Think the Canada Gun Grab
Can't Happen Here? It Already Is

There's a self-soothing notion that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution keeps the excesses of an overreaching government away from the gun safes of law-abiding gun owners. That notion is just that. It's veneer-thin, just a wisp away from the shifting political winds that are already blowing across several states that could usher in Canadian-style gun confiscation to the United States.

The fact is that the Second Amendment requires constant vigilance against politicians who would disarm Americans "for their own safety." That's why NSSF is battling proposed bans — and even illegal dispossession — of lawfully-owned firearms and magazines in states like Virginia and New Mexico. Legislators there would join California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Washington and the District of Columbia in banning Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs), the most popular selling centerfire rifle in America. There are over 32 million MSRs in circulation today.

The popularity of these commonly owned and typically possessed firearms and standard capacity magazines doesn't matter much to politicians bent on banning them. The popularity of these rifles and magazines does matter to the Second Amendment, however.

Those like Virginia's Democratic Delegate Dan Helmer claim that AR-15-style rifles are "weapons of war — similar to the ones I carried in in Afghanistan."

But they are not. They're simply semiautomatic rifles that operate in the same manner as a duck-hunting shotgun. …