Recent actions taken by Democrat-run states suggest that they really don’t understand the Second Amendment, or the thinking behind it, at all.
Last week an elderly New York man was sentenced to a four-year prison term because of an incident that took place two years earlier.
Charles Foehner, a 67-year-old retired doorman with a clean record, was walking to his home in Queens on a late June 2023 evening, when a would-be mugger lunged at him holding what appeared to be a knife.
Foehner pulled out a revolver and shot his attacker, killing him.
The knife turned out to be a pen.
Nevertheless the killing was justified as an act of self-defense.
However, Foehner's revolver, as well as the firearms comprising the gun collection he kept at home, were all unregistered.
He was charged with 25 counts of criminal possession of a weapon.
After two years of being run through the New York criminal justice meat grinder, Foehner pled guilty to one count, and he can now look forward to spending his sunset years in Cell Block C.
So why didn't he register his weapons?
Cam Edwards, an editor at Bearing Arms, a popular Second Amendment news and opinion site, said that both the city and state make the process as intolerable as the criminal justice meat grinder Foehner endured.
Edwards, a frequent Newsmax TV contributor, explained that "places like New York City still treat the Second Amendment like the bastard stepchild of the Constitution, and the right to keep and bear arms as a privilege to be doled out by the state."
He observed that Foehner's case came more than 15 years after the landmark decision in DC v. Heller, in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment protects the right to possess firearms in common use for self-defense.
The Heller decision should have covered the firearms Foehner kept in his home.
As for the revolver he carried, the state of New York got spanked just three years ago for its draconian concealed carry laws.
In N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, the Supreme Court held that New York's standard, that it "may issue" a conceal carry permit only after demonstrating a "special need," was unconstitutional.
The state had to replace its "may issue" standard with a "shall issue" standard.
In other words, the court held that New York “shall issue” a carry permit to any law-abiding New Yorker with ordinary self-defense needs.
But here again, the state is dragging its heels. Edwards reported that generally in New York, a permit "costs hundreds of dollars and often years of time to obtain."
And when you’re already a senior citizen, you may think to yourself, "Why bother?"
But more importantly, practices and procedures of states like New York are at odds with the Constitution.
The language of the Second Amendment is pretty straightforward, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
Edwards begins each "Cam & Company" podcasts by reciting the Second Amendment.
Note the wording: It provides that "the right of the people" (not the state, not a militia) "to keep" (that is, to own or possess) “and bear” (to carry) “Arms, shall not be infringed."
Comedic entertainers Penn & Teller provided a great, easily understood (but with a language warning) explanation of the Second Amendment.
From the Second Amendment's plain language, it follows that ordinary citizens have no obligation to prove that they may keep and bear arms — that right is spelled out in the amendment. Instead, it’s the state’s obligation to prove that they may not.
On that basis, a majority of the 50 states have what’s called "constitutional carry" laws, which permit their citizens to carry their lawfully-owned weapons outside the home, without requiring them to apply for a special license.
Those states include Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
Look over the list and you'll notice that few if any of them have a reputation for violence.
That's reserved for blue cities in blue states, places like Chicago, Ill., Portland, Ore., and yes, New York, N.Y.
That's because they interpret the Second Amendment backwards.
The Second Amendment doesn’t restrict the people; it restricts the government.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and is a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He's also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and a Second Amendment supporter. Read Michael Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.
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