Opinion

• Firearm Warning Labels: New York’s bill mandates prominent warning signs on firearms, likening them to hazardous products like cigarettes, which many view as an infringement on Second Amendment rights.
• Impact on Gun Businesses: The legislation imposes burdensome requirements on gun dealers, potentially driving them out of business and discouraging gun ownership through fear and intimidation.
• Political Agenda: The bill is seen as part of a broader effort by the Hochul government to undermine the Second Amendment and disarm the populace, aiming to erode individual rights and self-defense against government tyranny.

Imagine if you will a change to the U.S. Constitution—inclusion of an addendum to the language of the Second Amendment :

“WARNING: “A Weapon Or Firearm In The Home Is Hazardous To Your Health.”

If you warm to that idea, you will be happy to learn that the Great Loyalist Tory State in the Nation’s Northeast, New York, has done just that.

On Monday, June 3, 2024, the New York Legislature in Albany passed a bill that treats firearms like cigarettes and other tobacco products: Assembly Bill 2023 A.B. 2882 (Senate Bill 2023 S6649).

Invoking a warning label on tobacco and many other consumer products is nothing new, but imposing a warning label on an implement embracing a God-given right may rightly cause more than a few Americans to question the sanity of those proposing it.

Mechanics Of The Bill: The “Warning” Language

The Bill amends the State’s Handgun Law, Section 400 of the Penal Code, by adding a new subdivision 20 to the Handgun Law.

Provision (A) (I) says,

“Every Person Licensed As A Gunsmith Or A Dealer In Firearms Shall Post The Following Notice At The Site Where Such Weapons Or Firearms Are Sold, Displayed Or Delivered To The Purchaser, At The Entrance To The Site And In At Least One Additional Area Where Sales Occur, Conspicuously Stating, In No Smaller Than Twenty-Six-Point Type On A Sign At Least Eight And One-Half By Eleven Inches in Bold Print:

WARNING

|Access To A Weapon Or Firearm In The Home Significantly Increases The Risk Of Suicide, Death During Domestic Disputes, And/or Unintentional Deaths To Children, Household Members And Others.

If You Or A Loved One Is Experiencing Distress And/Or Depression, Call The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline At 988.”

The Bill also reinforces this warning with a further reminder to handgun licensees.

Provision (A) (II) says,

“Every Firearms Dealer Shall Distribute A Notice To The Purchaser At The Time Of Each Individual Sale Of A Weapon Or Firearm, Conspicuously Stating, In No Smaller Than Twenty-Six-Point Type And On Paper At Least  Eight And  One-Half By Eleven Inches In Bold Print The Following Warning:

Access To A Weapon Or Firearm In The Home Significantly Increases The Risk Of Suicide, Death During Domestic Disputes, And/Or Unintentional Deaths To Children, Household Members And Others.

If You Or A Loved One Is Experiencing Distress And/Or Depression, Call The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline At 988.”

These two warning provisions aren’t enough to satisfy the Hochul Government. The Government throws yet another one at a person who doesn’t get the message that Governor Hochul and Albany do not like firearms and detest the notion of “You” insisting on keeping and bearing one in defiance of the Government’s clear, vociferous, caustic, visceral message.

Provision (A)(III) says,

Upon The Issuance Of Or Amendment To A Firearm Or Weapon License And/Or Permit, The Licensing Officer Shall Provide The Licensee/Permittee A Written Copy Of Warning Notice [The Warning Notice Set Forth In Provision (A) (II)] Conspicuously Stating In No Smaller Than Twenty-Six-Point Type And On Paper At Least  Eight And One-Half By Eleven Inches In Bold Print. . . .”

These Warning provisions harm gun dealers’ businesses, creating a chilling effect, likely intentional, because such “in your face” warnings plastered on walls and in handouts will intimidate and frighten some Americans, possibly those who are considering purchasing a firearm for the first time.

The Government’s raw, rabid hatred and fear of firearms is palpable, and its constant, contentious vilification of New York firearms is shameful, undeserved, and insulting. This is all reflected in increasingly draconian and absurd gun laws directed to a population that is not a threat to public safety but a protective shield around it, assisting police. Yet, the Hochul Government wants none of it.

Some prospective first-time purchasers may have second thoughts when viewing the “Warning” signs and reading the handouts. This is surely by design—it is blatant propaganda.

These messages attempt to sow doubt in the psyche of Americans.

Telling a citizen, matter-of-factly, that having a firearm “significantly” increases the potential for committing suicide, carrying out a homicide, or causing an accident is meant to dissuade a citizen from purchasing a firearm.

This is a false, deceptive, deliberately simplistic, unsupported pronouncement. Yet it is presented bluntly, seemingly creating an aura of undeniable truth.

Through these “warnings,” the Hochul Government attempts to seed doubt in one’s decision-making ability—conveying that faith in oneself and in the Divine Creator is contrary to correct thought and behavior in today’s society. Blind faith in Government is the new creed. Yet, such an idea is at odds with the concept of Individualism, the foundation of free will and the cornerstone of a Nation built on the idea of God-given rights and liberties that rest beyond the lawful power of the State to intrude upon.

Having a firearm in one’s possession is proof of the sanctity and inviolability of one’s selfhood. But that idea is anathema to States like New York, grounded on the ideology of Marxist Collectivism.

New York smugly and brashly engages in a war of attrition to defeat the most basic right of the Common Man, the right of armed self-defense against predatory Government assault on one’s body and mind, spirit and soul.

How The New York Warning Sign Bill Came To Be

Five assemblymen and women—Dinowitz, Tapia, Weprin, Kelles, and Forrest—introduced the Bill, 2023 A.B. 2882, a year and a half ago.

The public heard nothing about it and remained in the dark concerning it until a mass of news reports broke about it, on Monday, June 4, 2024.

This present Bill, 2023 A.B. 2882 (Senate Bill 2023 S6649), was crafted to harass, frustrate, and burden the retail dealer and gunsmith from conducting business and dissuade the prospective buyer from effectuating his purchase of a handgun and maintaining it so he can exercise his fundamental, unalienable, eternal right.

The New York Government interposes itself between buyer and seller, between customer and entrepreneur, ever hovering like a ghostly presence over both parties, silently interfering with a legitimate business transaction. That, in a nutshell, is how the handgun licensing regime works.

The Bill is a partisan tactic grounded on suspicion of the “Common Man.”

On enactment, New York will be the first State to treat a firearm more like an unwholesome and banal act of smoking a cigarette than to treat it circumspectly for what it is: A sacred, fundamental, unalienable, eternal right, deserving of respect, even reverence.

Mechanics Of The Bill: Enforcement

The police will verify compliance.

Once this Bill becomes enforceable law, ninety days after Hochul signs it (under Section 2 of this Subdivision of the Handgun Law), the police have the task of scrutinizing firearms dealers and gunsmiths to ascertain whether they fully comply with the law. They will do so immediately.

Provision (C)(II) of the Bill says,

“The Provisions Of This Subdivision Shall Be Enforced Within  Each Municipality By The Applicable Local Police Force, Including Town, City And Village Police Departments Which Officers Are Authorized To Issue Appearance Tickets. Appearance Tickets Shall Be Served Personally.”

Tasking the police with enforcing this bill means distracting them from their most pressing task and their salient duty: protecting the community from the criminal element.

With New York awash in violent crime and property crime, the latter of which always has the propensity to become violent, it is a sacrilege to use scarce taxpayer monies for matters that do not serve the taxpayer’s interests. This Bill works against citizen’s interests.

Mechanics Of The Bill: Penalty For Non-Compliance

The Penalties For Failure To Comply, whether inadvertent or intended, are harsh and unnerving.

Provision (C) (1) provides,

“Failure To Comply With Any Provision Of This Subdivision Shall Be A Violation Punishable By Imprisonment Of Not More Than Fifteen Days Or By A Fine Of Not More Than One Thousand Dollars, Or Both. Each Day That A Violation Continues Shall Be Deemed A Separate Offense.”

What isn’t said in the Bill is a negative consequence that follows from the fact that State Licenses are required to do business in the State.

Retail gun dealers and gunsmiths must obtain a valid New York State license to do business in the state, in addition to acquiring a valid Federal License (FFL) to sell firearms or work on firearms.

NY CLS Penal § 400.00 (1-a), says,

“No person shall engage in the business of gunsmith or dealer in firearms unless licensed pursuant to this section. An applicant to engage in such business shall also be a citizen of the United States, more than twenty-one years of age and shall be required to maintain a place of business in the city or county where the license is issued. . . .”

In the event of a violation of this new Subdivision 20 of NY CLS Penal § 400.00, once codified in law, the Dealer or Gunsmith will find he has also violated the “Good Moral Character” requirement of Section 400.00 which he must satisfy if he is to obtain and then maintain his State Gun Dealer or Gunsmith license.

Violation of the “Warning” sign postings puts these licenses in jeopardy and, therefore, the livelihoods of retail gun dealers and gunsmiths.

That possibility had likely not gone unnoticed by the proponents of this new Bill. The proponents want to drive retail gun dealers and gunsmiths out of business just as they would like to drive gun manufacturers out of business. They will scrutinize the sign-postings and handouts carefully for violations.

Firearms Dealers and Gunsmiths have no recourse against the police for harm or injury the police may cause in the performance of their duties under this Handgun Law Subdivision.

Provision B has only one part. It says,

“No Licensing Officer, Local Government, Or Any Employee Thereof Shall Be Liable To Any Person By Reason Of Any Injury Or Damage Resulting From The Failure Of Any Gunsmith Or Firearms Dealer To Comply With This Subdivision Or In Consequence Of Any Act Or Omission In Connection With The Implementation Or Enforcement Of This Subdivision.”

This means the police have absolute discretion in performing their duty here and immunity from tortious conduct that may arise from their performance, whether such harm or injury occurs as a result of accident or intentional misconduct.

The fact that no provision is made to consider the extent of harm or injury or to distinguish the tortious nature of it is disconcerting and invites police misconduct.

What Explains The Sheer Volume And Audaciousness Of Anti-Second Amendment Laws Hitting The American People?

The tenacity, deviousness, and ingenuity of powerful forces in society that have crafted and continue to craft such absurd laws are as amazing as the hatred they exhibit toward our most sacred right and the contempt they hold toward those Americans who wish to exercise that right.

Without the exercise of the right of the people to keep and bear arms, our Free Constitutional Republic cannot continue to exist.

This does not perturb Progressives, Marxists, and the Neoliberal Globalists who reside in our midst. It is our Free Constitutional Republic they desire and intend to extinguish.

However, these Forces That Crush cannot accomplish any of this as long as the citizenry remains armed. And, so, these ruthless powers work feverishly, frenetically, and tirelessly to flood the Nation with Rules, Regulations, Codes, and Laws meant continually and inexorably to chisel away at our most important Right and eventually, inexorably, and inevitably erase it.

Most Americans would strive to prevent the erasing of our most cherished and important Right, without which we cannot secure our life, well-being, autonomy, and very selfhood against the predatory man and the predatory man-beast, Government.

The people’s right to keep and bear arms preserves our sovereignty over Government and serves as the ultimate bulwark against Tyranny. That fact explains why nothing frightens our Nation’s would-be Destroyers more than the tenacity of the armed citizens to remain armed.

But, for a Sovereign and Free citizenry to survive and thrive, citizens must have continuous access to arms and ammunition. This means manufacturers of firearms and ammunition, wholesale distributors, retail dealers, and gunsmith servicers must also survive and thrive.

If manufacturers of firearms, wholesale distributors, retail dealers, and gunsmiths are forced out of business, how are Americans to exercise their right to bear arms to protect themselves, their family, their Country, and their Constitution against predatory humans, predatory tyrannical States, and a predatory Tyrannical Federal Government? Not easily. It will all go underground, as it must.

Hochul and her compatriots in Government continue to motor ahead, machinating to conceive, craft, and implement countless new Anti-Second Amendment laws even as challenges remain pending before both State and Federal Courts on illegal statutes enacted only in the last few years.

The aim of the Government here is to overwhelm those Americans who simply wish to exercise their God-given right. Every new draconian law requires an expensive, time-consuming challenge to attempt to defeat it. The Government has a treasure trove of taxpayer monies, staff, and resources to hurt the people who, ironically, fund the State whom the State is meant to serve, not harm. Time and resources are always on the Government’s side. Hochul and Albany know this and use it to their advantage to continually weaken the exercise of the people’s fundamental right to keep and bear arms.

The present “Warning” Requirement, which is the essence and purpose of this recent New York Bill, soon to become law in New York, now targets the retail end of the firearms chain.

The Biden Administration, much of Congress, and some State Governments like New York methodically attack every link in that chain. The endgame is clear. We see the trends. They are worrisome, to say the least. Our Free Republic will continue to exist or be lost forever. We will soon know which is to be.

The Nation is sitting on a major powder keg, poised to explode after the November 2024 U.S. Presidential Election.

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