A scary story for halloween

A harrowing tale of things that go boo(m) in the night

This is an updated re-rerun of an article from last year. In light of campaign statements by a particular presidential candidate, and some recent court proceedings, it seems fitting to bring it back, again this year for Halloween.

The year is 1934. America is reeling from the stock market crash of 1929. People struggled just to put food on the table. Some would seek to drown their sorrows in alcohol, but the decade-long prohibition against liquorous libations had just been lifted. During the time in which soothing spirits were disallowed, violent crime rose dramatically as mobsters moved in to dodge the decree and provide drink and distraction for the people.

In response to the rabble-rousing wrought by these ruffians, the 73rd Congress passed the National Firearms Act of 1934. As I have often postulated, I have now found the ATF actually admits - this purported purpose was actually secondary to the primary point of raising revenue. The real reason for the passage of this pernicious piece of legislation was proceeds. Hindering the sale of the devices denoted in the act took a back seat to taxation. This was easily understood when looking at the $200 levied per item during a time when most couldn't afford a meal, much less a machine gun. Who then might have the dollars to pay this dubious duty? Mostly the thugs allegedly targeted by the statute. That’s right - let the outlaws purchase weapons, but prevent the populace from protecting themselves. This should send chills down the spine of any constitutional constructionist. Making registration and remittance requirements to retain ownership of private property is a slippery slope toward control or outright cancellation. Scary! 

Fast-forward three-and-a-half decades, and once again, the criminals in Congress sought to steal sovereignty of the citizens by ratifying the Gun Control Act of 1968. Under the virtuous veneer of aiding authorities to analyze firearm-involved felonies, the government would require all weapons manufacturers to engrave serial numbers on their products and purchasers to fill out forms. Prior to this act, aside from items falling under the NFA, no paperwork was necessary to buy a firearm. As a matter of fact, up until then, guns of all sorts were listed in catalogs and could even be purchased by mail. It is from this act of Congress that we get the concept of a “ghost gun.” No, this isn’t an apparition’s AR or a phantom’s firearm - it is, in current vernacular, a gun that was not completed by a manufacturer, but rather, was built at home by an ordinary citizen. The fact is, whether homemade or professionally manufactured, prior to 1968, many, if not most, firearms would have fallen under the classification of ghost gun. The GCA of 1968, though addressing a constitutional issue with the NFA, was another step in the direction of control and confiscation. Never from the founding of the U.S. were citizens required to file paperwork to own arms. The Constitution, via the Second Amendment, insured government would not interfere with the right to keep and bear arms. There were no restrictions on the particular arms. As a matter of fact, the founding fathers and those who fought with them to win our independence from the British all owned weapons of war. The ships of the time, many armed with multiple cannons, were privately owned. The government taking steps to infringe on a right protected by our Constitution is terrifying indeed!

Government has continued down this slippery slope. In 1986, purchasing fully-automatic firearms was restricted to only those manufactured prior to 1986. In 1994, President Clinton signed into law the Crime Control Act, often colloquially termed the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban, prohibiting the manufacture, sale, or possession of many semi-automatic rifles as well as high-capacity magazines. Thankfully, this unconstitutional injunction expired in 2004 and was not renewed.

Commence the year 2022. Politicians today are at it again, seeking to ban those eerie ephemeral entities that frighten them to their core. I’ve written before that the politicians’ panic over these revenant rifles and phantasmic pistols has naught to do with actual violence or crime. There is little statistical support to state that apparitional ammunition is used in countless crimes, as is evidenced by their evanescent existence in mainstream media reporting. If ghost guns were gallivanting around massacring the masses, reporters would be racing to reveal the source of these atrocities. The fact is, it takes too much time, money, and effort for most criminals to concoct their own carbines; it is far easier and less expensive to steal someone else’s or purchase one already stolen.

Despite the facts, 2022 saw the creation and finalization of a rule to outlaw the spectral shooters otherwise known as “ghost guns,” requiring purchases of 80% lower receivers be accompanied by background checks, and that said receivers be serialized. This rule is fighting its way through the courts, however, as the authority of the ATF to redefine a firearm has come under scrutiny (the ATF has had at least two other rules struck down in court this year for reasons of “overreach”).

In 2023, nearing the time when ghosts are celebrated, the President announced the formation of a new executive agency, the Office of Gun Violence Prevention. Despite any appearances to the contrary, this office is staffed by anti-gun activists with the sole purpose of being engaged in anti-gun activism, all on the tax-payers dime. The mere thought should send shivers up your spine.

Now, in 2024, Kamala Harris joined President Biden for a press conference in which ghost guns were denounced as being difficult to trace back to “the shooter” because they don’t have serial numbers, which I’ve shown before to be a specious argument. They contend that there is a proliferation of ghost guns being used in violent crimes, yet when the numbers are analyzed, homemade firearms make up only about 1% of crime guns submitted by police to the ATF.

That the government is seeking to take from us the ability to make our own muskets (or other more modern arms) as did our founding fathers is horrifying to say the least. To paraphrase a popular meme, if the government is trying after over 200 years of public gun ownership to ban such weapons, it is likely they want to do something for which we would shoot them. Anyone with their eyes open can see the government is coming after our guns (some, like Beto O’Rourke have said it explicitly). And that, my friends, is one of the scariest truths ever told.