DOJ: AR-15s are not “weapons of war”
Posted by Richard on July 11, 2018
The Department of Justice has agreed to settle the lawsuit brought by Defense Distributed and the Second Amendment Foundation. As Billll notes:
The DOJ has thrown in the towel in a lawsuit brought by Defense Distributed which opens up a lot of doors and windows.
The settlement acknowledges that Defense Distributed has a First Amendment right to publish 3-D printer files for making firearms and related information, and DOJ agreed to pay “a significant portion” of the plaintiff’s legal fees. But perhaps most importantly, as SAF notes in their statement, it destroys a key argument of the gun control crowd:
Significantly, the government expressly acknowledges that non-automatic firearms up to .50-caliber – including modern semi-auto sporting rifles such as the popular AR-15 and similar firearms – are not inherently military.
“Not only is this a First Amendment victory for free speech, it also is a devastating blow to the gun prohibition lobby,” noted SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “For years, anti-gunners have contended that modern semi-automatic sport-utility rifles are so-called ‘weapons of war,’ and with this settlement, the government has acknowledged they are nothing of the sort.
In today’s climate, I’m willing to celebrate that as something of a victory. But I’m compelled to point out that a true understanding of the Second Amendment leads to the conclusion that it’s the right to possess military arms, “weapons of war,” that our founding fathers wanted to protect.
“[I]f circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude that army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people while there is a large body of citizens, little, if at all, inferior to them in discipline and the use of arms, who stand ready to defend their own rights and those of their fellow-citizens. This appears to me the only substitute that can be devised for a standing army, and the best possible security against it, if it should exist.”
– Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 28, January 10, 1788
Rick Shultz said
Absolutely damn right. If more people read and studied the federalist papers in school as they SHOULD have, maybe the damned anti-gun lobby would never have gotten as far as it has which is TOO DAMNED FAR!!
Rick Shultz said
Sorry, I meant to mention something in your EXCELLENT post which was not ENTIRELY accurate, but which I am certain was NOT your fault because you copied the info out of the article on the lawsuit quite accurately.
In reality however, I have one very minor caveat which is the Federalist paper in question here was actually not Federalist No. 28 but was, in fact, Federalist No. 29 where Hamilton made the statement that is referenced in the post.
Richard said
Ah, thanks for pointing that out!