Well, we’ve decided that you are my Muse, now, so here are some thoughts: The Constitution clearly allows Letters of Marque, whereby privately owned and privately armed ships are authorized to engage in hostilities against other nations, with the sanction of the government. When first used, those ships had identical weapons as navy ships – cutlasses, pistols, grenades, muskets, rifles, cannons, any weapon the owners could afford and buy. There was no restriction. Naval weapons today certainly include modern cannons and automatic weapons.
Yet the NFA, by acts of Congress, bars civilian ownership of those weapons. There was no amendment of the Constitution, merely a diktat under color of law. Although the last Letters of Marque were granted in the War of 1812, they still remain firmly in the Constitution without challenge.
Seems to me an argument could be made that the NFA is unconstitutional as applied under those circumstances. If you now include the removal of the NFA registration tax, the authority under which it originally was created, there are several cracks in that armor.
Does that give you any ideas?
“Under Article 1, Section 8,
Paragraph 11 provides the gate
To Letters of Marque and Reprisal.
Our Founders were wise in the ways
Of a nation’s very first days
And had to insure our survival.
Chorus:
Yo ho, yo ho, and we are off at first light,
To “convince” the lawmakers of what is our right!
Cannon-armed privateers,
Civilian-owned throughout the years
And it’s still in the Constitution.
Yet the NFA now
Just does not allow
For firearms’ evolution.
Chorus:
Yo ho, yo ho, and we are off at first light,
To “convince” the lawmakers of what is our right!”
/
Dear lord, what have I created!
KatNap Fever! 