A Letter to Ron Paul about reopening the Machinegun registry.

I've read several old threads about a repeal on the Hughes Amendment and how that might be best acomplished, and it seems like one of the better ideas was to have a pro gun congressman attach a rider doing just that. After joining this forum a few minutes, ago the last question in the application form was something akin to "What have you done to advance RKBA", and I realized that other than voting, the truth is I havn't done alot. So I decided to write Ron Paul an email about it. I figure with his no compromise stance on gun issues and liberty in general, coupled with this being his last term in Congress, that he would have no qualms about attaching such a rider. Here was the gist;

"Congressman Paul,

Noting your A+ ranking from Gunowners of America and your support of liberty for Americans in general, I highly support your campaign for the office of President. Understanding that gun rights is important to all liberty loving Americans, I want to ask you to either introduce as a bill, or add as a rider, a movement reopening the machine gun registry for civilians.

The closing of the registry in May of 1986 represents an egregious violation of the 2nd Amendment and the Constitution in general. Forcing a tax on a product, and then refusing to collect said tax is an underhanded and unconstitutional method of gun control. Also the intent and effect of closing the registry was to raise the prices of these firearms to the point where only the wealthy could afford them. This reminds one of laws the aristrocracy enacted in Europe to disarm peasants, and is in short the antithesis of what our Republic stands for.

Furthermore registered machine guns have only been used in an astonishing two crimes in our history, and as such there is no compelling evidence as to why Americans have deserved to have their use restricted. I trust that you will keep all of this under consideration, and make the right decision.

Personal Greeting"

I also sent a modified copy to the more gun friendly representatives from my state. I know it's not much, but it's a start to doing something toward fighting the last century's encroachments against our firearms rights. Please email your representatives as well, and feel free to use this as a template if you don't want to write it out.

Also, am I correct about the statment claiming that only two crimes have been commited with machine guns? There seems to be conflicting claims in the precise number. And I wasn't sure if this should go under the "legal" section or NFA, so I hope I made the right choice there.

MyGreenGuns said:

I'm a die hard Ron Paul supporter, but if you expect him to be able to change anything we need to get the old fuddie duddies out of congress as well.

The president does not have unlimited powers, he is limited by congress.

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I was thinking more as an under the radar rider to a bill while he was still in Congress, if it were possible.

I know the Hughes Amendment gets brought up every now and then and from what I understand (correct me if I'm wrong) it's never been challenged directly in court. That being said I doubt any challenge would be successful as the USSC has decided that the Commerce Clause gives the federal government the right to do literally anything it wants.

IMO about the only chance of seeing legal new production machine guns is if Congress votes to reopen the registry, or if the states pass a "New 10th Amendment" so to speak. One that reaffirms specifically that the Commerce Clause, Supremacy Clause, and the Necessary and Proper Clause does not give the federal government the right to legislate outside of their enumerated powers. Most people don't realize that 38 states can ammend the Consitution without Congress voting on anything or the President signing anything.

Of course that would instantly invalidate the NFA and 95% of what the federal government does, so there goes that Social Security, medicare, food stamps etc. that people are addicted to. So really despite it being in the best interest of the states and nation at large, I doubt any such movement would get off the ground.