Author: Sebastian

Is it the middle of July already? Time does indeed fly when you’re busy. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s going to let up anytime soon. In addition to working at a client, I’m still doing my regular job, and things there are getting a bit backed up. Running a blog is like having two jobs, so when I have two jobs that I get paid for, three (i.e. this blog) is a bit too much to handle. But I appreciate Bitter filling in. As it often is in the summer, gun news is a bit slow. But let’s see what I have here in the tabs:

Be careful when you leave America. Since my new client is in New Jersey, it’s something I have to be cognizant of. A single .22 hollow point that escaped from your range bag after a day of shooting can land you in New Jersey State Prison for a good while.

Culturally, hunting is in a lot more trouble than shooting. You see plenty of hunters arguing against trophy hunting too when these things come up. It’s never a good idea to feed your presumptive allies to your enemies in the hope that they’ll eat you last.

Do gun owners have any rights liberals are bound to respect? Well, they don’t seem to think so.

Professor Nick Johnson looks at those who are undermining our right to Keep and Bear Arms. He looks into the book “The Second Amendment: A Biography.” I started reading it, got about 1/3rd of the way through. I’ll finish it when I have more time.

Gun control is well and truly a folly with modern technology. But that’s not going to convince people to give it up.

Chicagoland is acting up again, treating shall-issue as may issue. Lawsuits are already filed. It’s funny that the gun control folks justify this intrusion thusly: “If you can’t fly on a plane because of being on a secret government list, you shouldn’t be able to buy a gun.” Well who said that ought to be constitutional in the first place? Last I heard, there was an implicit right to travel.

Is there hope for the future? I think it’s good advice. Of course, one way to neutralize attacks on social issues is to actually not be on the wrong side of younger voter’s values.

I have to agree with Joe. I don’t see any problem with that ad. Even if you’ve taught your kids well, you haven’t taught your friends’ kids.

OSU students sue over illegal campus gun ban.

Does the Religious Freedom Restoration Act violate separation of powers? Not necessary off topic. The article mentions City of Boerne v. Flores (1997). If we get national reciprocity, I can promise you that you’ll be seeing more of that case.

Missouri is considering passing a RKBA provision very similar to the one passed in Louisiana. The more states that do this, the better. It shows that the people aren’t happy with this intermediate scrutiny two-step dance the federal courts have been doing. The Louisiana Supreme Court recently upheld prohibitions on violent felons possessing arms under strict scrutiny, so there should be less credible scaremongering this time.

Just when you thought the stupid couldn’t get any stupider. Seems there’s a lot of stupid going around these days.  I have to agree with Jeff Soyer. The way to convince people we’re not a bunch of loose cannons with guns is not to act like loose cannons with guns.

The Army is looking for a new pistol again. The big problem is the ammunition. Would the world really be a worse place if we announced we were withdrawing from that one aspect of the Hauge Convention?

Why am I not shocked that Bearing Arms is the only place I’ve even heard of this guy?

Sent to me by one of my liberal readers:

What matters isn’t what the public believes. What matters is the issues that the public is willing to get out and vote for. By and large, people don’t care badly enough about gun control to throw out legislators who don’t do what they want. But the small minority of gun nuts do care very badly–and they get out and vote in partisan primaries with that same passion.

This is the nuts and bolts of it, and one reason I’ve always strived not to just be another blog out there reaffirming confirmation biases. When most people don’t agree with you, the only way you can win is to ensure there remains few people passionate enough about gun control to actually vote on it.

We’ve made tremendous strides in this issue over the past few decades, to the point where the number of issues we don’t enjoy at least a plurality of favorable public opinion are few. But one reason I’m always very wary of tactics designed to antagonize rather than persuade is because being antagonized is what causes people to get off their asses and act. There’s always a tendency among our people to believe that there’s more public support for our issue than there really is. The article is correct to note that this doesn’t matter as long as there’s still a big enthusiasm gap, but let’s not pretend the other side doesn’t have a large pool of potential supporters they can draw from if only there’s enough money to reach them.

That’s where Bloomberg comes in, and where he can do the most damage. They are starting small, not asking for much of a commitment. That’s why you see them circulating a lot of petitions and easy stuff which don’t take a lot of thought or effort. We’ve seen when it comes to higher levels of engagement, they take more than *ahem* a little encouragement.

My big concern is money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy elections. Bloomberg can easily outspend us. If we don’t make up for it with our own enthusiasm, we could end up in big trouble, and it could very likely come quickly and without much warning.

 

Thanks to Bearing Arms for pointing to Dick Metcalf digging ever deeper whining about the premature demise of his career. He also shows a poor understanding of the standard model of the Second Amendment.

The Second Amendment says the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, Metcalf noted, “not that it shall not be regulated.” Rather the first four words of the amendment, “a well regulated militia,” not only allow but mandate regulation.

We’ve been over and over this, again and again. The prefatory clause is simply a justification for acknowledging the right. There are other such prefatory clauses in the Constitution, such as:

“To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.”

People have argued, in front of the Supreme Court, that the prefatory clause meaningfully modifies the nature of the power in question, and the Supreme Court rejected the idea. Only two justices tried to argue that the prefatory clause limited the power to only those things which promoted the progress of science and useful arts. The structure of the Second Amendment is nearly identical. The prefatory clause, which states the case for acknowledging the right, does not meaningfully limit it, anymore than the patent and copyright prefatory clause limits Congress’ power. That’s without even needing dissect the 18th century meaning of “well-regulated,” which in this case means regulated like a clock, and not regulated like a chemical plant.

“Everything is regulated, but everything is not infringed. Not all regulation is infringement. Is your right to drive a car being infringed by a speed limit?”

There is no right to drive a car. Some may say there ought to be, and I would be among those who would agree with that, but current law treats the “right” to drive a car on public roads as a “privilege.” If it was recognized as a right, things might be different. Also, a speed limit only regulates what you may do with a car. No one would argue the Second Amendment is so absolute as to preclude how one may employ a firearm. You have no Second Amendment right to rob a bank with a gun. No one would argue that you have a Second Amendment right to shoot across your neighbor’s yard, or shoot across a public road or waterway absent any exigent circumstances. That’s very different than some of the regulations Metcalf has advocated for, which would amount to a prior restraint when it comes to other rights.

Those are debates we can have. Some have argued that the prior restraint doctrine from First Amendment law might not be completely applicable to Second Amendment law, and I don’t see people calling for Dave Kopel’s career on a platter. The problem with Metcalf’s article, and his continuing statements in the media was/is ignorance. I can point to numerous examples of people getting away with the kind of things he’s been saying without getting skewered. Metcalf’s problem is he’s adopted many of the shopworn arguments of our opponents. No one argues the Second Amendment is absolute, or that we could reasonably expect the courts to find it as such. There’s plenty of room to argue about this or that. But when you adopt the same rhetoric and tired arguments as our opponents, people are going to react badly. That’s what Metcalf did, and has been continuing to do.

The Volokh Conspiracy invited guest blogger Ivan Perkins to talk about his book, “Vanishing Coup.” Judging from the comments, this went over like a lead balloon with Volokh readers:

Thus, new gun regulations are necessary for many reasons, including the long-term preservation of our Constitution. The widespread availability of high-powered military-grade weaponry does not keep us secure from tyranny — in fact, it increases the probability that one day, our great-grandchildren will live under thuggish warlords and tyrants.

It’s funny, because if you look at his analysis of countries that haven’t had coups, most of them have strong traditions of allowing civilians to be armed. The United States and Canada have among the most armed civilian populations in the world. Britain’s population, which he holds out as an example of guns not making a difference in stability, have until only very recently been well armed, and still rank in terms of world standards.

Britain had one of the strongest traditions of armed citizens until the past few decades. Norway, Sweden and Finland have strong traditions of civilian gun ownership. South Africa’s restrictions on firearms are also very recent. Traditionally South Africa put few restrictions on civilians owning and carrying firearms. None of these countries, save Japan and possibly the Benelux countries have the kind of gun free populations he imagines. In fact, these stable countries contain some of the most heavily armed populations on the planet.

He also uses the specter of what’s going on in Mexico as an example of where widespread gun ownership leads. Is he joking? Legally, guns are difficult to obtain in Mexico. The only progress the government has been able to make against the cartels has been when local communities, sick of being terrorized, armed themselves illegally and started fighting back against the cartels. Mexico is not a shining example of the effectiveness gun control has on a nation’s stability, unless you’re living in a cave, or perhaps an ivory tower.