Firearm Confiscation

[InkEd]

I am just curious, when the day comes that the government wants to confiscate everyone's firearms, who do you think will be tasked with job of physically removing them from people's homes?

Also, do you think a lot of those people will refuse the order?

 

[OpelBlitz]

They'd probably levy Homeland Security or local law enforcement.

And yes, I think some would. But, this isn't going to happen any time soon.

 

[TennJed]

not the people making the laws. They don't have the guts

 

[Okiegunner]

There are several states that would "resist" this. As in no compliance and/or find the Federal agents in charge of the confiscation in criminal violation of state law.

 

[InkEd]

I don't think it will be (very) soon either. I was just wondering about it.

I can't see local LE having to do such a task assuming it was a federal action.

 

[gspn]

I'm gonna guess Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, or the easter bunny...they are the only ones who can get into and out of my house undetected.

On a more serious note...the only example I have of this in recent history is after Hurricane Katrina...I recall stories of the National Guard and State Police taking peoples guns.

 

[hso]

There probably isn't any organization large enough with enough people that could be relied upon to carry it out any time soon. There are also states that wouldn't cooperate and who could openly oppose it. Don't look for direct confiscation, but a tightening of the screws to cause people to get out of the sport and out of the business.

One of the benefits of having a president with term limits is that there's only so much damage they can do for only so long and then another one gets their turn. The backlash to the '94 AWB was strong enough to turn over control of Congress to the opposing party and set the stage for a new party in the Whitehouse. That process is still in place and can be effective if we put our will and work into it.

 

[OpelBlitz]

Well put, hso.

This is far too extreme to happen in the foreseeable future. And the more people who concentrate on what's happening today and not on this theory, the better.

 

[mbt2001]

who do you think will be tasked with job of physically removing them from people's homes?

I take it that is after they have either registered all guns or opened up gun trace information and built an illegal registration index that is backdoor legal once the ban is in place.

They will turn off water to your block and advise they will turn it on when all the guns have been turned in and your neighbors will be the ones that confiscate them.

Supposing that I was going to do something like a confiscation, that is how I would do it.

 

[Halal Pork]

I suggest we get in our time machines and read the following:

"Defenseless on the Bayou" by David Kopel

In the nearly two weeks since Hurricane Katrina, the government of New Orleans has devolved from its traditional status as an elective kleptocracy into something far more dangerous: an anarcho-tyranny that refuses to protect the public from criminals while preventing people from protecting themselves. At the orders of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, the New Orleans Police, the National Guard, the Oklahoma National Guard, and U.S. Marshals have begun breaking into homes at gunpoint, confiscating their lawfully-owned firearms, and evicting the residents. "No one is allowed to be armed. We're going to take all the guns," says P. Edwin Compass III, the superintendent of police...

 

[Twiki357]

The Fed's wouldn't have manpower to actually do a confiscation. It would have to be done by local LEO's, but they have no way of knowing where the guns are other than [maybe] recent FFL sales records.

If it were to happen, and I don't think it would, it would most likely be a requirement for voluntary turn in by such and such date or be subject to a Federal felony.

 

[easyg]

I think the U.S. military, along with certain UN forces, would be used, and I think they would follow orders without blinking an eye.


The real question is this:
How many U.S. citizens would fight back?


I suspect very few would fight back.


The ones who probably would fight back would most likely be those who are close to death with nothing to lose...the elderly, the terminally ill, patriots with no children and crappy dead end jobs.
But the average Joe with children in school...nope.

 

[Solo]

The UN peacekeepers have been utterly ineffective for most of their history. What makes you think they'll suddenly be competent enough to confiscate guns?

 

[BHP FAN]

''One of the benefits of having a president with term limits is that there's only so much damage they can do for only so long and then another one gets their turn. The backlash to the '94 AWB was strong enough to turn over control of Congress to the opposing party and set the stage for a new party in the Whitehouse. That process is still in place and can be effective if we put our will and work into it...''

And this is why there's a ''push'' against term limits, right now.

 

[easyg]

The UN peacekeepers have been utterly ineffective for most of their history. What makes you think they'll suddenly be competent enough to confiscate guns?

Because I honestly think that most U.S. citizens will roll over without a fight.

 

[vaupet]

they won't have to.
they will write a nice letter urging people to bring their firearms to the nearest police station and 95 % of the people will comply, just as it happened in Belgium, australia, UK, ...
The other firearms will get into the illegal circuit

lets just hope it doesn't get to that.

on another question: how do you outvote gunlaw supporters when (just like in Belgium or in Newyork) every party is in favour?

 

[HorseSoldier]

I am just curious, when the day comes that the government wants to confiscate everyone's firearms, who do you think will be tasked with job of physically removing them from people's homes?

Well, the government banned alcohol once upon a time, which was unpopular with most in law enforcement and the US military as well as other citizens of this country. Local law enforcement was not particularly effective at controlling alcohol sales (both due to passive and sometimes overt non-compliance by local LE and/or politicians, as well as corruption once prohibition started pumping huge amounts of money into gangs and a black market). To deal with this, we saw the first rise of really intrusive federal law enforcement.

I don't think the military would be especially reliable on this issue (even assuming one can get beyond posse comitatus issues). I think that possibly outside places that are already in a state of insurrection against the US Constitution vis a vis the 2nd Amendment, local law enforcement would not be adequate or politically reliable for the mission.

Federal law enforcement assets are not adequate to round up 300+ million firearms in this country -- they might be able to make a few high profile examples, but they don't have the resources to do all the legwork necessary to hunt down hundreds of millions of firearms.

The solution? Reinvent the SS or the Iraqi Republican Guard -- an politically reliable armed force beholden directly to the ruling regime. The legality of this is dubious unless the surviving members of the Weather Underground and Symbionese Liberation Army got appointed to the SCOTUS.

Also, do you think a lot of those people will refuse the order?

Well, nobody started building IEDs the day after Prohibition became law of the land -- most just ignored it and turned to the black market as a work around for their needs. Best case scenario for the government, it would be great time to work in the shovel, PVC pipe, cosmoline or dessicant packing material industries. Worst case -- people would get shot. How many? Hard to say.

 

[davidjblythe]

I think the active duty military guys (with title 10 authority) are not allowed to operate against US citizens on our soil. The coast guard is the only exception, as they are granted arrest authority at the cost of being able to operate like others. This is why you typically only see national guardsmen and CG working after major disasters. Sometimes local military units volunteer to help clean up after storms, but we can't be levied as a police force... we don't have the proper authority

And for good reason.

 

[Jakemedic]

Charlton Heston said it best......

From My Cold Dead Hands Transcript:

*This was the last 2min 45sec of a longer speech

Every time our country stands in the path of danger, an instinct seems to summon her finest first -- those who truly understand her. When freedom shivers in the cold shadow of true peril, it's always the patriots who first hear the call. When loss of liberty is looming, as it is now, the siren sounds first in the hearts of freedom's vanguard. The smoke in the air of our Concord Bridges and Pearl Harbors is always smelled first by the farmers, who come from their simple homes to find the fire, and fight.

Because they know that sacred stuff resides in that wooden stock and blued steel, something that gives the most common man the most uncommon of freedoms. When ordinary hands can possess such an extraordinary instrument, that symbolizes the full measure of human dignity and liberty.

That's why those five words issue an irresistible call to us all, and we muster.

So as we set out this year to defeat the divisive forces that would take freedom away, I want to say those words again for everyone within the sound of my voice to hear and to heed, and especially for you, Mr. Gore:

From my cold dead hands!

 

[Pilot]

Probably a joint effort between local law enforcement and a Federal entity, or multiple entities. Pick one, or more. BATF, DHS, FBI, FEMA, DEA, Federal Park Service, NOAA, EPA, Obama's domestic security force.......

Yes they all have guns, and some type of armed security/enforcement.

 

[sean326]

They wouldn't need to go door to door. American history is full of examples of what will happen. They made gold illegal to posses, made liquor illegal to posses and during WW2 made it illegal to have slanted eyes even if you were born here.

What will happen is that the majority of us law abiding citizens with jobs, families, tuition bills will just turn em in. The remaining half will burry them, hide them in attics, man caves etc. but they'll be effectively turned in since you couldn't shoot them, talk about them or trade them. Every once a while someone would screw up and get turned in, maybe a kid mentions something in school etc. The authorities would make an example out of them at 2:00am very quietly, but it wouldn't be door to door, every house.

 

[Russ Jackson]

They will take action during a recession/depression when people are weak.

 

[goldie]

I really doubt it would come to that, door to door confiscation would be very hard to do.& whoever mentioned homeland security, alot of those people are the lowest on the chain in the law enforcement area, if you could even call them that.I wouldnt deputize them to walk the k9 dogs the police use.

 

[velobard]

They're accomplishing the virtual equivalent of confiscation from law-abiding citizens in New York to some extent by criminalizing possession of mags necessary to operate semi-autos, many of which will never have 7-round mags produced.

 

[Halal Pork]

To add to my previous post (#10) which gave a real world example of how gun confiscation has been carried out with cooperation of local police, federal agents, and the Army National Guard, I'll mention some of the tactics of DC's Gun Recovery Unit from a 2007 article in the Washington Post.


-"Now we're going to debrief'' suspects on where the guns came from, Bray said. "We're going to go after everything we can. The interview is the key."

The unit will operate under the "plus-one rule." That means that if a suspect is caught with a gun or ammunition, an officer should assume that the suspect has more and police should apply for a search warrant.

-As part of the program, several D.C. detectives will be deputized as ATF officers, allowing them to cross borders to investigate guns that end up in the District.

-Some days, the unit will employ "high-intensity traffic stops," pulling over cars for minor offenses to try to establish probable cause to search vehicles. Officers also will use informants to help them secure search warrants for suspected gun holders.

Source

DC's Gun Recovery Unit offers a hotline to pass along tips if you suspect someone of illegally possessing a firearm. Here's their number if you haven't informed on your neighbors lately. In case you need some clarification regarding tip lines, here's what Mayors Against Illegal Guns has to say:

A tip line allows city residents to anonymously call local police departments with information about illegal guns. These tip lines give law enforcement officials valuable on-the-ground information about the presence of an illegal gun in the community. Tip lines can be equally beneficial to residents as well, especially in following up on suspicious illegal gun activity