This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Wednesday, January 6, 2016:
President Obama’s latest incursion into the legislative realm is being met by informed resistance. Without such resistance his Executive Branch would soon become the only branch. Thomas Jefferson knew it: “Educate and inform the whole mass of the people … they are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.” So did Robert Welch: “All we must find and build and use, to win, is sufficient understanding.”
The Constitution of the United States was built on this fundamental belief: man is greedy, selfish and power hungry and, left to his own devices, would like nothing more than to rule over other men. Jefferson knew that: “In questions of power then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.”
And so, on Tuesday morning, when President Obama overstepped the bounds of the Constitution by granting powers to the ATF that superseded those given it by the Legislative Branch, Judge Andrew Napolitano was there, calling it “a blatant attack on the separation of powers” of the Constitution.”
By unilaterally attempting to grant ungrantable powers to the ATF, Obama would allow ATF agents to scour the records of every FFL holder in the country to find out who is buying and selling guns on a regular basis. From there it is easy to picture the outcome: depending upon how the ATF defines “engaging in the business” of firearm sales, an individual acquiring or selling firearms from time to time would find himself confronted by an ATF agent at his door demanding that he apply for an FFL or face charges of violating the new law.
But executive orders are only to be used to clarify existing law passed by the legislature, not to override it. Dave Workman, senior editor of the Second Amendment Foundation’s The Gun Mag, agreed with the judge: “I don’t think the president has the authority to redefine what a dealer is because that is defined in existing federal statute. He can’t snap his fingers and suddenly say to someone who sells a gun … [that he] is now a gun dealer.”
There were other EOs in Tuesday’s announcement, including pressuring the Social Security Administration to notify the FBI of beneficiaries who have designated third parties to receive their benefits and manage their financial affairs. Guns that are stolen or lost in transit must be reported to the FBI. Firearms can no longer be purchased by trusts or corporations without background checks. State laws protecting citizens’ private health information are being abrogated so that medical professionals can submit mental health concerns to the FBI without legal challenges. He announced the hiring of more agents for the FBI to help facilitate the background check system, and more ATF agents to monitor gun dealers more closely. He wants to extend the three-day period following which, if a background check hasn’t been completed, a gun purchase can be completed anyway.
But the primary one is designed to turn every gun owner into an agent of the ATF. The conversation was perverted and deliberately misdirected to consider “just how many guns does a gun owner have to buy and sell before he becomes a gun dealer?” Two years ago the White House drafted a proposal that someone selling 50 guns annually should be required to have an FFL. A month ago that number was revised downward to 25 guns a year. During a conference call on Monday with reporters, Obama’s personal confidante Valerie Jarrett reduced the number still further:
ATF will make clear that whether you are “engaged in the business” depends on the facts and circumstances … factors such as whether you represent yourself as a dealer, such as making business cards or taking credit cards [or] whether you sell firearms shortly after they’re acquired or whether you buy or sell in the original packaging.
Numbers are relevant. The ATF and the DOJ did not identify a magic number of weapons that makes you engaged in the business because that would limit their ability to bring prosecution. (Emphasis added)
It can be as little as one or two depending upon the circumstances under which the person sells the gun. (Emphasis added)
So there it is: every gun owner must not only reveal his cache of weaponry but he must register it with the ATF – “The Gang” as Jews For the Preservation of Firearms Ownership calls it – and pay for the privilege!
That’s the final step towards total and complete confiscation and disarmament, according to German Lopez, writing for the left-wing publication Vox:
The problem is, fundamentally, that the US has a lot of guns, so any measure that doesn’t significantly reduce the number of guns will ultimately fall short of fully addressing violence….
To have a more immediate impact, then, the US would have to find a way to quickly remove the number of guns in circulation.
This is what made Hitler’s job so easy, according to William Shirer, author of his monumental Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: he knew where the guns were. All he needed was the power to go get them.
Obama’s blatant overreach is already having some positive impact. One, gun sales are likely to continue at record levels (prices of stocks of Sturm, Ruger and Smith & Wesson hit new highs on Tuesday). Two, the NRA is looking to bring a lawsuit against Obama, challenging his claimed authority to override Congress. Three, the conversation about separation of powers and the proper role of the Executive branch is heating up. Finally, Obama’s proclamations on Tuesday are forcing the Republican candidates to make clear their positions on them, and what they would do about them were they to replace Obama in January 2017.
If Obama’s perorations go unchallenged, then the electorate will learn another lesson about freedom, this time the hard way. Said George Washington: “Government is not reason. It is not eloquence. It is force! Like fire, it is both a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”
Sources:
Wall Street Journal: Obama to Announce Expansion of Background Checks for Gun Purchases
Wall Street Journal: Obama Ready to Act Alone on Gun Control
New York Times: Obama to Expand Gun Background Checks and Tighten Enforcement
Washington Post: Obama plans curbs on guns
Free Beacon: Obama Executive Order May Require Those Selling Even a Single Firearm to Become Licensed Dealers
Free Beacon: Social Security Admits Plan to Add Recipients to Gun Background Check System
Vox: President Obama’s boldest action on guns yet, explained
Washington Times: Obama’s new gun regulations to require more background checks on purchases
Politico: Doctors can report some mentally ill patients to FBI under new gun control rule
Robert Welch quote from The Blue Book of the John Birch Society
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