Dave Kopel and Clayton Cramer have yet another law review coming out on how state courts have developed the Right to Keep and Bear Arms found in their own state constitutions. You can read more about this over on Volokh.
Year: 2010
Guns at Walmart: The Good and the Bad
Arma Borealis has a post up on buying a gun at Walmart. He’s from Alaska, and I’ve heard that Walmart even sells pistols up in Alaskan stores. He complains about being escorted out with the gun. That’s something even Cabelas does. I’m guessing it’s an insurance issue more than a shoplifting issue. He also mentions Walmart’s deal with MAIG, which is why I’ll never buy a gun there.
Turning Around?
Dave Hardy thinks we may be going backwards on gun rights. Backwards to before the 60s, that is:
Add in DC v. Heller, and the likely outcome of McDonald v. Chicago. The press becoming almost even handed on the gun issue. I think we’re looking at an enormous cultural shift here. It’s a reversal of the shift that occurred in the 1960s. In 1960, firearm ownership was quite acceptable. President Kennedy was happy to accept life membership in the NRA. Somewhere in the early 60s, the American Bar Assn gave an award for a pro-individual rights article on the Second Amendment. And you’ve probably heard we ancients speak of the days when universities had rifle teams and students thought nothing of bringing guns to school. Then came the 60s — three assassinations in 1963-68, the summer riots, and by the later 60s guns were the source of all social ills, and anyone who would defend their ownership was a neanderthal, a fool, or a selfish social menace.
Fifty years later, we may be switching back.
The issue has come a long long way even from the time I first became aware of it. The earliest recollection I have in regards to the debate on gun control was the fight over the Brady Bill. But probably the think that convinced me that gun control was pretty much a load of BS was the fight over the assault weapons bans, which started in the late 80s. Even as a kid from a non-gun-owning family I knew what the difference was between fully automatic and semi-automatic, and knew what they were selling to civilians were semi-auto. Nonetheless, there’s the major networks trying to bilk the public by showing fully automatic weapons. Things were still rough in the late 199s, but since the turn of the century everything has changed dramatically.
Blog fodder is a good bellwether, I think, and the amount of things I’ve had to write about, in regards to media bias, has fallen off substantially. The media is largely ignoring the gun issue, as I would expect when everyone is worried about the country going broke, a crappy economy, and losing their jobs. Another big contributing factor Obama has ignored the issue, and refrained from using the bully pulpit on the issue of guns. That benefits us. Dave might be right. I do think there’s been a culture shift. Maybe we are headed back to the future.
Lack of Posting
Sorry for the short on posts today. Still dealing with fall out from last week’s culling at work. Going to be busy for a while, but most of the time that shouldn’t impact the blogging schedule too much. But it does mean I’ll be in front of a computer from the time I wake up until I go to sleep. At least until Annual Meeting in Charlotte comes around.
Poor Josh
It doesn’t seem like he likes getting caught doing the old Mary Rosh routine himself. I’d just like to see him explain how this is not the case, given the visual evidence that was uncovered that sock puppetry was being engaged in.
Oh, Those Silly Hipsters…
I couldn’t help but laugh at this bit from Jim Geraghty today on the May Day protests in California that lead to the destruction of the front of an Urban Outfitters store.
By the way, I cannot tell the difference between the trust-fund radicals who dress in black and try to smash stuff at Urban Outfitters and the tragically hip trust-fund bohemians who actually shop at Urban Outfitters.
He also notes that the Georgetown location actually designed their shop to make it look the window had already been smashed. This used to irritate me to no end. You’re in Georgetown, no one is believing for one second that anyone who shops down there is so full of rage at the man that they took a brick to the window.
Getting You Fired Up This Week
Here’s a video to get you fired up for the upcoming elections. The focus is on the special election for John Murtha’s former seat out in Western Pennsylvania.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNrhLRerypg[/youtube]
I swiped it from Jim Geraghty who adds:
But the music and editing is superb; you keep waiting for Paul Giamatti as John Adams to appear and declare that the Continental Congress has approved this message.
If you’re so inspired, you can go lend a (financial) hand to his campaign. He’s got to win this seat twice in 6 months.
Fighting Eddie Eagle
The Virginia Center for Public Safety (formerly Virginians Against Handgun Violence), lead by gun control advocate Andrew Goddard, seems to be upset not so much that children are being taught to stay away from guns in schools, but that the NRA is teaching it. You can see him debate Rachel Parsons, from NRA’s Public Affairs, here on Fox:
This has always been a particularly sad tactic of our opponents. Using gun accidents to push their agenda, then getting bent out of shape when we step up to try to do something about gun accidents. All because they don’t like who the message is coming from.
Better Marriage Blanket
A Good Problem to Have
It would seem there are lawmakers trying to claim, or imply endorsements or high grades from NRA when endorsements or grades haven’t been issued in their races. This is a dicey thing, because the lawmakers in question probably really are quite good on our issue, but at the same time endorsements and grades are rather politically sensitive, and you can’t exactly have politicians going around claiming what they haven’t yet earned. But in a way, it’s a good problem to have, because it means politicians perceive your grades and endorsements to be important enough to lie about them.
You don’t hear too many politicians bragging about their Brady grade this year, and as we’ve mentioned, it would seem CeaseFire PA will give you a D just for returning their questionnaire, which would indicate they have an issue getting politicians to even do that. But there are no votes and money on their side, and there are both on ours — so it’s no wonder.