In the TDF Edition 15 list of thoughts and rants, I said the following:
3. Heller actually sets up "Firefly/Serenity Scenario" of private parties flying around in spaceships, but shooting at each other with revolvers, while government forces have directed-energy weapons. Try to figure out how that is, or wait for me to tell you when I'm not so tired.
Now, to tell you:
The Heller case held that arms "in common use" in the CIVILIAN realm are 2A-protected. This actually is inverted from the cases it cites as precedent, which held that arms in common MILITARY use were protected. That is, a standard military rifle might be covered, but a simple derringer might not be. Justice Antonin Scalia in writing the opinion knew that to get Anthony Kennedy's vote, he'd have to lowball the scope, though I personally am a bit shocked to find such a frankly altered use of the precedent. But it saved civilian RKBA, so we'll just have to deal for now.
The effect of this, though, is that the state of arms in the civilian market today is subject to a freeze at any time. The example I've seen used is, if the starship Enterprise were to land tomorrow--actually, it was Voyager that could land, but enough of the geek stuff for now--and started manufacturing and selling phasers, it could be legally blocked, since phasers are not in common use among civilians today. ANY substantially and qualitatively new development could be (according to Heller) constitutionally blocked from civilian use, so long as it's done before it becomes "common."
This raises the specter of the "Firefly/Serenity Scenario." For the uninitiated, the "Firefly" television series, with the derivative "Serenity" movie, is a science fiction franchise set about five hundred years in the future. It is perhaps the ultimate "space western," with low-tech scenes of literal horses in regular use, alongside hovercraft and holograms. Civilian arms are not dissimilar from present-day arms, often with Old West appearance and heavily manual-action. Some automatics are included, and so not banned, and I suspect creator Joss Whedon (of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" fame) put more Old West stuff in the show more to accentuate the "Western" element than to suggest legislation against more modern arms. At the same time, though, "federal" authorities are cruising around with full-auto and directed-energy arms. [See TDF 10 for discussion of full-auto in the 2A context.] One scene features a rich civilian opening carrying a laser pistol, and the lead character mentions that the particular weapon is illegal.
See the Internet Movie Firearms Database (IMFDB) page on the franchise for visuals of the arms used: Firefly - Internet Movie Firearms Database - Guns in Movies, TV and Video Games (imfdb.org) http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Firefly They can actually be quite an interesting juxtaposition of old and modern, such as this combination of Old West revolver and modern sight rail: Firefly - Internet Movie Firearms Database - Guns in Movies, TV and Video Games (imfdb.org) http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Firefly#LeMat_Revolver
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Well, LESS viable/MORE difficult, but not TOTALLY, I hasten to say: V - The Final Battle - Meet Ham Tyler - YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFgg3vHw6ms
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But reality is reality. Scalia saved 2A private RKBA at its current state. As I tell people when explaining this: "Just be glad Heller wasn't decided in 1880, or else we'd (already) be down to single-action revolvers and lever-action rifles." Now, barring a major shift in course that seems less and less likely due to the tolerated Election Steal, we must make the best of the situation. The efficacy of the civilian Militia is far more important than constitutional purism or personal preferences and focii--"But I want!" We must focus on securing as much essential firepower as possible.
Below is a graphic I produced a few years ago following the Parkland shooting, which marked a renewed gun control effort, to the point of actively calling for a 2A repeal. It was produced based on the pro-2A Trump administration being in power. With the 2020 Election Steal--and the refusal of the American people to urge their States to oppose it per Federalist 46, even this is perhaps too ambitious.
Quite frankly, the "Firefly" image of a heavily manual-action RKBA might be more prescient than Whedon probably intended. What is certain to the rational mind, though, is that barring "something weird happening," the Steal and the increasing Left-liberalization of the American and Western peoples mean that purism and a die-hard hold to a libertarian principle of "muh rites" will only cause ever deeper disarmament. An armed citizenry, even if only bearing carry revolvers, has a functional value for society, families, and individuals, and is a part in our heritage (see more here in this pre-TDF post: Cats, Guns, and National Security: American iconography and minimalist RKBA -- If America as we know it in heritage fails. https://catsgunsandnationalsecurity.blogspot.com/2021/01/american-iconography-and-minimalist.html ).
This manifestation of our heritage in RKBA may fall short of the aspiration of 2A's prefatory preamble, even cut into the operative element of 2A. Yet, it is something with ought to be preserved. THAT is the important matter to a Patriot.