$57B
135
The last month has been sobering after the spectacular run up to the end of 2017 that extended into the early days of 2018.
2027
Imagine as an American travelling abroad and while at a border being asked a few routine questions before being approved for entering the other country. Imagine being asked if you owned a firearm and you responded that you did and for some reason you had documentation proving that it was acquired legally and has always been used, maintained, and stored in full accordance with any regulations – of course you reassure the border security officers that the firearm is currently in its secure locked storage.
Does it sound silly to be asked if you owned a firearm that you legally own in the United States when travelling to other countries? Before addressing that, let’s continue with this absurd allegory. Now imagine being denied entry into that country because it is not legal in that country to own that make and model of firearm. Now imagine being told you also will be issued a lifetime travel ban from entering that country. Hey, I did tell you this story was absurd and that you had to “imagine” it. Let’s take one more outlandish far-fetched incredible step to complete the story – every country you visit with similar domestic laws relating to firearms bars you from entry and issues you a similar lifetime travel ban.
Of course, that sounds bizarre because if you are engaging in lawful activity in your own country how can that same lawful activity be used as reason to deny your entrance into another country where that same activity is contrary to their laws? Imagine not owning a firearm but working retail in a gun-store or at a gun club and being denied entry into another country because you were living off the avails of an activity that would not be legal in the country you are visiting. You may be able to think of several other activities that are legal at the state level that are not legal in most western countries.