In the days following last weekend’s massacre in Orlando, Progressive Liberals (PL) have been working overtime to find new and creative ways to strip us of our constitutional right to own a gun. I intentionally used the words Progressive Liberal because this label no longer applies only to Democrats, as Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell recently proved.
If you were to do a casual search of the words Second Amendment and Strident Conservative, you would find pages of information showing that these anti-Second Amendment efforts aren’t new. But as I have also recently documented, the intensity is reaching nuclear proportions as we are witnessing in the current proposal called “no fly/no buy” — an idea not as cute as it sounds.
In a nutshell, the PLs are trying to convince us that they are only talking about 60,000 or so individuals. In reality, the successful implementation of this legislation would include several lists containing millions. While PLs are hailing this idea as the greatest thing since sliced bread, the fine print makes it clear that the right to due process contained in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments will be denied everyone on the list. In this flashback to last year, we learn how…
Last year, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) grilled an official with the Department of Homeland Security about the conflict between watch lists and the Constitution:
GOWDY: “What process is afforded a U.S. citizen, not someone who has overstayed a visa, not someone who crossed the border without permission, but an American citizen; what process is currently afforded an American citizen before they go on that list,” asked Gowdy.
BURRIESCI: “I’m sorry, um, there’s not a process afforded the citizen prior to getting on the list; there is a process should someone feel they are unduly placed on the list.”
GOWDY: “Yes, there is. When I say process, I’m actually using half of the term due process, which is a phrase we find in the Constitution–that we cannot deprive people of certain things without due process. So I understand Mr. Gude’s* idea, which is wait until your right has taken from you, and then you petition the government to get it back; I understand that’s his idea. My question is can you name another constitutional right that we have that is chilled, until you find out it’s chilled–and then you have to petition the government to get it back. Is that true with the First Amendment?
So, what do you do if you’re a Progressive Liberal and those pesky Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments get in the way of voiding the Second Amendment? Well, you just go ahead and void them too! That’s what Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) proposed on MSNBC’s Morning Joe program yesterday:
.@Sen_JoeManchin: Due process is what's killing us right now https://t.co/OTf9LnxHXZ
— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) June 16, 2016
Not to be outdone, Dianne Feinstein is also advocating a watch list for people who used to be on the watch list. You just can’t make this stuff up:
The Democratic legislation, sponsored by Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, would seek to prevent individuals on the government’s terror watch list from purchasing guns on the recommendation of the Justice Department alone. Ms. Feinstein unsuccessfully proposed a similar measure last year, after 14 people were killed by an Islamic extremist couple in San Bernardino, Calif.
The legislation she is now proposing goes even further, covering not just people on the watch list at the time of purchase, but anyone who had been on the list in the preceding five years. The Orlando gunman, Omar Mateen, had been on the list but was removed after an F.B.I. investigation turned up no evidence that he was plotting any crimes.
Progressive Liberals have worked for decades at chipping away at the Constitution to advance their agenda, but it looks like those days are over. Now they openly call for its elimination.
David Leach is the owner of The Strident Conservative, your source for opinion that’s politically-incorrect and always “right.” His articles can also be found on RedState.com.
His daily radio commentary is nationally syndicated with Salem Radio Network and can be heard on stations across America.
