Sebastian – Page 744 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Great News

The Second Circuit has ruled that a person has a clear liberty interest in carrying a firearm, and that there are due process interests within the permitting process. At issue would seem to be the claim that the permitting process couldn’t repeatedly demand proof of citizenship (you had to do it to get the permit, so what’s the need to do it repeatedly?). Also it would appear to hinge that the delays areÂ unnecessaryÂ and don’t serve any compelling state interest.

Dave Hardy adds, “Amazing how this legal field has turned around in a year or two.”Â This is a big deal, because this is going to play very much against the City of New York’s entire system of licensing even ownership of firearms, and New York State is part of the Second Circuit. It might be that the courts will allow licensing of the right to own a gun, much like they’ve done with the right to marry, but with significant judicial oversight as to what’s allowed and what’s not. They will only be able to do what is needed to determine your qualification, and nothing more. They won’t be able to put in requirements intended to frustrate the ownership or carrying of firearms.

Ideally, I’d like there to be no licensing, and that’s entirely possible to achieve, but even the allowing of a relatively easy and unobtrusive licensing provision would be a major weakening of the licensing regime for the most restrictive states, to the point where I’m not sure how many jurisdictions are going to bother with them. The entire point of licensing was to frustrate people from exercising their rights. If they can no longer do that, I wouldn’t be shocked to see the requirement start to become viewed as arcane, and for it to be politically easier to remove them entirely. That’s actually been able to happen in a few states that had relatively meaningless permit requirements, namely Missouri and Nebraska. North Carolina also has such a permit, but we’ve not gotten much traction on that issue there, largely because North Carolina has been swelling with population fleeing the northeast and maintaining their voting habits from back home. But the precedent is there.

Is the Sullivan Act appealing once its primary purpose of frustrating the right is no longer served? We might find out.

A Boner of a Tactic

Tam is upset about the Coburn Amendment that wants to cut out viagra coverage for sex offenders. This isn’t your run of the mill social conservative paranoia at work. There’s a method to Coburn’s madness. This is one of those things a politicians really doesn’t want to vote against. If the Dems vote it down, the Dems just voted for stiffies for kiddy rapists. If they vote for it, it forces the measure to go back to the House for another vote. The latter part is the real intention of this, and there’s some very good reasons why we want to do this.Â There’s no reason to give the Dems an easy victory.

The more votes there are on Health Care, the more Pelosi burns the political capital of the Democratic Party. Republicans can try repeatedly to have votes on the most ridiculous and unpopular things in the bill, and the Democrats will be continuously forced face what’s actually in the bill they voted for without reading. This keeps the public mind focused on the monstrosity headed into November.

It ties up the business of Congress on Health Care, and prevents the Dems from moving onto Amnesty for Illegals, or Cap and Trade. It also prevents the Dems from moving any gun control forward. This is a remote possibility, but this is also, oddly, a very dangerous time. The Dems have little to lose with all the retirements at the end of the term, and with many blue dogs in firm belief they will lose their seats.

This keeps the issue, and the anger alive, and puts the Democrats on the defensive. That’s a very good thing headed into November. Currently, 55 percent of likely voters want repeal, and even more want the Republicans to keep fighting this.Â Those are good numbers. If the Republicans landslide going into November and these numbers hold or increase, that makes repeal a more attractive proposition. But if we’re going to have a shot at repeal, those numbers have to stay that high into November, and into 2012 when Obama is up. Making public debates about the ridiculousness of probably dozens and dozens of provisions in the bill is a great way to shoot those numbers up and get a mandate for repeal.Â I don’t put the likelihood of outright repeal to be all that high. I’d only give it 30%. But I sure don’t mind having a go at it, and I’m pretty sure Coburn is one of the guys who will be pushing repeal if given the opportunity.

Special Education

The Belmont Club has an interesting piece covering how Chicago political elites game the public education system, and how Daley uses this as a means of consolidating power.

Daly discovered the great rule of demagoguery. Convince those whoâ€™ve never eatenpÃ¢tÃ© de foie gras that the swill they are eating is it. Serve the real pate to those who already know what it tastes like. It was a system that would have been instantly familiar to former Soviets. World class academies for the nomenklatura, shacks on the banks of the Volga for those on the outs. Mayor Daley has indignantly denied the special list was used for playing favorites. He argued that just because there was a VIP entrance doesnâ€™t mean anyone actually used it. TheÂ Chicago Sun Times reported that â€œDaley said there was nothing wrong with former Chicago schools chief Arne Duncanâ€™s office maintaining such a log because â€˜no favoritismâ€™ resulted from it.â€ One official, Office of Compliance Chief Anthony Boswell, whose children qualified for a magnet school after moving in from Denver said that while it made him look bad, he didnâ€™t actually know if he received preferential treatment.

As Richard Fernandez points out, these are the same people who just took over our Health Care System. God Help us! All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

Good News, Bad News

First the bad news.Â The Democrat controlled house in New Hampshire appears to have defeated an initiative to repeal the ban on firearms in the State Capitol. The headline is “House sends gun ban repeal packing.” I say gun owners in New Hampshire ought to send the Democrats packing in November.

Good news, though, is that Kansas is moving a relaxation of carry laws along:

The House voted 65-57 in support of a bill that would allow the carrying of concealed weapons in municipal and state agency buildings unless the facility has enough security measures in place to ensure no weapons are permitted in the building. The bill would exclude school districts and would require that the carrier have a concealed-carry permit.

Sounds a lot like my “Three S” strategy.

Pew Findings

Pew just released a poll on gun control, and it shows support for restricting gun ownership keeps dropping, and is droppingÂ precipitouslyÂ among women. Support among blacks and hispanics continues to be high, but those groups are dropping as well. Half of Americans believe that local communities should not be able to ban handguns. The number of supporters of that is under half. Other good news is Independents are with us on the general issue, and Democrats are increasingly coming around as well. In fact, across the political spectrum, you notice a sharp spike post-Heller.

Why Not Force Guns on People?

Jennifer makes a really good point that if health care is a right, so the government can force you to buy it, why can’t they force you to buy a gun? I’ll take it a step further and argue that at least forcing people to buy a gun and keep it would likely be a legitimate exercise of Congress’ military powers, and power to arm, train and discipline the militia. Such a law certainly would not be without precedence in this country, and the practice certainly wasn’t unknown to our founders.

It is at least an enumerated power of Congress to force everyone to buy a gun. It’s a bit of a stretch to say forcing me to buy health insurance is a necessary and proper component of Congress’ regulation of the national health insurance market. If forcing me to engage in commerce is necessary and proper, what isn’t? Congress’ power is effectively limitless because they can force me to subject myself to its jurisdiction.

Hatboro Votes to Look Into Ballot Measure

This is bad news for us:

In an unexpected vote [after the defeat of the Lost and Stolen ordinance], council decided 4-3 to look into putting a referendum on the May or November election ballots to ask the voters if Hatboro should support the legislation at the state level.

Truth is we would have been better off if Hatboro had just passed this. Why? Because if you put it on the ballot, it’s probably going to pass, and probably pretty overwhelmingly. This fact will then be used to further weaken preemption, and put pressure on Harrisburg do something. Voters are generally inclined to approve ballot items, and you’d probably get something like “Should residents be required to report Lost or Stolen house keys to the police.” it would probably pass too.

If this ends up on the ballot, it will be a bigger victory for MAIG than if Hatboro had just been another town to pass an ordinance. This will cost us to fight it, we’ll probably lose, and they will use this against us in future battles.

I agree with Councilwoman Nancy Guenst. This is a total waste of local dollars. It amazes me that so many local towns are signing up to spend money they don’t have as part of Bloomberg’s plan to end preemption in Pennsylvania piecemeal.

Permitless Carry Moving Ahead in Arizona

Very good news:

The Senate gave preliminary approval to legislation that would make Arizona the third state, after Alaska and Vermont, allowing people to carry concealed weapons without a permit.

The Senate approved the measure in a voice vote, setting the stage for a formal vote in the Senate. Passage would send it to the House.

The measure would make it legal for U.S. citizens 21 or older to carry concealed weapons in Arizona without permits now required.

Currently, carrying a concealed weapon in the state without a permit is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.

Looks good, but we’ll see how it does on a formal vote and then in the house. But this is pretty far along in the process.

Mass Killing in China

Guns are banned strictly in China, but that didn’t stop a lunatic with a knife from killing 8 kids.

Six Million And Counting

According to this article, we’ve hit six million people licensed to carry in the United States:

From its beginnings in the 1980s, the â€œright-to-carryâ€ movement has succeeded in boosting the number of licensed concealed-gun carriers from fewer than 1 million to a record 6 million today, according to estimates from gun-rights groups that are supported by msnbc.comâ€™s research.

I’ve been using 5 million, but I’ll switch to 6 now. Hat tip to Dave Hardy, who adds, “It’s far more balanced than you would have seen ten years ago.” This is true. As bad as the media environment is now, the media’s treatment of guns in the 90s is part of what radicalized me on this issue. They have gotten a bit better.