Our right to keep and bear arms has been infringed. We live in a world where ISIS followers publicly behead Christians, and common murderers kill the innocent out of anger, for fun, or for a few dollars. Americans depend upon their personal firearms to defend against these real-life monsters. Yet, we are disarmed every day by our own government when we engage in common, necessary behaviors such as traveling across state lines or going to work. Gun owners who are caught violating these restrictive gun laws are criminalized by our justice system and jailed.
It has been my experience as both a prosecutor and a civil law attorney that too many responsible gun owners unintentionally violate gun laws they do not even know exist. Seemingly innocent behavior is turned criminal by our legal system. Continuing to carry with an expired permit or giving a gun to a family member can land an unsuspecting gun owner with a criminal conviction, jail time, probation, fines, and . . . no gun.
Our state and federal governments have created so many laws restricting the possession and transfer of firearms that law-abiding citizens, attorneys, and other professionals are left confused about the legality of everyday occurrences. Even worse, the laws are constantly and quickly changing. Judges disagree on the interpretation of the Second Amendment, resulting in cases being decided one way on one side of the country and another way on the other side.
Every move we make with our firearms is regulated, and compliance is a tricky business. While I am a staunch advocate for the Second Amendment, this book is not intended to be a persuasive work outlining the history and reasoning behind the Second Amendment. Those books have already been well-written. Gun owners need a book to help us understand the system of guns laws, so we will think about ordinary, but heavily regulated, every day behavior that puts us at risk of committing an accidental felony.
Whether you have one firearm for hunting or self-defense, or hundreds of firearms in a custom, walk-in gun vault, gun owners have at least one thing in common: A valid concern about exercising our Second Amendment right without losing this right, or our guns, in the future. This book empowers every gun owner with the necessary knowledge to stay safe, legal, and alive.
