Chicago, IL — The meaning of irony must be lost on the editorial board of the Chicago Sun Times. In a recent article, the leftist news outlet bemoaned the very thing that gun owners across the country are celebrating: the rise of Second Amendment Preservation Act legislation.
Check out what the FakeNews outlet had to say:
There is a glimmer of hope for stronger federal laws to reduce gun violence, but many states are working actively against it. That puts everyone in every state in greater peril…in more than a dozen states, lawmakers have introduced legislation to nullify new federal laws designed to reduce gun violence. Some state bills would even penalize police officers and others who work with federal law enforcement or dare to enforce the federal laws.
That’s a problem for every state, given how guns later connected to crimes flow across borders. In Illinois, 60% of guns that turn up at crime scenes are traced to sources outside the state.”
We’ve reported on that myth before, pointing out that 48 other states combined still don’t account for half of the guns recovered at crime scenes in Illinois. The often-heard claim that ‘60% of guns recovered at crimes in Chicago source from out of state doesn’t account for stolen guns, either.
But the Sun Times wasn’t done bemoaning the rise of SAPA legislation! They went on:
But what is particularly egregious about the bills now under consideration in state legislatures is the penalties they would impose on police officers and others who comply with the federal laws.
Gun shop owners who run a background check as they ring up a gun sale, for example, could be held civilly or even criminally liable by their states. Police officers who enforce the federal ban on felons carrying guns also could face civil penalties or criminal charges. The laws would have a chilling effect on the enforcement of federal gun laws.
They concluded, saying,
Gun violence is a scourge in America. Irresponsible neighbors make the problem all the more deadly.
But We Thought They WANTED To Defund The Police?
The irony isn’t lost on gun owners that the same people who have been crying ‘defund the police’ for the last year are now suddenly concerned at the ‘recklessness’ of trying to stop federal police from enforcing federal gun control!
Apparently, police should have no budget to enforce the law in cities like Chicago, Seattle, Portland, Atlanta, and more…but should have unlimited budget to enforce federal gun control in places like Sioux Falls, SD, Cottage Grove, MN, and Munhall, PA — or just in millions of homes across rural America.
Further, it seems painfully naive of the Sun Times to think that if the entire nation had the same laws that criminals in Chicago are currently ignoring, the criminals will finally give up their crime and become law-abiding!
After all, even if their readers accepted that ‘out of state’ guns are the problem in Chicago, isn’t it already a crime to bring those guns into Illinois? And those violent criminals who are shooting up the city are still breaking a dozen other gun control laws, right?
Maybe the Sun Times could publish an article directed at those violent criminals, telling them that shooting innocent people is illegal?
And possession of a stolen weapon, possession of a firearm by a felon, buying a gun without submitting to a NICS background check, carrying without a FOID? Illegal! Carrying without a concealed carry permit? Brandishing a deadly weapon? Assault with a deadly weapon? Armed robbery? Attempted murder? Murder?
All already illegal under current laws in Chicago — and ignored by criminals!
Finally, it’s laughable — if it weren’t so tragic — to see these elitist anti-gun leftists telling the rest of America about gun laws, gun safety, violent crime, or gun control –while their city is literally has some of the highest crime rates in the nation!
Physician, Heal Thyself!
What they don’t realize is that over almost a dozen states have filed SAPA because of what has happened in cities like Chicago after the left’s dangerous gun control laws were put in place!
Gun owners — and legislators — in red states watched all last year as the left cheered on the BLM rioters who were burning and looting cities across the country. These were often cities that already had with all the left’s favorite gun control on the books!
Just when it seemed to crazy to go on, many on the left cried, “Defund the police!” and argued for sending in social workers instead of cops.
What were American citizens supposed to conclude except: The same people pushing to take away our gun rights won’t lift a finger — and are even cheering — to stop violent rioting criminals in their own cities. Meanwhile, they want to send a therapists to talk down a home invader at our house! And if WE don’t comply with this new federal gun control, we’ll be labeled ‘domestic terrorists!’
Thankfully, America has a legal system that answers to the voters — and for red states, that means SAPA to the rescue!
Gun owners in a state that has passed SAPA wouldn’t have to worry that their cities are about to become the next Chicago or New York City. Why? Because their state’s SAPA law won’t allow tens of thousands of law-abiding citizens to be disarmed by dangerous gun control — giving criminals the run of the place!
What Is SAPA?
SAPA nullifies federal gun control laws by requiring state law enforcement officers and state officials to only enforce state laws regarding firearms, ammo, and accessories — and only if that state law complies with the Second Amendment. This bill essentially makes the entire state into a second amendment sanctuary!
SAPA legislation is based on the well-established ‘anti-commandeering doctrine’ which states that the federal government may not simply ‘commandeer’ the state’s legislative authority and force them to submit to federal laws that conflict with state law.
The idea that the states are separate legal entities that have the right to tell the federal government to pound sand has been upheld by the Supreme Court repeatedly — by conservative and liberal justices alike — going back hundreds of years.
This legislation would mean that if Joe Biden and his radical Democrat legislature pass a federal law requiring the confiscation of the AR-15 and all magazines that hold over ten rounds of ammunition, that state’s city, state, and county authorities would be required to ignore it!
And if they tried to enforce federal law anyway — think of some liberal Chief of Police in an urban area — the gun owner whose rights were violated could civilly sue the offending official!
SAPA Law Spreading
This SAPA legislation got it’s start in Missouri, but like all good ideas, it spread fast. The Sun Times quoted the Associated Press as reporting that Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Wyoming, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia, Iowa and Utah are considering gun nullification laws. Texas Greg Abbott has called for his state to become a Second Amendment “sanctuary.”
But since that list was published, we’ve reported that in addition to those, Minnesota, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and other states have also filed the legislation.
We also reported on February 11, 2021 when Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene filed federal SAPA legislation that would not allow federal –that it, the taxpayers — money to be spent enforcing federal gun law.
This legislation has the left frothing mad — and that’s not even half of why gun owners love it!