Gun Case that is to be heard by the Supreme Court in March, 2008. While the brief acknowledges that the Second Amendment is an individual right, it also claims that, "the Second Amendment, properly construed, allows for reasonable regulation of firearms, must be interpreted in light of context and history, and is subject to important exceptions, such as the rule that convicted felons may be denied firearms because those persons have never been understood to be within the Amendment's protections. Nothing in the Second Amendment properly understood -- and certainly no principle necessary to decide this case -- calls for invalidation of the numerous federal laws regulating firearms."

The Bush Administration does not want convicted felons to to lawfully own firearms. What if the convicted felon's only crime was the civil disobedience of an anti-Constitutional, anti-gun law?

There are thousands of anti-gun laws on the books, many of which have no relevance or influence on criminal behavior. Some of which are considered a felony if violated. The laws vary depending on your geographic location and there are laws at the city, county, state, and federal level, making it confusing for gun owners and law enforcement in some areas.

A perfect example is the "Assault Weapons" Ban in California. California is anti-gun state run almost entirely by anti-gun legislators who frequently contend that the Second Amendment does not apply to individual citizens.

When California's government banned a selection of semi-automatic rifles, they required that anyone owning such a rifle prior to ban must register with California's Department of Justice by a specified due date. Anyone failing to register by the due date was considered a felon in the eyes of California's government.

There was an unknown number of California's who quietly disobeyed the law. They kept their firearms and did not register with the Department of Justice. The primary reasons for disobeying this law are: 1) Every major genocide in the 20th century began with gun confiscations. The only way you can confiscate is by first identifying the gun owners. (The most famous example of registration preceding confiscation is Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany as noted by the gun-rights organization Jews for the Preservation of Firearm Ownership); and 2) The only way to keep the Constitution alive is by exercising your rights. Allow the government to trample on your rights and you lose them all.

By taking a stand in support of the Constitution, these people risked a felony conviction. A felony conviction would mean mounting legal bills, job loss, loss of privacy, loss of freedom, and the social stigma of committing a "gun crime." A felony conviction would mean that they could never again legally own a firearm. They would be denied the right of owning a firearm for merely exercising their right in the first place. This position is supported by U. S. Justice Department.

The "Assault Weapons" Ban and registration requirement is only one example of the thousands of anti-gun laws on the books. It is unknown, for example, how many people carry concealed without a CCW because they work nights in an anti-gun city. We do not know how many people "illegally" possess handguns in New York because of that city's lengthy and complex registration system.

Laws should be designed to protect society, not to create new criminals out of otherwise peaceful, law-abiding citizens.

Jennifer Freeman is Executive Director and co-founder of Liberty Belles, a grass-roots organization dedicated to restoring and preserving the Second Amendment.
http://www.libertybelles.org
jennifer@libertybelles.org