I’m proud to be American in part because of the cantankerous view that my fellow citizens have about government.
A good example is the guy who knocked over a D.C. revenue camera. Or the entire state of Arizona for ignoring notices generated by revenue cameras.
And this is why I applaud jurors who deliberately disregard bad laws.
One of my favorite examples of civil disobedience comes from Connecticut, where more than 80 percent of owners flouted a state law to register so-called assault weapons.
Today, we’re going to look at additional examples of citizens giving a figurative one-finger salute to anti-gun politicians.
We’ll start with a Washington Times story about what’s happening in Boulder, Colorado, one of the most left-leaning communities in America.
Boulder’s newly enacted “assault weapons” ban is meeting with stiff resistance from its “gun-toting hippies,” staunch liberals who also happen to be devoted firearms owners. Only 342 “assault weapons,” or semiautomatic rifles, were certified by Boulder police before the Dec. 31 deadline, meaning there could be thousands of residents in the scenic university town of 107,000 in violation of the sweeping gun-control ordinance.
…The ordinance, approved by the city council unanimously, banned the possession and sale of “assault weapons,” defined as semiautomatic rifles with a pistol grip, folding stock, or ability to accept a detachable magazine. Semiautomatic pistols and shotguns are also included. Current owners were given until the end of the year to choose one of two options: Get rid of their semiautomatics by moving them out of town, disabling them, or turning them over to police — or apply for a certificate with the Boulder Police Department, a process that includes a firearm inspection, background check and $20 fee. Judging by the numbers, however, most Boulder firearms owners have chosen to do none of the above… City Attorney Tom Carr has acknowledged that enforcing the ordinance will be a challenge, telling the Boulder Daily Camera that “there’s no circumstance where we go door-to-door and ask people if they’ve violated the law.”
I’m guessing there are many politicians in Boulder who would like door-to-door searches, but they wisely fear that would lead to additional civil disobedience, in this case from police officers.
Not to mention the potential for political backlash.
Now let’s shift to the heavily blue New Jersey.
Reason reports that residents of the Garden State also aren’t excited about obeying unjust laws.
on December 10…, all owners of heretofore legal “large capacity magazines” (LCMs) were required to surrender them to police, render them inoperable, modify them so they cannot hold more than 10 rounds, or sell them to authorized owners. Those who failed to do so are guilty of a fourth-degree felony…
How many of New Jersey’s 1 million or so gun owners have complied with the ban by turning LCMs in to law enforcement agencies? Approximately zero… Crump, an NRA instructor and gun rights activist, “reached out to several local police departments in New Jersey” and found that “none had a single report of magazines turned over.” He also contacted the New Jersey State Police, which has not officially responded to his inquiry. But “two sources from within the State Police,” speaking on condition of anonymity, said “they both do not know of any magazines turned over to their agency and doubted that any were turned in.” I also contacted the state police, where Sgt. Jeff Flynn told me they have received “zero” LCMs.
It’s likely that the noncompliance rate isn’t actually 100 percent, but it is very heartwarming to see such widespread disobedience. Especially since magazine limits are a truly inane and useless policy.
Let’s close by noting that the don’t-tread-on-me mentality in Colorado and New Jersey exists all across the United States.
One of my favorite bits of polling data is from earlier this decade, when Americans said they would disobey gun confiscation by a three-to-one margin.
In other words, the leftist dream of disarming America won’t be easy to achieve (as explained by Reason in this must-watch video).
P.S. We need to extend the principle of civil disobedience to the fight against the administrative state.
