Several hundred people gathered at an anti-gun control rally outside the New Castle Court House Museum on April 11. They called for the protection of their constitutional right to bear arms and to oppose two gun control bills, SB3 and SB6, that just passed the Delaware Senate.
The rally was organized by the Women’s Defense Coalition and other groups. Tyler Yzaguirre, president of the Second Amendment Institute, came all the way from Washington, D.C. to attend.
SB6, known as the Delaware Large Capacity Magazine Prohibition Act, prohibits the possession of magazines with a capacity larger than 17 rounds. The bill also requires gun buyers to attend a training program to get a permit, which is valid for 180 days before they can buy a gun. If the permit expires, citizens are required to apply for a new, fee-paying permit to buy a gun.
‘The Last Free Spot in the World’
Sen. David Lawson (R-Del.) told The Epoch Times he’s concerned that the United States is going down the same path that led to the rise of Nazi Germany.“As soon as the guns are gone, as soon as they have free reign over the citizens of this country, we will head right that way instantly, because power corrupts,” Lawson said. “We are the last free spot in the world that has this kind of protection from tyrannical government, where the citizens can protect themselves from a government gone haywire.”
Speaking of the gun control legislation passed by the Senate on April 1, Lawson said: “This is what’s happening. Our government is going haywire just like the legislators prior to Hitler paved the way for disarmament and ultimately, the death of the 6 million plus Jews. Because nothing Hitler did was illegal by their laws. Immoral, absolutely! Illegal, no. And we are going down that exact same path, in my opinion. The morality of our country is falling apart. So we’re passing laws that are immoral, that are not God-driven and God- and constitutionally-founded. And so, we are moving in that direction, where somewhere along the way, there will be a Hitler.”
Lawson, a Vietnam War veteran who spent 27 years in law enforcement and nearly 11 years as a senator, said that, in addition to gun control, he also questioned abortion and “dignified death” during the Senate debate. The rights of the unborn should be respected, and “dignified death” is actually assisted suicide, he said.
“I will continue to campaign against these two bills … and that mechanical devices don’t kill people. People kill people,” Lawson said. “They think that an inanimate object is responsible for the violence in this country. It’s not. It’s the broken homes, it’s the frustration ... A criminal is a criminal, and just because he uses a gun to commit a crime doesn’t mean the gun is bad. It means the criminal is the one to be held responsible.”
Lawson said that the government isn’t in control in the United States, the people are.
Restricting the Rights of Law Abiding Citizens
Jeff Hague is a champion rifle shooter and president of the 3,000-member Delaware State Sportsmen’s Association. He told The Epoch Times that these gun bills will do nothing except impinge on people’s rights.
“The thousands and thousands of competitors of all the various shooting sports across the country, they’re law abiding citizens,” Hague said. “Yet the current government ... are trying to restrict our rights for no reason. And it’s just they’re demonizing the very rifles that we are using to compete. They’re not machine guns, are not assault rifles … [For] law abiding gun owners, the firearms are for sport, they’re for collections. They’re something to enjoy with the family.”
Hague said he disagrees with President Joe Biden’s statement that no amendment of the Constitution is absolute. The right to own arms is a constitutional right, a God-given right, he said.
Hague added that, growing up in Biden’s home state of Delaware, he met the president many times and still remembered Biden’s humble beginning as a senator. He said he finds it regrettable to watch Biden turning away from traditional values and see how far left he’s being pushed.
New Gun Bills ‘Grossly Unconstitutional’
Julianne Murray, an attorney who was a gubernatorial candidate in Delaware last year, was also a speaker at the rally. She has helped five Delaware residents file lawsuits against the Delaware House and Senate.
The lawsuits assert that according to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, State Senate Bills 3 and 6 are invalid because they are grossly unconstitutional.
“These [bills] substantially infringe on the right to bear arms under the U.S. Constitution and under the Delaware constitution,” Murray said of the new gun bills.
Murray said she has worked on cases for gun defendants and learned that, “if a bad guy wants a gun, he’s going to get the gun,” and the way to reduce gun violence is to prosecute gun crimes.
She said that the latest statistic in the state shows that 70 percent of gun crimes are not being fully prosecuted.
“That is a decision of our attorney general,” Murray said. “If we were fully prosecuting gun crimes … a lot of the gun violence would actually be reduced.”
She explained that Delaware law prohibits people who have been convicted of a felony from carrying a gun, and people will be jailed for five years for the first offense.
Murray also said it’s important for people to make their voices heard and to file lawsuits against the government taking away people’s rights. For example, last May Murray sued Delaware Gov. John Carney over his ban of short-term rentals due to the pandemic, which affected her family and many residents who rented out their beach homes during the summer months. About two weeks after the indictment was filed, the governor lifted the ban. According to Murray, the present lawsuit is very similar to the one last May.
“If we just sit by and just kind of keep taking it, they’re not going to make a change,” she said.
