Police in New Zealand have revoked the firearms licenses of 62 individuals after determining that their adherence to the "sovereign citizen" ideology makes them no longer "fit and proper" to own a gun. 

Reason columnist J.D. Tucille took a look at New Zealand's gun laws, and discovered that licenses can be stripped from anyone who has "exhibited, encouraged, or promoted violence, hatred, or extremism." As Tucille notes, "extremism" is in the eye of the beholder; an entirely subjective term that can be wielded like a weapon by government officials. 

So, could something like that happen here? Tucilli says it's not crazy to ask that question. 

While most Americans don't need licenses to own firearms, and we enjoy First Amendment protections for our speech and Second Amendment protections for owning the means of self-defense, we still need to consider the example of a liberal democratic government surveilling its own people and limiting the freedom of those found espousing "unacceptable" ideas. Just two years ago the FBI passed around a guide to "domestic terrorism symbols" that could indicate a proclivity for "militia violent extremism." Among the allegedly worrisome symbols were the Gadsden flag, the Betsy Ross flag, a black-and-gold anarcho-capitalist flag, and "Revolutionary War imagery." Getting tagged as an extremist isn't difficult. 

At the same time, the government attempted to suppress discussions on social media when they crossed imaginary lines of acceptable dissent to government policy or were just inconvenient to politicians.

"For law-abiding American gun owners, the Kiwis' plight should serve as a stark reminder of the dangers of firearm registration, especially when coupled with a government that doesn't care about an individual's inherent rights, such as the right of their citizens to defend themselves and their families," cautions the Second Amendment Foundation.

That's absolutely right. Take New York's "good moral character" standard for concealed carry applicants, for instance. Though the policy allows for a subjective and arbitrary denial of Second Amendment rights if a licensing authority doesn't believe an applicant has demonstrated enough moral fortitude, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld that portion of the state's deceptively named Concealed Carry Improvement Act. The appellate court declared that it's an open question as to whether the Second Amendment 'broadly permits the disarmament of all law-breakers or 'unvirtuous' individuals", but at the very least, if a licensing authority believes an applicant is inclined towards "dangerous" behavior their application can be denied. 

It's not difficult to imagine a judge or sheriff in one of New York's deep-blue counties determining that an applicant's Trump signs or vocal support for making America great again demonstrates a lack of good moral character or makes them "unvirtuous" enough to prohibit them from lawfully carrying a firearm for self-defense. Kamala Harris has already declared Trump a fascist, so it's not a stretch to believe they view his supporters as fascists too; not only a potential danger to themselves and others, but to democracy itself (and yes, I know... we don't live in a democracy but a republic). 

I'd like to believe that any such actions would be swiftly struck down by the courts, but after reading the Second Circuit's most recent opinion in Antonyuk I'm not sure of that at all. The appellate court seems more than willing to consider allowing "unvirtuous" citizens to be stripped of their fundamental right to keep and bear arms, while many Democrats consider casting a vote for Trump a vile act that no virtuous citizen would ever take. 

I'd say it's unlikely that we'll see any U.S. jurisdiction follow New Zealand's lead, but it's not out of the question... especially in Democratic strongholds if Trump wins election. The #Resistance to Trump will take many forms, and infringing on the right to keep and bear arms could very well be a popular way to push back against Trump supporters in deep-blue Democratic strongholds.