A truck, carrying a load of fire extinguishers, catches on fire in Lancaster Township, Pennsylvania.
Year: 2008
Media Hysterics Post Heller
This has to win a creativity award for the most utterly ridiculous gun control proposal I’ve ever seen in my life:
We propose a new way to prod gun makers to reduce gun deaths, one that would be unlikely to put them out of business or to prevent law-abiding citizens from obtaining guns. By using a strategy known as “performance-based regulation,” we would deputize private actors — the gun makers — to deal with the negative effects of their products in ways that promote the public good.
It then goes on to speak of a performance based system where gun makers would be rewarded for drops in gun violence, and penalized for increases in gun violence. This presumes that there’s anything manufacturers can do about the fact that their products make their way onto black markets. But they have an idea for that too:
How would gun companies go about reducing gun deaths? The main thing to emphasize is that this approach relies on the nimbleness, innovation and experimentation that come from private competition — rather than on the heavy-handed power of governmental regulation. Gun makers might decide to add trigger locks to their guns, or to work only with dealers who meet certain standards of responsibility. They might withdraw their semiautomatic weapons from the consumer market, or even work hand in hand with local officials to fight gangs and increase youth employment opportunities. Surely they will think up new strategies once they have a legal obligation and financial incentive to take responsibility for the harm their products cause.
Ah yes, the old canards. Since they admit that Heller might mean they can’t just flat out ban these guns, now they need to offer incentives for no one to make them. Because a revolver is so measurably less deadly than a semi-auto pistol? Does it even matter if the “gun death” being spoken of is a suicide? How does supplying trigger locks work unless someone uses them? If this is what Heller has reduced our oppoents to, perhaps Heller is a bigger victory than I had imagined.
UPDATE: As a reader points out, this is pretty much the same type of business as the lawsuits the PLCAA was meant to put a stop to. I mean, would we hold Ford accountable for drunk driving rates, or Zippo accountable for reducing the incidence of arson? Drug makers for reducing drug suicides?
The Question of Machine Guns
Firearms and Freedom looks at the question of whether Heller closes the door to machine gun rights, and concludes it probably does. I think both sides of the machine gun issue can find support for their arguments in Heller, but I agree with Peter that the federal regulations on machine guns are probably largely safe. That’s not to say that I believe there’s not room for litigation on the issue, but I would consider us to be very lucky if we could even get the federal courts to rule unconstitutional the Hughes Amendment to the Firearms Owners Protection Act of 1986, which banned any new machine guns from being registered for civilian use.
Justice Scalia …
… self-defense whacko. Bitter helps AHSA decorate their offices a bit.
Pittsburgh Flouting Preemption
Looks like a Pittsburgh man was arrested for openly carrying, based on a Pittsburgh ordinance that’s pretty clearly unlawful. Open carry is forbidden without a license in a City of the First Class (i.e. Philadelphia), but that’s actually part of Pennsylvania Law, not a city ordinance. Pittsburgh apparently decided it needed such a law too, and just passed it, in violation of the proscription of the state legislature. I guess they don’t like the fact that under state law, Pittsburgh isn’t a first class city.
What Does It Say About Republicans?
Tam points out that half of our Heller dissenters were put on the bench by Republicans. By any measure, shifting the federal courts more toward the center has actually been one of the Republican party’s most stellar achievement, and even here, the best we can really say is “Well, Republicans tend to get it right about half the time.” Really, the federal judiciary should be owned by conservatives right now, but it isn’t. Yet moving the court rightward has been an accomplishment.
Republicans: even doing our best work, we’re still pretty damned incompetent.
Women’s Empowerment
They say a picture is worth 1000 words. Well, Breda has a picture that I think basically defines women’s empowerment. That’s one women who’s not going to be satisfied wearing the hijab for long. This is the kind of cross-cultural pollination that will end up freeing individuals from the burdens of their cultures.
The principles of The Enlightenment, that are manifested in this nation’s founding documents, are among the most subversive and radical ideas that have ever been put to paper by man. They are more powerful than entire armies. Plant the seed, and they will grow, and there will be nothing that traditional societal power structures can do to stand in their way.
Small Town Gun Bans
Morton Grove has joined Wilmette in suspending its gun ban.
Morton Grove Mayor Richard Krier said the village would comply with the law.
The Heller dominoes are falling. One thing I hadn’t considered in all of this is that many of these Chicago suburbs have far less financial resources than Mayor Daley has at his disposal. These towns may have been happy to maintain handgun bans as a symbolic gesture, as “an expression of the kind of community we want to be.” But when it comes to actually spending tax dollars to fight a case in federal court, potentially all the way to the United States Supreme Court, I think they might just decide to fold rather than fight.
UPDATE: More here.
Agenda Totally In Tact
The “slippery slope,” however, is now gone. The U.S. Supreme Court took it off the table yesterday in their D.C. v. Heller opinion. Government is now barred from “taking away” the guns of law-abiding Americans.
Because of this Court decision, proposals such as Brady background checks on all gun sales, limiting bulk sales of handguns, restricting access to military-style assault weapons, and strengthening the power of law enforcement to shut down corrupt gun dealers can now be debated on their merits without them being seen as a “first step on the road to gun confiscation.”
Yeah, except the slippery slope argument was only ancillary.  I’m still going to argue that you’re wrong, and that the laws are unconstitutional. This changes nothing for us, but it does change a lot for them. Now all these proposals have to answer to a very high level of scrutiny, because, you see, they infringe on fundamental constitutional rights. Time will reveal this.
Wilmette, IL Suspends Handgun Ban
Well, this is one way to kill lawsuits based on standing. But hey, if towns start shedding their handgun bans based on Heller, I don’t see how that’s not a good thing. Do the Brady’s still want to keep calling this a victory? Bryan Miller? Mexico is calling.