The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …
I would like you to explain why it took the death of four police officers before you thought it might be a good idea to review the practices of the Pennsylvania Parole Board? The other officers that were killed weren’t murdered by Boy Scouts. This has been a systemic problem, and it’s outrageous that only after Philadelphia has buried four officers you now feel the need to actually start looking at the problem.
Sincerely,
A Very Angry Sebastian
… isn’t the only city practicing catch and release to the detriment of the safety of its police officers.
I’ve been reading voraciously about this financial crisis facing our country, and there’s a lot of quality econ blogs out there with good information about it. My instincts tell me that a government bailout of people who made poor choices is bad. But the financial system grinding to a halt would also be bad.
So is this something to not really worry too much about, or should I be pulling all of my money out of the bank and stockpiling ammunition?
UPDATE: I was mostly kidding about the last sentence. I always have a healthy stockpile of ammunition on hand. These days, most of it I loaded myself.
My bank name has tracked exactly to the name of our Hockey/Basketball arena in Philadelphia. First it was the CoreStates Center, then CoreStates got bought out by First Union, which got bought out by Wachovia. So I wake up this morning and find out my bank has failed, and is now owned by Citigroup. So the Citigroup Center it is, and it will appear that’s who I’m banking with now.
Robb beat me to another one. This one is from The Bulletin:
Here’s a quick lesson in the law. If you’re a convicted felon, as Giddings was (and a very dangerous one at that), you can never legally buy a gun again. Never. That means that the weapon he used to kill Officer McDonald was obtained illegally. So no matter how tough you make it to buy a gun in Philadelphia, hardened criminals like Giddings will still obtain them illegally.
At least the media is starting to perhaps, finally, pull back the curtain to see what’s really behind it.
Jersey City lost its appeal in its efforts to uphold its one-gun-per-month gun rationing scheme. Good news, but it’s probably going to prompt the legislature to act on a state-wide bill to do the same thing. After all, all those cousin humping rednecks in the Northwest and Southern parts of New Jersey keep killing themselves, and someone has to take all those dangerous things away from them.
In response to the school shooting:
First-time applicants for a handgun license must now prove that they have been members of a shooting club for at least a year. In addition, all applicants must provide a note from a doctor about their mental health.
So you have to spend a year in a club without having access to a firearm? And this is the kind of gun laws people want for this country.
Speakertweaker is a Texan, the land where printing can get you in trouble. He agrees with me that open carry should be legal, but warns “Don’t overdrive your headlights,” using a Drivers’ Ed metaphor. Every time something like this comes up, folks seem to think I’m advocating never pushing beyond people’s comfort level. That’s not what I’m saying. But you do have to be cognizant not to push so far beyond most people’s understanding that they dismiss you, rather than thinking.
Most people don’t feel a need to carry a gun in public. We don’t live in a society that’s so absolutely plagued by violence that most people are thinking about carrying a firearm for self-protection everywhere they go. That’s why people have a difficult time wrapping their heads around carrying openly to a kids’ soccer game. The disconnect for people is that they assume that carrying a firearm is a large burden, when it is not. It’s less burdensome than carrying a cell phone. When people see that it is burdensome, even if it’s only socially burdensome, they aren’t going to conclude that people who carry firearms for self-protection are normal, they are going to conclude they are unusually fearful. That’s not really the image we want people to have of public carry.
Breda illustrates the difference between weapons and jewelry, just in case there was any confusion.