State Semiauto Bans Try to Accomplish What Feds Cannot (Yet)
Blue states are attempting to circumvent the U.S. Constitution and federal law to go after “assault weapons.”



The states in red have passed gun control to the point where many countries in Europe have more gun freedom than Americans living in those states – all have a form of an “assault weapons” ban and all have magazine limits. States in yellow have magazine capacity bans, purchasing restrictions, etc. and/or are in danger of turning turn red. Light green states may be in danger due to liberals winning key elections and/or have passed laws on purchasing, restricting certain accessories, etc.. Dark green states have very good to excellent 2nd Amendment freedoms (excluding unconstitutional federal laws), and have strong conservative legislatures and executive political offices. (Alaska would be dark green, and Hawaii would be yellow.)

January 06, 2023

By David Codrea for FIREARMS NEWS

“We must pass an assault weapons ban. The American people support this commonsense action to get weapons of war off our streets,” Joe Biden proclaimed after a teenager in Raleigh went on a “shooting spree” killing five.  That, per the police report, the evil little loser was armed with Biden’s “weapon of choice” for shooting through doors and off balconies, a shotgun, matters not when there’s an unquestioning cheerleader media eager to parrot whatever inane assertion the dotard-in-chief wishes to make. It’s not like a public that for the most part gets its information from the gatekeepers are going know what it’s not being told.

So, when Biden holds a photo op and declares "The idea we still allow semiautomatic weapons to be purchased is sick. It's just sick," only those who know the score are going to point out that he just expanded the types of guns he wants to ban by an order of magnitude. An insincere “walking back” of the statement by the White House press secretary that will only be noticed by those paying attention hardly undoes the damage—and that’s intentional.

We are, after all, talking about a public (and media) that for the most part, has long ago fallen for the tactic of opportunistic deception proposed by the Violence Policy Center back in 1988: “The weapons' menacing looks, coupled with the public's confusion over fully automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic assault weapons—anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun—can only increase the chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons. In addition, few people can envision a practical use for these weapons.” 

And nobody among the press or the ignorant (but I repeat myself) bats an eye when Biden, while taking center stage at the “10th Annual National Vigil for All Victims of Gun Violence,” pledges “our work continues to limit the number of bullets that can be in a cartridge.” Significantly, that wasn’t misspoken—it was scripted.

The feds haven’t given up on a new “assault weapons” ban, but for now, with Republicans assuming control of the House and the filibuster (still) in place in the Senate, it appears, at least at this writing, like the time is not yet “right.” Let a significantly atrocious mass killing be perpetrated (in a “gun-free zone”!) along the lines of 2004’s Beslan massacre in the Russian Federation’s North Ossetia republic, and we’ll see how many in the GOP decide their political self-interests suddenly make abandoning constituents who believed their NRA ratings an option to consider.

In the meantime, expect efforts instructing ATF to issue definition-changing rules to actualize the VPC fraud and declare semiautos “machineguns” to continue. And expect the antis to redouble their gaslighting denials that “no one is talking about taking your guns.”

Illinois "Assault Weapon" Ban

“Gov. J.B. Pritzker aims to get assault weapon ban proposal ‘done in the first half of the year’,” the Chicago Tribune reports. Recent developments happening while writing this article indicate it may not take that long.

“Under the proposed legislation, those under 21 wouldn’t be able to acquire a FOID card unless they are active-duty military or National Guard members,” the Tribune elaborates. “The measure also would ban the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines and make changes intended to strengthen the state’s red-flag law by extending the period someone can be barred from possessing a gun from six months to a year and by giving local prosecutors a greater role in the process.” Have no doubts, Pritzker will get what he wants. 

“Democrats currently hold supermajorities of 73-45 in the House and 41-18 in the state Senate,” the Tribune reminds us, adding, “House Democrats will see their supermajority swell to a 78-40 advantage, while the Senate Democrats will retain a supermajority despite a net loss of one seat in November.” Add to that, Illinois Republicans aren’t exactly Second Amendment stalwarts, having given gun owners in the recent past such in-your-face enemies as Mark Kirk (“Senator Kirk has consistently demonstrated his independence by advancing common sense legislation to keep assault weapons off our streets and ensure criminals and terrorists do not have access to firearms”), and Bob Dold ("All options are on the table for him when it comes to effectively reducing gun violence").

And while Pritzker’s opponent in the last  election, Darren Bailey, who lost by a near landslide (54.6 % to 42.6%) took all kinds of heat for holding fundraising gun raffles, including an AR-15 in 2019, the GOP establishment, true to form, “spent about $50 million in a failed effort to steer support toward a moderate candidate.” “Legislators are likely to vote next month on a proposal (House Bill 5855) that would ban future sales of a list of guns, as well as what backers describe as high-capacity magazines,” Chicago’s WTTW News reports.

It may come sooner than that. As this article is going to press, the news just came out that “The proposal was approved by the House Executive Committee on a strict party-line vote, 9-5,” with all Democrats voting for the ban and all Republicans against it. Speculation is, by the time this is posted, the bill will have gone to the full House and then the Senate. Don’t be surprised to see it pass. The only question remaining is how many more “mass shootings” Democrat-controlled Chi-Town will continue to register on a weekly basis after it does. Then again, that’s hardly unexpected, so challenges requesting an injunction should be ready to go.

Wolverines! Michigan House Bill 6544

That’s what Michiganians call themselves, even though, per Absolute Michigan, “It is even unclear if this largest member of the weasel family ever lived in Michigan.”  What is clear is that there’s no shortage of oath-breaking Democrat weasels in state government, as evidenced by House Bill 6544, “A bill to ban the manufacture, possession, purchase, and sale of assault weapons; to provide certain powers and duties for certain state and local officials and agencies; to provide for the promulgation of rules; and to provide penalties.”

“Introduced” in December by Democrat State Rep. Jeffrey Pepper, fresh off his jihad to prohibit “ghost guns” and who never saw any gun he didn’t want to outlaw, the bill will ban any “semiautomatic rifle that has an ability to accept a detachable magazine and has 1 or more of the following characteristics: (i) A pistol grip or thumbhole stock. (ii) Any feature capable of functioning as a protruding grip that can be held by the nontrigger hand. (iii) A folding or telescoping stock. (iv) A shroud that is attached to, or partially or completely encircles, the barrel and that permits the shooter to hold the firearm with the nontrigger hand without being burned, but excluding a slide that encloses the barrel.”

In short, “commonsense gun safety proponents” demand shooters be less accurate and risk burning themselves in the process. And when a characteristic -based ban is deemed insufficient (nothing but total citizen disarmament will be), the violence monopolists will be back with more tweaks. “Except as otherwise provided in this section, beginning January 1, 2024, a person shall not manufacture, possess, purchase, or sell an assault weapon in this state,” the bill continues.

“Otherwise provided?”

Yeah, existing owners are “grandfathered” in. One thing gun-grabbers know how to do is sucker in the ignorant and gullible with “reasonable compromises” to get the more dull-witted among gun owners to accept their rights swindles as something they can obey instead of defy and resist. All they have to do is register their firearm with the state police, and renew that every five years. If they do that, they’ll be allowed to keep their property (for now). If they don’t, they’ll be declared felons, and treated as such.

Hey, it’s safer and easier going after the (previously) “law-abiding” and propertied than it is the welfare state-created career predators who pose real dangers to the innocent and productive. Besides, what could go wrong for the compliant?

Connecticut Won't Stop

“Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) is weighing a push to end or repeal a grandfathering clause in a gun control bill in order to force residents to hand over any AR-15s,” Breitbart  reports.  “(AR-15s) should not be allowed in the state of Connecticut. I think they’re killers,” Lamont declared. “I think they’re incredibly dangerous in our community. You’re not serious about crime if you leave them on the street.”

While the legislature – at this time – appears to have little appetite for opening up that political can of worms, it’s not hard to imagine a sufficiently horrific “gun-free zone” massacre giving the grabbers enough juice to renege on past promises. It’s not like anyone dumb enough to vote for a Connecticut Democrat, that is the majority there, will mind disarming those they’ve been conditioned to view as “rightwing extremists” and worse.

That’ll teach those “deplorables” to obey the law!

Washington Joins the List

“Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson will request legislation for a statewide ban on the purchase or transfer of assault-style semiautomatic rifles as part of the latest push by firearms-safety advocates in Olympia,” nonprofit news site” Crosscut reports. 

“That proposal and others are in the legislative agenda released ... by the Alliance for Gun Responsibility ahead of the legislative session beginning in January,” the report elaborates. “The advocacy group is also pushing for lawmakers to allow private citizens to pursue legal action against gun manufacturers, a proposal that also has Ferguson’s and the governor’s support...”

Illinois, Michigan, and Washington are set to join eight states, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York, and the District of Columbia” in denying to their citizens what the Founders sought to guarantee and protect. And don’t forget Democrat-run jurisdictions that have passed bans of their own, like Highland Park, Cook County, and Chicago in Illinois, Colorado bans like Denver’s or Boulder’s (currently suspended while in litigation), and Boston’s requirement for a license from the Police Commissioner. 

And lest we forget, passage of the wholly undoable Ballot Measure 114 in Oregon bans magazines over 10 rounds (and also requires permits from local law enforcement to purchase any firearms, requires a training course, application fee, fingerprinting, and a duplicative background check to obtain the permit-to-purchase

A Historical Understanding

“Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American,” Continental Congress Delegate Tench Coxe declared. Opportunistic and treasonous politicians aren’t letting that slow them down, And yes, that last characterization is more than appropriate when you consider the Founders considered a militia of “the whole people” to be “necessary to the security of a free state,” and that undermining that security only works to the advantage of enemies foreign and domestic.


It didn’t help that a supposed “originalist,” the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, took it on himself to volunteer in the Heller case that the Second Amendment] "is no limitation upon arms control by the states," and then to imply banning weapons such as "M-16 rifles and the like" would not be an infringement. Otherwise, he asserted, "it would mean that the National Firearms Act's restrictions on machineguns ... might be unconstitutional, machineguns being useful in warfare in 1939." Bingo! What the hell else would it be? Of course, we’re entitled to what the citizen disarmament traitors disparage as “weapons of war.” And there’s no “might” about it.

The earlier Miller decision recognized the militia as “all males physically capable of acting in concert for the common defense [and] bearing arms supplied by themselves and of the kind in common use at the time.” Its function was – and still is – to field citizen soldiers. And these citizens bore arms that were suitable for that purpose, “ordinary military equipment” intended to be taken into “common defense” battles. The militia did not assemble on the green bearing torches and pitchforks. They came with the intent to match and best a professional military threat. To suggest the Framers of the Constitution meant anything else is to accuse them of being insane, and of codifying into the supreme Law of the Land that sending an ill-equipped citizenry to their slaughter was “necessary to the security of a free State.”

This is where the High Court’s recent Bruen decision, rejecting means-end scrutiny and instead embracing a requirement for “courts to assess whether modern firearms regulations are consistent with the Second Amendment’s text and historical understanding,” can be so helpful — if properly interpreted and applied. So, naturally, the leftwing states with virtually unlimited legal resources are testing it with wholly unconstitutional mandates designed to delay with injunctions and appeals and in-your-face defiance designed to drag out for years before anything is “resolved.” Then lather, rinse, repeat. 

Meanwhile, the Democrats are working at full tilt to invite in more illegal immigration so that they can then open up a pathway – scratch that – superhighway to citizenship with millions of grateful (and dependent!) new voters who will overwhelmingly favor Democrats and anti-gunners, resulting in supermajorities in state and federal legislatures that will then be able to pass whatever anti-gun edicts they want while confirming judges who...CONTINUE READING HERE



RELATED ARTICLE: Where is Trump as States Reduce RKBA to Sub-Foreign Levels? (2018)

I would just like to say...fuck all these states that think they are better than my God given rights and the Bill of Rights

I hope they all find a rusty cactus the hard way.

Waaaayyy TLDR.

I don't care what the fed or state passes, come and find out.

I will just say Gun owners by and large here in CO don’t give a fuck about things like magazine laws. It seems like many have this attitude.

We will be getting a semi auto ban this year. Count on it.

Ahhh, "The adults are in charge" party.

I bet people really really regret their vote for Brandon, every fuckin time they get gas.
Every time they open up their utility bills.
They must feel stupid for voting for Biden, thinking things would be better.

ETA: I do wonder if these debates will be different now that someone purchased their Psyop machine (twitter).

Good thing the Founding Fathers weren't like you!

I'm curious how Georgia is a "maybe in trouble state"


Unless this more "they didn't elect Trump" stupidity

If you'd ask them to read a bunch of commie BS I feel they'd say the same thing.

Yeah, Florida too.  The writer of this article isn't the brightest bulb in the pack.

So what happens when someone does a Charles Whitman impersonation? Ban scopes? Ban bolt actions? Ban any forearm that can shoot more than 100yds accurately?

Until they actually start to prosecute people. Know anyone that still uses a bumpstock, has unregistered machineguns, SBRs,etc?

Doesn't Florida have a rapid fire device ban (FELONY), under 21 buy ban, and red flag laws???

I don't know about why Georgia was picked unless the democrap voters are gaining strength - that is alluded to in the caption.

READING IS FUNDAMENTAL:
"Light green states may be in danger due to liberals winning key elections and/or have passed laws on purchasing, restricting certain accessories, etc.."

Washington state doesn't have an outright AW ban but I think that a shooting class is required in order to buy one and there is a waiting period I think. Also, under 21 individuals are prohibiting from buying them so it's a ban to some.

You think anyone's going to honestly answer that question here?

And I got called a "glowie" lol.

I mean, I don't know anyone of course, but if you think there aren't folks out there with what you listed you're beyond niave.

Do they use them in CO like they currently use 30rd mags? Doubt it. Why? Cuz they'd get turned in probably.  The second CO LEO start enforcing the mag ban people will quit using them.

Just waiting for MN to drop something soon. They stole the whole shebang.

Sure you used enough question marks there, Chuckles?  

That's what I wondered. Republicans control legislature and Governor.  Just passed constitional carry.

Moved From red to dark green

Fuck be upon those people who pass these laws

We just made some solid gains… and now the possibility of new bans.

I guarantee you they don't.

As the next few years go by more and more states will pass AWBs.

A number of states just banned standard capacity mags. RI, DE, WA and OR. I might be missing some.

DE passed an AWB. RI, WA, and IL are next.

WA seems likely. CO has not announced anything but I can see new laws in the coming year or so. MI could get some new things passed, possibly even an AWB. I think VT will probably go further down that route as well.

ME and even NH are not safe. VA is an election away where they can possibly get many more laws passed.

NV is maybe a few years behind. Even AZ isn't exactly safe. Margins are thin in the senate/house, and that can go from the most pro-gun state to something like NV or CO in short order.

WI and PA seem fairly safe as far as swing states go, but they're about the only ones left. MN? I am not sure. Seems like the local DFL may flip to anti gun in the near future.

TLDR: Easily half a dozen or more states that probably will pass more laws in the next few years.

Remember when Obama told his minions that if we cannot win at the federal level to go after it at the state level.

Don't worry, you can vote your way out lmao

Yup. Most the idiots in this state don’t vote and most of the ones that do don’t have a clue what they are voting for.

Did you really think he was asking for people to actually answer the question.
Some of the newbies on this board crack me up.

ATF admitted ARs are in common use  

That sounds great, but how frequently can the USSC over turn a previous decision? It is rare but it can happen. Might take 12-18 years but I wouldn't put everything on that. The USSC is much more political now than it has ever been in history.

Then why ask the question?

Sounds like you're making assumptions about what are potentially thousands if not more people doing or not doing something.

Neither one of us knows what folks out there are upholding to but I'm a glass half full kind of guy when it comes to people holding fast to the Constitution.

All these AW and magazine bans will be enforced by your local FFLs and police. Remember who is your enemy and violating the Constitution.

Didn't y'all elect two Democratic Senators? Atlanta runs Georgia now. Just like Chicago's been running Illinois for years. If you don't like that, better get your state senate reapportioned to protect rural interests.

I gots a bolt action deer rifle. Semi autos are icky.

I guarantee Colorado will get it broken off in our collective asses.
Dems hold the strongest majority they have had since 1947 and every single critical elected position is held by a Dem.

Ass fucking inbound

At the state level it is fairly Republican. But less so than Florida or Ohio. But I am also assuming the typical Republican and even Democrat is more right leaning.

But for the time being it is a solid right state, at the state level. Federal level it is a swing state. Bad candidate choices are largely to blame. Georgia Republicans ran someone who couldn't form a sentence for senate. Their governor was elected by a large margin.

Well, if I did, I sure as hell wouldn't tell you, would I?

WA state has AWB,among other restrictions  being filed and they will pass.   After the last election the democratic controlled state is more emboldened.  WA state is 4th in the country for form 4 silencer applications, I think most gun owners must not vote.

If he successfully made the point that David Codrea knows what he's talking about, then his punctuation, while perhaps gratuitous, served its purpose.

WA went from legalizing SBRs and suppressors to AWBs in less than 8 years.

Always found that interesting how the Democrats actually passed pro-gun bills that effect a niche amount of owners, but now want to pass laws that restrict many times more owners.

Nope, he didn't make that point at all.  He only proved he knows nothing about Florida politics.

10 Years ago all these People in these states that are pro gun told every one from NY and NJ to just move..

Your looking at a ban in all 50 states in the next 5 years on a fed Law....State by State is Falling to the Communist Democrats,Arizona,New Mexico,Colorado where all Big Republican states now are Democrat..  When will the Republicans understand that the American people voted for chaos and want Chaos!!! They Voted for a sitting US Senator from CT  who went to a communist party and received award..they voted for a man who had a stroke and cant speak in PA...The Republican Party is a dead or dying Party...

In the course of the past ten years, my state has gone from having more firearms freedom than Texas, to potentially being the most restrictive state in the entire country if democrats get their way in this next legislative session.

We are looking at a heavily restrictive AWB, and democrats want to start enforcing rolling retroactive background checks on people who already purchased "semiautomatic assault weapons" (which includes even my Marlin 60) to check on an annual basis if we've done anything egregious enough to have them taken away - probably at some point up to and including misgendering someone.

We are looking at purchase permits to buy any firearm. Just a few years ago, I could legally buy or sell in a parking lot somewhere.

They outlawed buying 10+ round mags and are now talking about the "loophole" that we can still possess and use them.

And I STILL hear faggots say that "nobody wants to take your guns away" and I STILL know gun owning idiots who vote for democrats and then turn and complain that the people they voted for support this shit.

We will lose SBRs and suppressors. We will even lose having a threaded barrel.

I'm not gonna lie, if democrats can't bear to leave me the fuck alone, I want them dead.

I don't have time for that blackpill shit.  Fucking give up then.

Yep and eventually all these laws will be overturned. And btw that is the biggest wall of text in a post that I’ve ever seen. TLDR.

Map and/or author are shit. Maine might have some great firearms laws currently, but we damn sure don't "have strong conservative legislatures and executive political offices".

Yep.  Cheap, quickly-written clickbait with poor research.

Yep. Most of my family think shit for brains is doing a bang up job.  Gas prices are Trump’s fault and inflation is just an excuse of evil money grabbing corporations.

So the specific laws/bans/actions that FL state and local governments took in the last few years aren't bans to be concerned about?

Clue us in about Florida politics.  Did those all get erased?  Have there been changes in Tallahassee that are getting them repealed?