Thread by @TimInHonolulu

1. Does @POTUS have power to ban assault rifles without Congress on board? Perhaps. First, remember the text of the 2nd Amendment? “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

2. The Heller case didn’t cite the relevant law and dealt with an esoteric discussion of the 2nd Amendment divorced from the statutory underpinning that currently gives power to the framers’ plan to establish federal control of regulated citizen soldiers.

3. Are you in the Militia? If you’re a male, between 17 and 45 or a female in the Guard, you’re likely in the Militia. law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10…

So what? Well, @POTUS commands the Militia. 10 U.S.C. § 253 provides that

“The President, by using the militia or the armed forces,

4. or both, or by any other means, shall take such measures as he considers necessary to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy, if it—
(1) so hinders the execution of the laws of that State, and of

5. the United States within the State, that any part or class of its people is deprived of a right, privilege, immunity, or protection named in the Constitution and secured by law, and the constituted authorities of that State are unable, fail,

6. or refuse to protect that right, privilege, or immunity, or to give that protection; or
(2) opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws.

7. In any situation covered by clause (1), the State shall be considered to have denied the equal protection of the laws secured by the Constitution.”

So, states that allow weapons of war on their streets and the people with them to hunt the citizens and kill them, even though

8. state law permits the open carry of military weapons, it deprives the people of the right to live free from harm and @POTUS can declare all members of the militia must deliver those weapons to an armory. Ban all, open carry and use the power of the militia and federal

9. to enforce it.

When everyone else was wringing their hands about Trump and his thirst for power, I kept this one to myself. At a minimum, I think @POTUS can ban all 5.56 and 7.62 ammunition sales and seize the stock. Any seller who defeated that power loses NFA license.