Shall Not Be Questioned

Not paid promotions, just some boosting for people who have done a lot of great work on our issue. Here’s the summary:

Bob Cottrol has a new book out. It’s not released yet, but you can now preorder from Amazon.

Students of American history know of the law’s critical role in systematizing a racial hierarchy in the United States. Showing that this history is best appreciated in a comparative perspective, The Long, Lingering Shadow looks at the parallel legal histories of race relations in the United States, Brazil, and Spanish America. Robert J. Cottrol takes the reader on a journey from the origins of New World slavery in colonial Latin America to current debates and litigation over affirmative action in Brazil and the United States, as well as contemporary struggles against racial discrimination and Afro-Latin invisibility in the Spanish-speaking nations of the hemisphere.

Ranging across such topics as slavery, emancipation, scientific racism, immigration policies, racial classifications, and legal processes, Cottrol unravels a complex odyssey. By the eve of the Civil War, the U.S. slave system was rooted in a legal and cultural foundation of racial exclusion unmatched in the Western Hemisphere. That system’s legacy was later echoed in Jim Crow, the practice of legally mandated segregation. Jim Crow in turn caused leading Latin Americans to regard their nations as models of racial equality because their laws did not mandate racial discrimination— a belief that masked very real patterns of racism throughout the Americas. And yet, Cottrol says, if the United States has had a history of more-rigid racial exclusion, since the Second World War it has also had a more thorough civil rights revolution, with significant legal victories over racial discrimination. Cottrol explores this remarkable transformation and shows how it is now inspiring civil rights activists throughout the Americas.

Professor Cottrol is fluent in Portugese and Spanish, so is uniquely suited for a work like this.

David E. Young is the author of “The Founder’s View of the Right to Bear Arms” and “The Origin of the Second Amendment.” His work was cited by the 5th Circuit in the Emerson case, and by the Supreme Court in DC v. Heller. He also blogs at “On Second Opinion:”

Fact checking modern opinions and assertions regarding Second Amendment history and development by direct comparison with Founding Era facts

If you’re looking to develop a greater understanding of the Second Amendment, it’s a great resource.

In the New Republic, and they ask him about gun control. From part of his non-answer:

So much of the challenge that we have in our politics right now is that people feel as if the game here in Washington is completely detached from their day-to-day realities. And that’s not an unjustifiable view. So everything we do combines both a legislative strategy with a broad-based communications and outreach strategy to get people engaged and involved, so that it’s not Washington over here and the rest of America over there.

No, Mr. President, the problem is that Washington is intruding way too much on our day-to-day reality, and that is the problem! We don’t fix this problem with more government. We certainly don’t fix it with more gun control. If Washington were detached from my day-to-day reality, I’d honestly prefer it over what we’ve been going through for the last four years, and appear to have four more years of in our future.

A citizen journalists asks Bloomberg a question:

“Look at the team of security you’ve got, and you’re an advocate for gun control?”

h/t Instapundit

Covering some important news items that have built up:

Democrats wavering on gun control in the Senate. The Colorado senators are still uncommitted. Uncommitted is a good, at this point. We’ll get a dog and pony show this Wednesday. We’ll see where it goes from here. We still need to keep people in a high state of mobilization, ready to flood phone switches at the Capitol at a moments notice.

Obama off to a bad start on his gun control campaign.

The Chicago Way. Their real fear isn’t guns. Their real fear is that they may have to associate with the kind of people who enjoy them.

Why Interest in firearms is rising? A takedown of the New York Times. Shooting is a fun and enjoyable pastime, like golf. Those of us that participate it, like to spread the cheer, largely because we know if we do not, those that hate us will destroy our quiet enjoyment.

Gun control in Venezuela has been a complete failure. Why is it that Obama wants to replicate this here?

Obama says he’s fired guns before. Pics, or it didn’t happen.

A waiting period for legislation? Silly Professor! Waiting periods are only for the little people.

A myth surrounding the Dick Act is making its way around. Dave Hardy takes it on. I agree with Dave Kopel that these kinds of things aren’t helpful, and for the same reason.

A lot of people have made fun of the NRA wine club, but it seems to be working at pissing off the right kind of people.

We must do something about the media. I don’t subscribe to newspapers or watch TV. Starve the beast!

This piece by David Mamet is well worth your time, and deserves to get spread around.

Had a great time yesterday with all the Eastern PA Friends of the NRA committees at Woods Creek Grill  (which is awesome, try the Elk Chili), near Lickdale, PA. Many thanks to our field rep Kory for setting it all up for us. The two story restaurant was packed to the gills when we all had to be downstairs for the games and prizes.

That’s all the news that’s fit to link, until a few days from now when I once again need to pare down my Safari tabs.

I think one aspect of gun control that is all too often overlooked by those who advocate for it is that for gun control to really work, it requires the willing compliance of the gun community. Push too far, and compliance and respect for the law will disappear, and most of the benefits proponents advocate will as well. Not only will the supposed benefits of any new law not materialize, but perceived benefits of current gun control will as well. New York is about to become an example of this, as millions of New Yorkers defy Cuomo’s draconian gun ban and registration law. There’s an old saying that if you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns, but the unsaid corollary to that is always that we’re all going to become outlaws. Is a situation where millions of people are suddenly made criminals conducive to a health relationship with the law and law enforcement? Is it conductive to people remaining law abiding? Let me provide some examples.

Some of the proposed laws at the federal level would make it a crime to own an AR-15, and would subject to the same scrutiny as the National Firearms Act. At some point, an AR-15 owner who is defying the law is going to find himself answering an important question “If the penalties are the same or similar for having an AR-15 as having an M4, why the hell don’t I convert this thing?” Currently what prevents this is that most people simply lack the skill, and most people who have machining ability, machine equipment, or gun smithing skills won’t do this kind of work. But in a world where the vast majority of semi-auto owners are outlaws the same as someone who has an illegal machine gun, will that hold? Remember, once you destroy respect for the law, a lot of things that currently would never be on the table will suddenly be on it.

Now we also have a number of states and local jurisdictions preparing to jump on the nullification bandwagon, and a lot of these local jurisdictions aren’t just speaking of nullification of new laws, but of gun laws in general. Compliance not only requires our respect, it also requires the respect of local law enforcement, and in many areas of the country, that’s not going to be forthcoming. What’s going to happen when local authorities refuse to investigate or prosecute people for dealing in guns without federal licenses? What are sheriffs and police chiefs going to do when they know almost half the families in their towns are criminals? The federal government does not have the resources, absent willing compliance, to put everyone in jail, and neither does the State of New York.

I will submit to you that if draconian federal gun control laws go through, all respect for gun control that exists now will disappear. There will be massive amounts of non-compliance, both out of outright defiance and out of ignorance. There were people prosecuted in the first wave of assault weapons bans for having things like Marlin Model 60s in their closets, completely unaware they possessed what was now labeled an “assault weapon,” and which had to be registered or surrendered. We’re about to see widespread defiance in New York, and millions of New Yorkers start to realize what the next step is once they are registered. If they are unsure, they need look no further than the city that torments them and their rights.

Gun control advocates really do not understand the fire they are playing with, with much of what is being proposed. How many millions of Americans are you prepared to imprison? How many are you prepared to kill? What is the count of ruined lives, broken families, and ruin are you willing to inflict to try to achieve your rainbow farting unicorn utopia where every gun turns into a flower? Widespread disrespect for the law by millions of Americans is not going to bring that about, and in fact, may only serve to create larger unregulated markets, and far more willingness to engage in law breaking people would not be willing to engage in under normal circumstances.