May 2009 – Page 9 – The Smallest Minority

Agenda? What Agenda?

So I thought that the Ninth Circuit’s holding that the Second Amendment binds state and local governments (via the Fourteenth Amendment) was a pretty big deal. It was the first federal court of appeals decision to so hold. If followed, it would invalidate the Chicago handgun ban, plus perhaps some other broad state and local gun restrictions, such as New York City’s ban on all gun ownership by 18-to-20-year-olds. And it might well trigger Supreme Court consideration of the issue, since there’s now a split between the Second and Ninth Circuits on the issue.

But here’s the odd thing: I couldn’t find any articles about this in the New York Times, the L.A. Times, the Chicago Tribune, or the Washington Post. (I searched for second amendment or bear arms or nordyke or gun show.) There was early coverage on CNN and in the San Francisco Chronicle, but nothing else in any newspapers in the NEWS;MAJPAP file on LEXIS. Am I missing some stories that just didn’t happen to use the keywords I searched for? Or is the court decision just not worth even a brief mention?

There’s more, but is anyone really surprised?

Exclusion?

David Codrea reports that the 2A Blog Bash has become . . . exclusive, and not in a good way. By all appearances, anyone who does not meet Bitter’s unpublished criteria won’t get blogger credentials at the NRA convention. Please do read the whole thing.

I left this comment at David’s:

Of course it’s an NRA public relations stunt. What do you think, they want news crews to tape a shouting match between the Prags and the Threepers?

Honestly, how many of you here think that mixing those two groups would result in Reasoned Discourse™? We already know what it does on the intarwebs.

And I think we’ve had this discussion before – in the Civil Right to Arms movement, the Prags play MLK and the Threepers play Malcom X. The opposition talks to the Prags, because otherwise they have to talk to you.

Don’t act all surprised and butthurt. This is the role you’ve embraced.

And this addendum:

Note:

I’m speaking for myself here. I don’t know that Bitter has done what you’ve accused her of, but I wouldn’t find it surprising, for the reason I gave above.

I’m not happy about it, but it’s her party. And no, I really don’t want to get into a shouting match with Mike Vanderboegh in the hall in front of cameras. That’s a public front I’d rather not put forth.

Discuss.