Boulder Gun Owners Defiant Of Assault Weapon Ban

by Tom Knighton: The city of Boulder, Colorado thought it was going to make a firm stand against so-called assault weapons. It passed a controversial law that banned them inside the city.

Take that, gun owners!

Well, it seems that there are a lot of people in Boulder who aren’t remotely interested in rolling over and playing dead in the face of a tyrannical local government. Instead, they’re hoisting their middle fingers in a universally understood gesture of defiance. Metaphorically.

They’re doing something just a bit more productive.
Boulder’s newly enacted “assault weapons” ban is meeting with stiff resistance from its “gun-toting hippies,” staunch liberals who also happen to be devoted firearms owners.

Only 342 “assault weapons,” or semiautomatic rifles, were certified by Boulder police before the Dec. 31 deadline, meaning there could be thousands of residents in the scenic university town of 107,000 in violation of the sweeping gun-control ordinance.

“I would say the majority of people I’ve talked to just aren’t complying because most people see this as a registry,” said Lesley Hollywood, executive director of the Colorado Second Amendment group Rally for Our Rights. “Boulder actually has a very strong firearms community.”

The ordinance, approved by the city council unanimously, banned the possession and sale of “assault weapons,” defined as semiautomatic rifles with a pistol grip, folding stock, or ability to accept a detachable magazine. Semiautomatic pistols and shotguns are also included.

Current owners were given until the end of the year to choose one of two options: Get rid of their semiautomatics by moving them out of town, disabling them, or turning them over to police — or apply for a certificate with the Boulder Police Department, a process that includes a firearm inspection, background check and $20 fee.

Judging by the numbers, however, most Boulder firearms owners have chosen to do none of the above, albeit quietly.

“The firearms community in Boulder — they may be Democrats but they love their firearms,” said Ms. Hollywood, herself a former Boulder resident.I can’t say I blame them.

Look, there’s a point that every individual has to determine if they want to remain law-abiding or are willing to become the outlaw. When it comes to guns, many of us are far more comfortable drawing a line in the dirt and saying, “No more.”

Ms. Hollywood is right. This is registration, and it’s something that should never exist in this country. Unfortunately, it does in several places, but it’s also up to individual gun owners to determine if they want to comply with the regulation.

For those who did comply, if the city turns around and decides all such weapons must go, guess what? They already know where some of them are. That’s the reason so many of us oppose registration. It facilitates confiscation. It always has and always will.

Here’s something for the anti-gun Left to consider. When you have wide-spread defiance in someplace like the People’s Republic of Boulder on a gun control law, you may want to check your assumptions about your constituents sharing your anti-gun views. I suspect quite a few Boulder residents with “Coexist” stickers on their Prius’s also have “Molon Labe” stickers on their gun safes.
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Tom Knighton is a Navy veteran, a former newspaperman, a novelist, and a blogger at Bearing Arms. He lives with his family in Southwest Georgia.

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