BATFE on Heller

The statement of good ol’ Mike Sullivan on the DC vs Heller decision:

ATF is pleased with the Supreme Court’s ruling recognizing that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess firearms, including for private purposes unrelated to militia operations. The court’s ruling is in accordance with the text of the Second Amendment, historical practice, and the Attorney General’s 2001 guidance on the scope of the Second Amendment, and is consistent with the bureau’s understanding of the scope of the Second Amendment. The Bureau also is pleased that the court appropriately made clear that nothing in yesterday’s ruling casts doubt on the constitutionality of ‘longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.’ In addition, the court appropriately recognized that the ‘carrying of dangerous and unusual weapons,’ such as machineguns, is not protected by the amendment. The bureau is studying the decision, but expects that it will not affect its continued enforcement of all existing federal firearms laws.

If you don’t feel like reading the whole thing, let me translate it for you: “Oh thank god they didn’t do anything crazy like say those cousin-humping rednecks could have machineguns.  Also, it’s a good thing that they didn’t say anything about catching real criminals, otherwise we’d have to find something to do other than harass law-abiding FFLs.”

I am kidding, sort of.  I do think that the BATFE is interested in going after actual criminals, where I think their problem lies is that they don’t really differentiate between a guy who forgets to dot his “t’s” and cross his “i’s” and a guy who is smuggling AK47s in from Mexico.

1 Comment

  1. I appreciate that you said “. . and a guy who is smuggling AK47s in from Mexico,” as the media insists that it is the other way around.

    No good deed should go unnoticed.

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