The Beltway Outsider

I regularly read a liberal blog called “Crooks & Liars”, it’s on my link sidebar. The site interests me, has decent video clips of news items, and it gives me a feel for what the left is thinking. One point I regularly take away from that site is they (liberals)  HATE guns and are largely ignorant of the facts and issues behind gun ownership and usage. They simply focus on the negatives and call for more restrictions. Today the site owner, John Amato asks the question “Can corporations bear arms” in light of the supreme Court decision that corporations have 1st Amendment rights:

Since the Roberts Court has now ruled that corporations have the same rights as people and overturned decades of laws regulating their speech, I’m wondering: Do they now have the right to arm themselves by employing Blackwater-type mercenaries and post them all over their office buildings?

Will Wal-Mart post armed guards in their parking lots?

Seems like a natural consequence. If corporations can enjoy full First Amendment protections, wouldn’t they likewise get Second Amendment rights?

What John fails to understand, as he is blinded by his infantile views of firearm ownership is that corporations already have the right to bear arms, and those rights are even more liberal than the citizen’s individual right to own a gun. Case in point: It is far easier for a corporation to acquire fully automatic machine guns (the REAL kind, NOT an AR-15 which I’m sure John thinks is a machine gun) that a private citizen:

In areas where a person cannot acquire a Law Enforcement Signature because these people would rather violate your rights than let you own one of these items, there is another way. BATF allows Corporations and Trusts to acquire machine guns, silencers, etc. without having to complete the Law Enforcement Certification part of the form. If you have your own Corporation, or you are an Officer in a Corporation, the Corporation can acquire these items, and you, as a Corporate Officer, can keep the item at your home, take it to the range shooting, etc. just as if the item were registered to you. If the Corporation ever dissolves, the item must be transferred out of the Corporation to another individual or Corporation (or Dealer). Because a Corporation is not a person, an FBI fingerprint check is not required which reduces the transfer approval time to about 30 days.

So yes John, corporations CAN post armed guards in their office buildings. Have you never been to a bank before?

Ladies and Gentlemen, John Amato – liberal and clueless.