Tucker Carlson: Sen. John Cornyn has decided to take guns from lawful gun owners
WARNING—Graphic footage: Fox News host Tucker Carlson voices his concerns over red flag gun control laws on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight.'
Dear New York residents with anti-gun tendencies,
I know you’re afraid.
The Supreme Court this week informed your state government that there is, indeed, a Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and that it does, in fact, protect a right of the people (not just "special" people) to bear arms in public for self-defense.
I know this news shocked many of you, since you’ve long-lived under a regime that routinely conflates lawful gun owners with criminals. Constitutional rights can be scary, especially when you don’t understand them or don’t particularly like them. Your state and local government officials have spent months preemptively warning you that this day would destroy all of their efforts to keep you safe, as though ordinary, law-abiding gun owners in New York were the real problem plaguing your streets.
Guns 4 Less Ammo in Cape Coral, Florida. (Google Maps)
But I promise you, it will be all right.
The sky will not fall.
Your world will not fall apart.
Please allow me to explain why you can lie down in peace tonight.
First, let’s be realistic. Your state is not suddenly going to adopt permit-less carry (though most states have now eliminated carry permits and are doing just fine — have you seen New Hampshire and Vermont? Your permit-less carry neighbors to the east have annual homicide rates that hover near "zero.")
No, New York. Your legislators have already spent this session drafting bills that would make even the most restrictive of current "shall issue" states seem like the Wild West by comparison. They will do everything possible to ensure that as many gun owners as possible are priced out, regulated out, or scared out of exercising their Second Amendment rights in public.
Your government will, at best, begrudgingly adopt a Washington, D.C.-style permitting framework, where gun owners will spend hundreds of dollars and many months jumping through a Kafkaesque bureaucratic nightmare for their carry permits. Even then, they’ll have to plan their entire daily schedule around burdensome and irrational laws restricting where they can carry their firearms.
All this, on top of the burdens already placed on them to buy their handguns in the first place.
Have you looked at those laws in your state lately? You need a license to merely possess a handgun in your home, and the application process can take months. Applicants need to provide references for their "good moral character," show that they don’t have a history of mental illness, and essentially prove there isn’t some good reason to deny them a pistol license.
Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley explained the Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling on the New York gun case.
As a D.C. carry permit holder myself, I promise that gun owners who brave the expensive, time-consuming process New York will inevitably come up with for concealed carry permits will be loath to risk losing those permits on negligent or reckless interactions with you.
This is not just an opinion. Statistically speaking, concealed carry permit holders are one of the most law-abiding segments of society. We commit serious crimes at far lesser rates than even police officers.
Over the last several decades, state after state has loosened its carry laws and authorized more residents to carry firearms in more places. Not one of those states subsequently determined that it was a bad idea and returned to its more restrictive laws.
New York’s now-stricken law was a minority position for good reason:
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Ordinary, law-abiding gun owners are not the problem. They will not become the problem simply because they can now carry their firearms in public for self-defense.
You don’t have to fear them — unless, of course, you’re a criminal. In that case, many of your victims will now be armed, and therefore harder to victimize. You should be very, very afraid.
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But for the vast majority of New York residents, the full arrival of the Second Amendment in your state is nothing to agonize over.
You’ve merely joined the Constitution Club with the rest of the country. And on behalf of 43 other states, let me be the first to say "welcome."
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