EPIC WIN: Bruen decision will strike down racist, classist & sexist gun control for years to come… for now though, carry your gun and watch your back!

Hallelujah.  We knew the Bruen decision would almost certainly fall in our favor, but looking it over, it’s so much more than striking down “may issue” carry laws in states like New York, California and Hawaii.   There is much to celebrate for gun rights.  After all, racist, classist and sexist gun control measures just became an endangered species under this decision.   Furthermore, extremism in pursuit of liberty is no vice.

First off, a lot of the mainstream media is trying to sensationalize one aspect of the decision with regard to “legalizing open carry.”   This case was never about open carry – which involves carrying a gun so it’s visible to bystanders.  However, open carry laws are among that “endangered species” of gun control.  More on that in a moment.

Secondly, the big news involves what the legacy media is burying, which is that strict scrutiny must be used in future 2A court cases.  No more “intermediate” scrutiny.   The Second Amendment is no longer a second-class protection for Americans.

Yes, the (formerly) present “two-part” analysis for courts to side-step Heller now resides in the dustbin of history, alongside decisions like “separate but equal” and the Dred Scott decision.  (Some my rightfully throw in Roe v. Wade as well.  More on that relevant to us later in this post.)

From now on,  the courts’ sole determination involves “Is the law covered by the Second Amendment?”  If so, the law is unconstitutional if it infringes, with a narrow exception.   “Shall not be infringed.”  For real.

Can you spell “Firearm Owners Identification Act”?  I thought you could.  You’re not going to have to worry about a FOID card for too much longer.  It’s doomed.  And Guns Save Life’s lawsuit, currently in Sangamon County Court, might be the wooden cross the courts pound through the heart of the racist FOID Act to strike it down.  

Yes, the FOID Act was enacted to make it more difficult for blacks to get guns.

From Mom-at-arms:

California’s Mulford Act was designed to target African Americans and prohibit them from open carrying while exercising their first amendment rights. Yes, the NRA of the day even supported it (maybe that’s why anti-gun lobbying groups have began claiming the NRA isn’t what it used to be, god forbid they evolve and stand up for all Americans who want to be legally armed). Now, a month after the Mulford Act was passed in 1967, Illinois passed a law that, according to some state politicians, was even better…

Here’s Chicago Mayor Daley (mentioned above) speaking with President Johnson (LBJ) one year prior in 1966. Here’s his reasons for supporting it and other gun control measures. More on the importance of this regarding the FOID later:

“Well, as good as they can be, but we need some kind of federal help to shut off this gang situation. This gang situation in New York, in Los Angeles, in Philadelphia, in Cleveland, in Pittsburgh, in Detroit, in San Francisco, is no good. And if it’s allowed to go unabated, if it’s allowed to go and fester the way it is . . . The majority of them are headed, as you know, by ex-convicts: dope pushers, robbery with a gun, all of this kind of business. And there—something has to be done, Mr. President, on the sale of the guns. We—Outside [in] the suburbs—in the city we have control—but what the hell, in the suburbs that are—you go out to all around our suburbs and you got people out there, especially the non-white, are buying guns right and left. You got guns and rifles and pistols and everything else. There’s no registration; there isn’t a damn thing.”

Why are we so certain the FOID is a dead man walking?  

I’m so glad you asked me that, and I’ll tell you why.  In Bruen, SCOTUS ruled that courts can only evaluate historical precedent from the late 1700s and 1800s to determine if laws similar to today’s law were in effect.  Not outlier examples, either.  Only widespread and common laws involving guns.  Frankly, there were precious few gun control laws in that era…  and any that were previously struck down can’t be used as precedent for faulty laws today.  

One thing’s for sure, there were no FOID cards back in the 1800s.

Count on anti-gun government agencies to work hard to try to find something – anything – from the past to defend modern unconstitutional laws, but it will prove an uphill battle for them.  “Uphill” akin to scaling the cliffs at Point du Hoc… without a rope.

Prohibited locations
Here’s another big one that’s relevant right here in the Land of Lincoln:  Prohibited locations.  Only in areas where carry was prohibited in the 18th and 19th Centuries (or similar locations today) will government be allowed to prohibit carry.  Off the top of my head, I can’t think of many places carry was prohibited back then.  I’m sure google searches for that have gone way up in the last day or three.

“Gun Free” zones like mass transit, parks, rest areas, public libraries, hospitals, zoos, museums will all fall pretty quickly.  Private property owners may be able to post their property “no guns” but a failure to comply will likely become only become a trivial trespass offense. 

At the same time, don’t make the mistake and think that JB Pritzker, Kathleen Willis, Kwame Raoul and the rest of the anti-gunners are going to roll over and surrender.  It’ll take a lawsuit or three, but they will lose.  The bigger question will remain what will courts allow to stand?  Probably courtrooms and courthouses.  Maybe the General Assembly building.  Nuclear power plants and jails and prisons:  certainly.  Secure areas of airports, certainly.  Police stations?  Maybe secure areas.  Military installations for visitors probably.   Primary and Seconary education facilities “gun free zones” will be iffy at best.  Striking down blanket prohibitions on carry in schools, particularly by staff in classrooms might prove challenging and might require a trip to the Illinois Supreme Court.  Carry at Universities?  Yeah, students with carry licenses will be allowed to carry before long and so will staff.

Speaking of carry licenses…

My personal thought it that courts may allow carry licenses to stand.  But charging $150 for a five-year license – as Illinois does – will likely be struck down as well.  16-hours of mandated training?  Likely to be ruled off-limits too.  Fingerprints!  LOL!  Good luck with that.

The happy medium may become, “you can set up a license scheme, but you can’t charge more than a minimal, nominal fee for it, and you can’t require training or fingerprints for it.  And you better process applications expeditiously.”

As for open carry?  I’d say prohibitions on open carry are probably not too long for this world.  Frankly, though, I don’t recommend open carry for tactical reasons.  

Guns in common use.
Part of this “strict scrutiny” will involve gun and magazine bans.  Any guns or magazines in common use cannot be banned.  Yes, that means standard capacity magazines, America’s favorite rifle and other semi-auto firearms.  Handguns cannot be banned.  

Home-made gun bans (those scary “ghost guns”) are doomed.  That will be good news for those who have 80% guns, either as unfinished kits or as a finished firearm in Illinois or nationally.  Making guns at home has been as American as baseball and apple pie since well before the RevWar and the Constitution’s ratification.

I have no doubt that some attorneys will seek to throw out the National Firearms Act which regulates full auto guns, along with short-barreled rifles and shotguns along with suppressors.  But those items might “reasonably” be determined to not be “in common use” so those restrictions may stand.  Although many of us including me would welcome the Land of Lincoln to join the vast majority of the USA that allows civilian ownership of these guns.  

Suppressor restrictions are probably going to face challenges, too.  

The decision does allow some regulation when it comes to felons and the mentally ill.  

In coming days, we’ll cover how this decision has left us all awash in anti-gun liberal tears.

And how people like Keith Olbermann seem to think those who disagree with court decisions can simply ignore the rule of law with impunity.

It has become necessary to dissolve the Supreme Court of the United States.

The first step is for a state the “court” has now forced guns upon, to ignore this ruling.

Great. You’re a court? Why and how do think you can enforce your rulings?#IgnoreTheCourt

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) June 23, 2022

How do they enforce their rulings?   Millions of heavily armed gun owners, Keith.

Poor Keith is having a really, really bad week.  After today’s decision striking down Roe v. Wade, he’s now making threats.

The Radical Right has troubled our collective house – and it shall inherit the wind. https://t.co/LfSif3Axmf

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) June 24, 2022

And just in case it gets deleted, here’s a screen capture.

“The Radical Right … shall inherit the [whirl]wind.”

In the meantime, make sure you carry when you go to church this weekend.  

And if you work or volunteer at a crisis pregnancy center, that goes double.  Along with a few industrial sized fire extinguishers.

Hotdog_butt might actually have someone from the FBI come to visit him.

Then again, under Biden and Merrick Garland, that’s not a sure thing.

The only thing you can count on is your carry piece.  And maybe a rifle in the trunk to back it up.  Remember, with a carry license in Illinois, a “pistol” with a support brace may be transported loaded so long as it’s out of plain view.  I’d recommend an empty chamber, but that’s up to you.