Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Halleluia! Somebody in DC Actually Gets It!!!

Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty said he hoped the court would leave the ban in place and not vote for a compromise that would, for example, allow handguns in homes but not in public places. "More guns anywhere in the District of Columbia is going to lead to more crime. And that is why we stand so steadfastly against any repeal of our handgun ban," the mayor said after attending the arguments.
Adrian Fenty doesn't get it. He's too stupid to make the connection that law-abiding citizens don't commit crimes so allowing law-abiding citizens to be armed poses no danger to the public at large. But, apparently, the one group that counts today, does get it. It appears that the Supreme Court's majority will rule that the Second Amendment is an individual right, not a collective right of state militias.
Solicitor General Paul Clement, the Bush administration's top Supreme Court lawyer, supported the individual right but urged the justices not to decide the other question. Instead, Clement said the court should say that governments may impose reasonable restrictions, including federal laws that ban certain types of weapons.
Paul Clement doesn't quite get it. The Second Amendment isn't about hunting. It's not even really about home defense from criminals. What the Second Amendment is about is that an armed people are a free people. No government can take those freedoms as long as the people hold the power to maintain their freedoms through force of arms. That definition has far reaching implications, all of them good for us citizens. It's only a bad thing to power-drunk politicians and tyrants.
Members of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence chanted "guns kill" as followers of the Second Amendment Sisters and Maryland Shall Issue.Org shouted "more guns, less crime."
The Brady Bunch don't get it and probably are too brain dead to ever get it. Water kills too but the beneficial aspects of water far outweigh any inherent danger as long as you are educated enough to understand how to avoid the inherent dangers of water. So too are the benefits of firearms - firearms make each of us equals, regardless of size, age, sex, or race. An armed citizen is on equal footing with anyone and poses no danger to anyone. An unarmed person is subject to whatever will is imposed by those who are stronger, larger, faster, younger, and more malevolent. Gun free zones are simply shooting galleries for those whom the law means nothing.

Provided that the early reports are accurate and that no back-room politics or outright treachery occur, it appears that the Supreme Court has finally settled the issue for all time. Perhaps now we can start the process of regaining the rest of our Second Amendment rights that have been infringed upon since 1934. But today is the start. Halleluia! And God Bless America!

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