It’s hard to imagine just how far some of the progressives on the left will go to keep guns out of the hands of law-abiding people in our country.
That opening paragraph is just not enough. This story is laughable, it’s something we just couldn’t script.
The State of New York is invoking colonial-era bans on selling guns to Native Americans. They are using as a defense the constitutionality of its “good moral character” standard for obtaining a concealed carry license.
This is a part of the Concealed Carry Improvement Act (CCIA) that Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law in July. It is going to take effect in September.
The Supreme Court struck down a provision within the bill in June that required concealed carry permit applicants to demonstrate a need for self-protection.
A gun-rights lobbying group, Gun Owners of America (GOA), sued New York State Police Superintendent Kevin P. Bruen in August. They sought to block the legislation. So Bruen’s lawyers actually argued in court that the CCIA’s “good moral character” standard is deeply rooted in Anglo-American legal tradition and should therefore be upheld by the court.
The filing actually says this: “From the early days of English settlement in America, the colonies sought to prevent Native American tribes from acquiring firearms, passing laws forbidding the sale and trading of arms to Indigenous people.”
These lawyers for Bruen also argued that Catholics were barred from owning firearms, both in England and in colonial America, due to their suspected disloyalty.
Aiden Johnston, the director of GOA’s federal affairs, said, “It proves what GOA has been saying for decades, which is that the origin of gun control is racist. Gun laws come from a majority trying to suppress or dominate or control a minority, whether it be a minority of Catholics in early America, or a minority of Native Americans when there’s colonials trying to take over the continent.”
Craig DeLuz, the president and CEO of 2A News Corporation, said, “It is sad, but not surprising, to witness gun control activists harken back to their racist roots. Whether it was the ‘Black Codes’ of the post-slavery South … or the general granting of ‘discretion’ to local law enforcement to decide who was of ‘Good moral character,’ gun control has never been about controlling guns. It’s about controlling people.”
I read it, wrote it, and still can’t believe it.
In a case we're watching, Antonyuk v Bruen, New York State claims their 'good moral character' clause is acceptable because:
"From the early days of English settlement in America, the colonies sought to prevent Native American tribes from acquiring firearms…"
😳 pic.twitter.com/Z2xsLvApi4— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) August 22, 2022
