First They Came for the Gun Owners: The Campaign to Disarm You and Take Your Freedoms

Also by Mark W. Smith

#Duped: How the Anti-gun Lobby Exploits the Parkland School Shooting—and How Gun Owners Can Fight Back

Disrobed: The New Battle Plan to Break the Left’s Stranglehold on the Courts

The Official Handbook of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy: The Arguments You Need to Defeat the Loony Left

A BOMBARDIER BOOKS BOOK

An Imprint of Post Hill Press

ISBN: 978-1-64293-201-0

ISBN (eBook): 978-1-64293-202-7

First They Came for the Gun Owners:

The Campaign to Disarm You and Take Your Freedoms

© 2019 by MSVT LLC.

All Rights Reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author and publisher.

Information contained in this book is not intended to and does not constitute legal advice under any circumstances. You should not act or rely on any information in this book without seeking the advice of a competent attorney licensed to practice in your jurisdiction for your particular issue.

Post Hill Press

New York • Nashville

posthillpress.com

Published in the United States of America

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Martin Niemöller (1892-1984) was a prominent Lutheran pastor in Germany and early Nazi supporter.¹ He later became an outspoken critic of Adolf Hitler.² In 1937, he was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp until he was released by the Allied forces in 1945.³ He is the author of the post-World War II confession, First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out…⁴

1 First they came, Wikipedia Contributors, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, May 6, 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came_...

2 Ibid

3 Ibid

4 Martin Niemöller: First they came for the Socialists.... Holocaust Encyclopedia, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/martin-niemoeller-first-they-came-for-the-socialists.

Preface: The Life of Julio: The Anti-Gunners’ Dream

Chapter 1: The Attack on America: They Don’t Hate Guns So Much as They Hate Us

Chapter 2: Rules for Gun Grabbers: Personalize, Polarize, and Demonize

Chapter 3: The Propaganda Machine in Action: How the Left Drives Their Anti-Gun Agenda

Chapter 4: Gun Speak: How the Left Controls the Narrative and Silences Dissent

Chapter 5: Throwing the Red Flag: Weaponizing Mental Health to Disarm Americans, One Gun Owner at a Time

Chapter 6: Lawfare: The Process is the Punishment: Bleeding the Gun Industry to Death

Chapter 7: Gaming the Constitution: Reading the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Out of the Bill of Rights

Chapter 8: No Supply! No Demand! Waging Economic Warfare Against Gun Buyers and Gun Sellers

Chapter 9: The Left Encourages Threats of Violence

Appendix: How the Gun Grabbers Chip Away at Your Constitutional Right: The Who, What, Where, and When

THE LIFE OF JULIO:

THE ANTI-GUNNERS’ DREAM

emember how the 2012 Barack Obama for President campaign created The Life of Julia to highlight the ways that government programs affected the prospects of an imaginary, ordinary American? ¹

As part of its 2012 re-election bid, the Obama campaign produced an interactive website designed to personalize and concretize the impact of federal government programs on everyday Americans. Called The Life of Julia, it followed a composite middle-class person (Julia) from cradle to grave, illustrating how federal spending and wealth redistribution kept her safe, helped her prosper, and generally made her life better. Of course, the campaign piece left out the impact of taxes, regulations, slower growth, and wasteful or counterproductive programs on Julia’s life. Instead, it painted a happy little picture of how Julia spent all those pennies from heaven, which the Feds rained down on her, to swathe her in comfy protection from the big, bad, loveless world. Conservatives reacted strongly to The Life of Julia, noting that it pretended there were no other institutions in society—no family, no churches, no clubs, or charities. No, Julia was like an asteroid, circling in empty space the vastness of the all-providing Sun—that is, the Federal government.

To illustrate the impact of the multi-front war on our Constitutional gun rights, I’ve decided to take a page from the Obama campaign.

***

Here is the tale of Julio, an ordinary American who decides to try to exercise his human right to self-defense and his related constitutional right recognized by the Second Amendment—the right to keep and bear arms.

Julio lives with his wife, Maria, in the small city of Blutopia, the third-largest community in the state of New Fornia. Julio and Maria have been married for fourteen years and have two girls, ages eleven and eight. Both parents work full-time to make ends meet. Julio manages an autobody shop that specializes in detailing cars. Maria works as a guidance counselor at the local high school. She also volunteers as a Sunday-school teacher at their church. They describe themselves as working middle-class. They hope to be able to pay off the mortgage on their small three-bedroom home around the same time that their younger daughter finishes high school.

Neither Julio nor Maria is especially political. They have voted for candidates of either party, depending on the candidate. They voted, reluctantly, for Barack Obama in 2008, Mitt Romney in 2012, and Donald Trump in 2016. They never talk about these decisions much. Their lives are too busy for political junkie stuff.

But, tonight, this American couple is having a political conversation. They didn’t want to. Reality has thrust it on them.

***

As Maria unpacks the meal she has ordered in and the kids do their homework, Julio comes in through the door. He looks drained and deeply angry.

He walks straight into the bathroom.

Puzzled and troubled, Maria finishes plating dinner and goes to knock on the door. Honey? What’s the matter?

Silence. After several minutes, Julio emerges, his face wet and hair dripping. He has dunked his head in the sink, and now he stares at her with red, bleary eyes.

They held us up at the auto shop, he says, then grabs and holds her.

Julio explains that a druggie had come into the shop and pulled a knife on one of the younger employees. Two more young men, who looked like meth heads, stormed in after, waving lead pipes and demanding the cash from the drawer. One of the younger workers picked up a wrench and started to go for them, but Julio snapped at him to stand down. He handed over the money and the junkies fled the scene. Julio called the cops, who duly took a statement.

Three days’ worth of income gone. Half the money he needed to make payroll this week. Yet Julio feels lucky that they did not kill him or his staff. Julio hates the idea of living at the mercy of criminals; he felt entirely dependent on the kindness of these thugs. Julio hated that feeling, and now he feels sick to the bottom of his being.

Maria, I think we need to get a gun.

She argues a little, but not for long. Blutopia has seen a string of such robberies, and even some home invasions. Maria doesn’t feel particularly safe at night, and the prospect of extra protection seems appealing. Julio has some shooting experience. His father, who served for twenty years in the Marines, took him hunting as a boy. Maria’s dad was a cop, so the idea of a gun in the house doesn’t fill her with dread, any more than the presence of pointy carving knives on the kitchen counter.

So, together, they make a decision. Julio will look into what it takes to own a gun.

And that’s where the story gets ugly.

***

Maria is better at research, so she spends a few hours online researching their local laws—and the state laws, which New Fornia passed just a few years ago, when a new governor took office. Maria didn’t notice that part of his platform.

She prints out the list of hoops that Julio will have to jump through and the forms he’ll need to fill out. It comes to almost twenty pages.

Okay, she says. I’ve put a sticky note on the forms you need to mail in. The others, you file in person. And I’ve highlighted in yellow everywhere you need to sign. The pink highlights? That’s where things need to be notarized.

She hands Julio the stack of documents. He sighs. The thing he hates most, even at the shop, is doing paperwork.

"Now the first thing it seems you need is a handgun permit from the state.² You can mail in your first application but, eventually, you need to go to the state office to complete it. That means driving about an hour, I’m afraid."

Julio hunkers down. Four hours later, he comes in to see Maria. Okay, are we done?

She shakes her head sadly. "Next, we need to gather documents. According to the websites—I had to check three different ones to find this information—you need:

Two recent passport color photos.³ We’ll get those at the

local drugstore.

Your birth certificate.⁴ You have that, right? Okay, then we’ll need to order a certified copy from the health department where you were born.

Proof of citizenship.⁵ Does a driver’s license count? It doesn’t say. Maybe you need to apply for a passport.

Military discharge papers⁶—no, you weren’t in the military, so cross that off.

Proof of residence.⁷ I think that a cable bill will do. Or maybe our tax forms from last year.

Any records of an arrest or summons⁸—it says here, even if the case was dismissed or the record sealed. We’re okay there, I think.

Any order of protection or restraining order⁹ you’ve ever had issued against you, including the ‘name of the complainant, their relationship to the applicant, and the reason the order was issued.’ Anything from your past I need to know about?"

She laughs, but Julio doesn’t.

He says, I’m wondering why this is, like, fifty times harder than it is to register to vote. That seems kind of important too—but you don’t even need ID here anymore to do that. I don’t want to deal with all this, but…

Maria ruffles his hair. I’ll get all the documents together. I’ll just devote an hour a night, every night, to this until it’s finished.

Julio smiles, relieved, and gives her a kiss.

So that’s everything, then? he asks, eager to catch the last quarter of the football game.

Er, no, Maria says, scrolling down a page on a buggy government website. "You’re going to need to swear under oath¹⁰—where and to whom, it doesn’t say—that you’ve read and understood all of the following:

Blutopia’s rules regarding safety locking devices.¹¹

Blutopia Statute 400, licensee responsibilities.¹²

New Fornia Title 38, Chapter 5, licensee responsibilities.¹³

New Fornia Article 35, deadly force.¹⁴

New Fornia Article 265, criminal possession of firearms.¹⁵

New Fornia Charter 18-C, public safety zones.¹⁶

U.S. Title 18, persons prohibited from possessing firearms.¹⁷

And Blutopia’s police department pamphlet on terrorism and suspicious activity."¹⁸

Have you studied all that? she asks, teasingly.

He grins. I wouldn’t swear to it. But I guess I’ll have to. Anything else? The minutes of the game on television are ticking away.

Just one last thing. Okay, two. You’ll need to swear to an affidavit designating me as the person who will be responsible for your handgun in the event of your disability or death. Then I’ll need to swear under oath to something called an Affidavit of Cohabitant.¹⁹

Julio sighs. Do they need one of the girls as a hostage, too? If so, I designate Alice. She’s a lot more work than Matilda.

Maria smiles. Well, in these cases, they usually ask for the firstborn, but maybe they will negotiate. They both laugh, a little wearily, and Julio sits down in front of the TV just as the football players are shaking hands wishing each other a good game.

***

Once his birth certificate arrives in the mail and Julio has gathered all the required documents, he drives an hour to the state’s capital city to file his application. That has to be done in person, on a weekday between the hours of eight a.m. and three p.m. So that eats up one of his last few vacation days—at a time when the shop is struggling to make up the loss from the robbery.

He shows his ID, has his photo taken by the security camera, and then walks through the long security line, putting his keys into the basket as he goes through the metal detector. Julio waits in another line for an hour, then learns that he needs to be fingerprinted.²⁰ As a government employee takes his prints, Julio feels like some kind of criminal. That costs him one hundred dollars—check only, no cash or credit card. He’s relieved that he remembered to bring his checkbook. After that, he threads his way through long, dusty hallways till he finds the license office. There, he hands the government worker his sheaf of papers, trying not to get any ink on them from his stained fingers.

The woman flips casually through the stack of documents that ate up so many hours of his and Maria’s time. She asks him for the $350 application fee.²¹ Check only, no credit card. Julio duly writes it, trying not to do the math about how much is left in their joint account.

***

Weeks go by, then months. Maria checks the mail carefully every day, but she finds no response from either the city or the state. She makes phone calls but never gets any answers.

Finally, three months after Julio submitted his paperwork, they receive a letter from the state. It gives the name of the New Fornia state trooper who will interview Julio to see if his application will go any further.²²

Julio calls the officer and, when he finally tracks the man down, he learns that the earliest open appointment is almost four weeks away. He’ll also need an affidavit of proof of employment²³ from the auto shop, a current utility bill,²⁴ his Social Security card,²⁵ current bank statements,²⁶ income tax returns,²⁷ his marriage license,²⁸ and his DMV abstract.²⁹

Is that all? he asks the officer, exasperated.

No, says the officer. "You will also need three reference letters³⁰ from non-relatives who have known you for at least five years. They’ll need to be notarized, of course. And let me reiterate what it says on your application, sir: ‘Failure to provide the requested documents will result in the immediate disapproval of your pistol permit application.’"³¹

Julio uses another vacation day to drive up to the state capital for the interview. He strides into the police headquarters, determined to see the process through.

A deputy escorts him to an interview room. It looks just like the rooms used to interrogate suspects on TV shows. A tall, middle-aged man in his ranger hat and full uniform, with holstered pistol, sits behind a metal table. He looks up from time to time from the dog-eared pile of Julio’s papers that sits before him.

Name’s Captain Foley. Sit. The trooper gestures to a metal chair. It looks perfect, Julio thinks, for handcuffing a suspect’s wrists behind it.

Captain Foley sits with a yellow legal pad and a pencil. He reminds Julio that the ability to own a handgun is a privilege bestowed by government, and not a right. The Captain then starts asking questions.

Why do you want a gun?

Er, my store where I work was robbed. There have been home invasions a few miles from where I live.

Foley gives him a long Don’t you think we can do our jobs? kind of stare, then moves on.

Ever owned a gun of any kind before?

No. Wait, I take that back. My dad took me hunting with shotguns when I was a teenager.

Where will you store a gun if you’re permitted to buy one?³²

In my desk at work, and I guess the nightstand at home.

Got any kids?

Two girls, eleven and eight. I’ll keep the safety locked, and the ammo cartridge in a separate place.

Foley scratches some notes.

"Where exactly will you keep the ammunition?"

The dresser drawer? Julio offers.

Do you intend to transport the gun anywhere?

From home to work.

Using what means of conveyance?

Er, my car.

Have you ever been assaulted? Ever had your domicile robbed?

No, but we were robbed at work by druggies with knives and pipes.

When do you believe you are legally justified in employing deadly force? Have you read the criminal statutes of New Fornia? Or the city of Blutopia?

Yes, I had to study them—there’s an affidavit in there somewhere.

You’re aware that we don’t have that crazy stand-your-ground law in New Fornia, correct? That you’re legally required to retreat from an attacker, even surrendering your property or escaping from your home, if it is possible for you to do so? That you may fire on someone only if it is the only means to preserve your own or another’s life?³³

Yes, Julio says. I read that.

Foley doesn’t look up again. He writes some more notes and waves with his fingers for Julio to go. We’re done here. We’ll let you know.

Julio rises and retreats from the room, muttering, Thank you. It takes twenty minutes driving with the windows down to get the bleach smell of the police station out of his nostrils.

***

It’s several months before a thin envelope arrives from the New Fornia State Police. The letter briefly informs Julio that he has failed to show good cause to own a gun and will not be receiving a gun permit. It also warns him of the penalties for possessing one illegally.³⁴

This is bullshit, Maria says, in front of both the girls. We’re fighting it.

Mommy, language! Alice warns her.

Maria tells Julio, Call that state trooper and find out what happened.

Julio scans the letter. It gives no real reason why he flunked the application or the interview with Captain Foley. I’m going to call him and try to clear this up.

The call doesn’t go well. After navigating two automated switchboards, he reaches Captain Foley on the phone. But Foley simply informs him that his application was insufficient to demonstrate a need for a firearm, which he states is a privilege and not a right in New Fornia.³⁵

Off to the side, Maria waves at Julio not to back down. So Julio says, I have the right to appeal this.

Yes, sir, you do. And you have exactly 120 days in which to do so, or you will need to start the process from scratch.³⁶ Then Foley hangs up.

I’m finding us a lawyer, Maria announces.

Maybe it’s just not worth it, Julio says.

No! It’s the principle of the thing.

I hope this doesn’t hurt my credit rating or put some kind of black mark on my record, Julio says.

We’re going to fix this. You wait and see, Maria promises.

Hours of online research yields a potential lawyer. Maria finds an attorney with a criminal-law side practice touching on firearms law, and they drive over to meet with him.

Some $3,500 in legal bills and government fees later, Julio learns that his appeal has prevailed. More than a year has passed since he first filed his application. Half the workers who were present for the robbery have moved on to other jobs, and a few more of his hairs have turned gray. But now Julio, at last, can exercise his right to keep and bear arms.

He takes another vacation day to drive back to the state police headquarters, so he can be photographed for a permit. A clerk hands him a flimsy piece of onionskin paper that reads, faintly, Purchase Authorization.

She says, robotically, not looking up at him, This allows you to purchase one and only one handgun from a dealer with a federal firearms license. You have thirty days to do so, or you must reapply.³⁷

Do you have a list of licensed firearms dealers? Julio asks.

The clerk replies, Try the Internet.

Back home, Maria searches online and turns up a guns and sporting goods store about forty-five minutes from home. Nobody answers when Julio phones the place, but he decides to drive out there anyway, in case the owner was too busy to answer the phone.

Danny’s Army/Navy Store has gone out of business, however. Julio spots a hand-lettered sign behind the glass window: "Dear Valued Customers: Thank you for a century of business, but that last crackpot zoning lawsuit³⁸ was the limit. I’m moving to New Hampshire. Live free or die!"

Using his phone, Julio finds the next-closest licensed firearms dealer. It is two hours in the opposite direction. So Julio goes home and tells Maria they need to find an online seller. The website is user-friendly, and they find a handgun that looks appealing: a .38 Smith & Wesson, just the right size for Maria’s hand.

They fill in all the information and try to push Purchase. But, at that point—and only at that point!—the site informs them that online sales are illegal in New Fornia and that the online store will not ship a firearm to a licensed dealer in New Fornia.³⁹

Honey, I’m getting close to giving up, Julio admits when the sale doesn’t go through.

She stares at him, icily. At last, she says: "Do you want to let them win? I don’t intend to. Right now, I plan to get a gun on general principle, even if you dismantle it and keep it in the garage. Screw. These. People."

Julio smiles. That’s why I married you.

The next day, they pile in the car with both girls to drive the two-plus hours to another Army/Navy store; a person there had answered the phone and confirmed that the store had the desired pistol. At Marco’s All-American Army/Navy Emporium, they find their semiauto nine-millimeter pistol and ask the friendly salesman to take it from the case. Julio gets a feel for it. Maria asks to hold it, but the clerk tells her that she cannot touch the gun without a permit; and, if she did touch the gun, that would make both Julio and her felons under law.⁴⁰ The girls both beg to touch it, but a sharp word from Julio sends them cowering behind Maria.

The salesman draws up the paperwork. You know that, by New Fornia law, you need to buy a trigger lock and a gun safe, since you have kids.⁴¹

Julio winces. How much will that cost?

The salesman runs some numbers. So, the gun is $575, and the rest…another $150. Maria nods, and the salesman proceeds. You want some ammo, right?

Julio says yes and asks for a hundred rounds for use in target practice.

The salesman gives him some boxes. In some states, you can buy a magazine that holds up to fourteen bullets—but ten is the limit here.⁴²

Of course, it is, Julio says. Any other hoops we need to jump through?

The salesman thinks for a second. Do you have gun owner’s insurance?⁴³

No.

"Well, you legally need to have that within ten days of this purchase. In New Fornia, anyway.⁴⁴ Sad thing is, the legislature and the governor have pressured most insurance carriers not to offer it in this state.⁴⁵ But there are a few groups that offer something. Here’s a brochure. Take care of this, okay? I don’t want you to end up getting your pistol confiscated. Also, within seventy-two hours you need to bring this gun to the police station for inspection and registration by the New Fornia License Division."⁴⁶

Of course, we do, Maria says.

And, if I could give you a tip: The clerks there are supposed to record the make, model, caliber, and serial number of the gun on your permit. Make sure they get it right. Double- and triple-check it before you leave. Because, if they get one number off on your permit, you can be arrested for carrying it—even if it’s their fault, not yours.⁴⁷

When it’s finally time to pay, Julio learns that New Fornia levies a 10 percent firearms tax, which jacks up the price.⁴⁸

With a sigh, he pulls out his wallet.

I’m sorry, the salesman says, "but the credit-card companies