OPINION:
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican, suggested tacking on a couple of new gun control measures to bills currently weaving through the state legislature that would allow for the confiscation of firearms from those “deemed dangerous,” Breitbart reported.
A Republican.
This is how threatened our Second Amendment has become, people.
The problem, of course, with this proposal is two-fold: First off, who decides what’s dangerous versus what’s not — and second off, “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
What part of that allows for gun confiscations?
The Chicago Tribune says Rauner’s idea “would allow confiscation of guns from people who are deemed dangerous” for a period of 14 days — initially. After that, the state has to prove the danger is so great as to make the confiscations permanent.
In other words: Rauner’s proposal is to put the government in charge of deciding who gets Second Amendment rights, who doesn’t.
He’s also recommending a 72-hour waiting period for firearm purchases — a so-called “cooling off” time that gives the suicidal and murderous-minded an extra couple days over current waiting requirement to think it over.
All very well and good. But once again, murder is a condition of the heart and mind, not the result of the Second Amendment.
Stripping gun rights from law-abiding citizens never makes it safer for the law-abiding. It only makes it easier for the criminally minded to carry out their criminal intents.
So here’s a good response to Rauner’s gun control recommendations: You first.
Give up the armed security — give up the 24-7 body guards and office patrols with firearm-toting protection and maybe, just maybe, Second Amendment supporters might not dismiss such gun control suggestions as laced with hypocrisy and bureaucratic BS.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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