I’ve been saying for a while now that if the anti-gunners can’t pass any type of substantial gun control measures, the next logical step for them is to attempt an ammunition ban.
That is exactly what New York is attempting right now, per a video I just watched by my good friends over at Guns & Gadgets. I’ve embedded that video below.
But, as we’ve already seen in our nation’s past, that won’t work. And, it’s unconstitutional.
When discussing why banning ammo is a violation of the Second Amendment, we should start by discussing the first time the government attempted to take away ammo, what happened as a result of them taking it, and, of course, why it is necessary for Americans to be sufficiently armed.
Powder alarm:
The Powder Alarm occurred in Cambridge, Mass on 09-01-1774, and was one of the main events leading up to the Revolutionary War. The basic gist, which I’ll go more in-depth on in the next section, is that the British removed gunpowder from Colonial control in response to the Boston Tea Party.
Before I go into the specifics, I want to point out a few things that are hopefully very obvious. The United States has a long, rich history concerning firearms. As far back as can be seen, it has been perfectly legal to own, build, and carry a firearm for self-defense. In fact, it was a normal practice.
It was also understood that the nation’s citizens would rise up to protect against a foreign or domestic enemy, which is exactly what would eventually happen as our founders discovered. The Powder Alarm is an important event in history because it was an aggressive act that pushed the colonials to war.
The sad part is that many people aren’t taught these all-important events in school. And, those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
In response to the Tea Party, the British established what was called “coercive acts.” These were a handful of acts that were meant to reestablish royal control in the colonies.
One of these acts was losing the ability to elect their own government after the British General, Thomas Gage, appointed 36 people to office.
In response to this act of hostility, the Colonists moved their gunpowder.
(Read next – No, I won’t be losing my guns in a boating accident.)
Old Gunpowder:
Before moving on any further, we have to discuss the gunpowder, why it was stored the way it was, and why this is so important.
There are important distinctions that need to be made between the ammunition of yesteryear, and what today’s guns use. Back in the 1700s, ammunition consisted of components that were loaded into the firearm separately, one at a time.
Today’s ammo by stark contrast, for the most part, is a cartridge design with all of the components being a part of the overall cartridge itself.
The powder that was used back before and during the Revolutionary War was unstable, so it was placed in a common storehouse. It was localized enough that, should the militia need the powder, they could get to it relatively quickly.
But, it wasn’t something that you’d want to be stored in your house. Ya know, just in case.
Gage Takes The Gunpowder:
The Brits learned that the Americans moved their gunpowder to a couple of different sites, which caused them great concern.
They wanted to prevent fighting from breaking out, so on September 1, 1774 the British, under the leadership of General (and Royal Governor) Thomas Gage, found and removed the powder from the Colonial storehouse, and brought it to a storehouse under British control.
This caused the powder alarm to occur, which was nothing more than a rumor that British soldiers killed Americans to take said powder.
While that rumor was untrue, the aggression already started with the removal of the powder at this point in history, and the result is widely known.
Formation of the Provincial Congress:
Some of the lesser-known parts are that the powder alarm, and the other coercive acts, led our founders down a very specific path to ensure Americans would stay free for as long as they wanted to.
One of these lesser-known events is the formation of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress which had powerhouses like John Hancock, Joseph Warren, Samuel Adams, and Artemas Ward, as well as a few other lesser-known, but still important, people.
The Provincial Congress did the following:
- Set up a way to communicate with express riders and alarms.
- Asked Mass towns to organize 1/3 of the militia members into companies that would be able to rapidly deploy against the British. They’re famously known as the Minutemen.
- Moved gunpowder storehouses further from the coast to the towns west of Boston. That way, they’d be harder for the British to reach.
- Raised a 12,000 Minutemen militia, and trained them throughout the winter.
All of the above is important. But for our purposes here I want to pay special attention to the fact that they moved the gunpowder so the British couldn’t get it.
It’s an important lesson to learn that the early Americans resisted tyrannical rule to the point of hiding their ammunition, not once, but twice. The problem is that within their ranks were traitors, which is also an important lesson and something that is always possible during a conflict.
But, the founding fathers flipped the tyrants a lovely, gigantic middle finger in the name of freedom, and the result was that the Americans won the very freedom that many are trying to give up in the name of safety, right now.
But that can be a topic for another day.
History is Important:
It seems as if many, if not all, of the politicians who despise us because we’re armed, have never learned about the events leading up to the Revolutionary War. If they have learned about these events, they’ve either forgotten or are testing the waters to see what they can get away with now.
A simple study into our nation’s past will reveal the simple truth that meddling with our ability to defend ourselves ends badly.
Banning ammunition has already led to war in the past. And as someone who is knee-deep in the politics of our society, I can say that enough people are fed up that it won’t take much to spark another revolution.
Shall Not Be Infringed:
Now we get to the point in the op-ed about why banning ammunition is not the least bit constitutional. AKA, banning ammo violates the Second Amendment.
The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
Or, so reads a part of the Second Amendment.
You can’t bear arms if you don’t have munitions for them. It’s that simple. The right to own and carry guns cannot be infringed upon, and taking away the very thing that makes them effective infringes upon that right.
You can’t shoot a gun without ammo.
This will be something that they’ll fight, saying that ammunition isn’t present in the 2A, that it’s only the guns. But again, you can’t have a functional firearm without the correct ammunition.
This will be an uphill battle for them, for sure.
Here is Jared’s video about this:
Giving credit where it is due, much of my research came from this article.
