The 2nd Amendment is not universally accepted as a legitimate part of our Bill of Rights. Regardless of the historical context, regardless of recent Supreme Court rulings, there are large parts of our country and large parts of our population that see the 2nd Amendment as an anomaly that needs to be revoked, revised or at least infringed upon as much as is necessary to alleviate some degree of emotional fear about firearms and gun violence. Therefore it does not surprise me when I read about laws and regulations of various states and municipalities that clearly (in my mind) violate the letter and intent of the 2nd Amendment.
When you add these restrictive laws to mandatory sentencing, then you have really entered the world of 1984 according to George Orwell. What happens in fact is that you transfer the entire criminal justice system to the police officer who makes the initial stop or arrest (almost like the 1995 sci-fi movie "Judge Dredd"). I talked with a MA state trooper years ago who told me that when he encountered an elderly woman, who approached him and asked if she needed to cover or otherwise hide the handgun her late husband had asked that she give to their son, he had a decision to make. Under MA law he knew he should arrest this 80 year old visitor from PA and that she would face a minimum of one year in prison for her "offense" of possessing this weapon without a license. He also was a decent guy who understood the stupidity of this system. So, as he told me, he told the woman to hide the firearm, deliver it to her son, and tell no one that she was doing it unless she wished to be arrested and imprisoned.
My wife seriously wants us to take a trip to DC to visit some of their renowned art museums. I guess that if we go I better first search my car to make sure there are no shell casings that might have dropped from my range bag onto the car's floor. At least having IL license plates I probably won't trigger any suspicion by DC LEO's since they know that IL is much like DC in its anti-gun mentality.
