‘Sporting purpose’ language in law: Unconstitutional

By Patriot Outdoor News

The term “sporting purpose” is imbedded throughout U.S. gun control laws, and its use is a violation of the Second Amendment. That has been my position for decades. My brother Chris raised the issue in a speech before the Gun Rights Policy Conference some three years ago, and our dad, Neal Knox, was making an issue of the language in the 1980s. The “sporting purpose” language has been a plank in federal gun laws dating back at least to the National Firearms Act of 1934. The 1968 Gun Control Act, down to its current incarnation, institutes broad restrictions and prohibitions on a variety of firearms and ammunition, then exempt items that are deemed to be “particularly suitable for sporting purposes,” or are primarily intended for “lawful sporting purposes.”

As Dad used to say, “The U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights are not about Americans’ right to keep and bear sporting goods.” The right to arms enumerated in the Constitution is about self-defense and self-determination, not about trap and skeet or taking game. It also sticks in the craw that much of the actual languages in our gun laws, including the “sporting purpose” clauses, appear to have been lifted verbatim from …read more

Source:: Patriot Outdoor News