The struggle continues. Remember that time is our greatest ally. Generally speaking, once people stop feeling and start thinking, we usually do OK. Its your job, individually, to try to get people to think. Due process is a serious concern for everyone. Even when you leave the domain of constitutional rights, I doubt you’d find support for revoking drivers’ licenses for people on FBI watch lists. Keep the conversation going, and as always, catch more flies with honey.
Ace of Spades “The Competition to Say the Stupidest Possible Thing Has been Unusually Fierce Today” To be fair, I don’t expect non-shooters to know how loud gunfire is versus a popping bike tire. But if you’re ignorant of the subject you should probably acknowledge as much as refrain from commenting.
Dave Kopel: The History of LGBT gun-rights litigation.
Just One Minute has some good commentary on the terror watch list stuff.
Bob Casey changed on guns because he was never in favor of gun rights to begin with. He lied to people to get into office. I was one of those fools. Never again.
Patrick Jonsson: “What AR-15 Owners Say About Their Guns and the Orlando Shooting.” He has been a fair reporter on this issue.
Selena Zito: “Orlando attack re-exposes the great American divide”
The Week: “How Democrats Cynically Abandoned All Principle on Guns.” “A five-year ban on anyone who is merely suspected of being involved in terrorism is an egregious violation of due process and constitutional rights — and it goes without saying that the people targeted by these investigations will be largely Muslims.”
Even Gawker thinks this terror watch list stuff is bogus. I don’t think this issue falls along the traditional right/left device. If falls along whether you’re an authoritarian or a civil libertarian, and since politicians tend more toward the authoritarian side of the spectrum, that’s what’s going to give us trouble.
Ann Althouse: “Why aren’t human beings better at reasoning? Notice that this guy is — probably unwittingly — declaring that he’d be just fine with a law that came right out and said no Muslims can buy guns.” When you boil it down, a lot of people would. And so would an uncomfortable number of people who otherwise claim to support gun rights.
Lessons Learned from the Orlando Shooting Police Response.
Charles C.W. Cooke: “Is there something in the water over at Slate?”
Chris Cox: “Where Does the ‘Powerful Gun Lobby’ Get Its Power?” He’s right about their ability to communicate being a lot better. It has improved greatly from what it was when I started blogging.
AMA Looking to Profit from Orlando Shooting. The AMA is probably a bigger enemy on this topic than the CDC. The CDC is always out to please its political masters, whereas the AMA will always publish stuff that puts gun rights in a bad light.
Clayton Cramer: Target ISIS, not pressure cookers.
Also from Clayton: Assault Weapons, Fact & Fiction.
Joan Peterson: “I have a question for these folks. Do you honestly think that those who have been identified as known terrorists should be able to purchase guns legally from licensed dealers?” She poses the question like she wants a discussion, but she does not. Any pro-gun position on her blog eventually gets banned when they show she’s incapable of thinking or arguing. She’ll manipulate her comments to make herself look smarter than she really is.
Reminder: The gun control movement doesn’t have a monopoly on victims. There’s way too much of people claiming victimhood status to avoid healthy debate and discussion, and its ruining the country.
Dave Hardy: “Why, you’d almost think that the gun issue is a legislative surrogate for the conflict between criminals and honest people….”
Shannon Watts is out again with that “regular ol’ mom” crap.
Charlie Mitchell: “Today’s National Rifle Association is a trade association — protecting manufacturers — yet masquerades as a grassroots citizen rights movement.” I stop reading after that, because right there that tells me he doesn’t have any idea what he’s talking about.
Gallup Poll: 2:1 Americans think arming more people with concealed carry guns will help prevent terrorism.
Looks like G4S may have doctored some of the psych eval paperwork for the Orlando attacker.
Off Topic, but sadly not really:
The Senate very narrowly rejected a bill that would have given the FBI expanded surveillance powers to search e-mail records without a warrant. Note it was mostly Dems that stopped this. Except for Paul (KY), Gardner (CO), Daines (MT), and Murkowski (AK), the rest of the GOP loves themselves some “law and order” even at the expense of civil liberties.
