Author: Kevin

Complete Silence

KevinLeave a comment

Complete Silence

It’s been almost 48 hours since the Heller decision was delivered. The Brady Campaign has made a statement. The Violence Policy Center has made a statement. The ACLU has made a statement.

But there is one organization that, for as long as I can remember, has stated that there can’t be an individual right to arms because the State must have a monopoly on violence:

The rule of law, the state’s monopoly on violence, and the state’s internal sovereignty all mean the same thing.

—

Any hint of protection for a fundamental or procedural right to be privately armed outside of a military or militia context would validate not just a malignant, anarchic vision of social and political life but also an insurrectionist doctrine. The Constitution becomes perverted. It defines treason as the waging of war against the United States and then secures a civil right to commit the same. Several amici refer to the insurrectionist doctrine but do not emphasize the centrality of this in gun right ideologies, how widely it is adhered to, and its constitutional impermissibility. The right of armed self-defense includes the right of armed self-defense against the government itself, the same government the gun rights claimants want to secure the right.

The Potowmack Institute has been silent since March 5, 2008, just before oral arguments were heard.

Personally, I’m with commenter “dr mac” from a post at SayUncle:

If 4 of 9 SCOTUS justices can so easily cast aside the Bill of Rights then I will always hang on to my guns, thank you very much.

I think “insurrectionists” make him nervous or something. I suppose Mr. G. Eyclesheimer Ernst thinks we should all be “good citizens” and go along with whatever the government tells us needs to be done because they know better, even if that includes killing people the government doesn’t like and cremating them in big ovens.

After all, the government has to have a monopoly on violence!

Like hell.

So, wazzup Mr. Ernst? Cat got your tongue? Or have you packed to go to Mr. Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe? You know, where the government has a monopoly on the use of force.

Selling the Mustang

KevinLeave a comment

Selling the Mustang

I have a 1967 original big-block fastback Mustang – 390FE, C6 auto, 3.25:1 open 9″, originally equipped with power steering & A/C (that doesn’t work), overhead console, but no floor console, floor shifter, power front disc / rear drum brakes. It’s been repainted from the original Raven Black to a metallic blue so deep you have to see it in bright sunlight to realize it’s not black.

I’ve owned it for more than ten years.

I’ve put less than 2,000 miles on it.

It’s been parked in my garage for three years and does not currently run.

I also have a 428CJ bare block that’s been magnafluxed and sonic checked, and a 428CJ crank that’s been turned .020/.020 under, and a brand new in the box Edelbrock Performer RPM intake manifold, and some other miscellaneous pieces and parts from a ’68 GT.

I’ve decided it’s time to choose one expensive hobby and stick with it, and shooting is the winner. It’s time to sell the ‘Stang.

When I bought it, it had an appraisal that said it was worth $11,900. I have no idea what it’s worth now. I need to get it running, and cleaned up thoroughly. I’m afraid the paint is burned from having bird droppings on it for an extended period (yes, I know), and it’s got a touch of body cancer in the passenger side door that was there when I bought it.

So, for anybody out there, is eBay Motors worth it? Have you bought/sold a car through that venue? Any clue what my asking price should be (once I get it running?) I’d take pictures, but it’s filthy, and I can’t easily get it out of the garage, where it’s surrounded by a ton of crap.

Any advice is welcome.

He’d Have Loved Yesterday

KevinLeave a comment

He’d Have Loved Yesterday

I am reminded by Mostly Cajun of a sad anniversary:

Rob Smith passed away two years ago yesterday.

I started blogging over five years ago just to debate a commenter from his site on gun control.

He’d have loved yesterday’s Heller decision. And he’d have gone BALLISTIC (pun intended) over this story that, strangely no one but FOX News wants to cover:

Police Union Standing By Mexican Militia Reports

Police documents show that at least one of the suspects involved in a home invasion and homicide were active members of the Mexican Army.

A top member of a Phoenix police union is standing by reports that at least one of the men involved in a Monday morning home invasion and homicide was an active member in the Mexican Army.

“Even if you put aside the Mexican military, you have illegals in the country…they’re protected with tactical gear using tactical strategies in police uniforms willing to ambush police officers. I think that’s bad enough,” said Mark Spencer, President of the Phoenix Police Enforcement Association.

While on the J.D. Hayworth show Tuesday, Mark Spencer announced that the suspects were hired by drug cartels to perform home invasions and murders.

The incident at 8329 W. Cypress St. resulted in the death of the homeowner. Between 50 and 100 rounds were fired at the house.

Spencer said a police officer told him that one of the men captured said they were completely prepared to ambush Phoenix police, but ran out of ammunition.

He added that all were all dressed in military tactical gear and were armed with AR-15 assault rifles. Three other men involved in the invasion escaped.

ABCNNBCBS? Not a peep I can find. Only FOX had even a short blurb about it.

I still miss the crusty old fart. Guitar Man, indeed.

As Ragin’ Dave put it,

Never once did you read his writing and go “Meh. Whatever.”

There’s still nobody like him writing today.

RIP, Rob.

Screw that. If there IS an afterlife, I hope he’s raising hell there!

Quote of the Day

KevinLeave a comment

Quote of the Day

Being a gentleman of decency, restraint, and a high regard for the social niceties, I elected not to pursue my momentary desire to utilize my extensive martial arts training in order to break both their necks and thereby prevent the evolutionary horrors the two of them might one day unleash upon an unsuspecting planet should they ever happen to stumble upon a method of propagating their brainless species.

—

Call it the Art of Enlightened Condescension or the Zen of Contempt, whatever you like, but the only other serious option is to withdraw into a hermit’s cave and never communicate with the larger part of humanity again. – “Vox Day,” The importance of condescension

I Just Spoke to Alan Gura

KevinLeave a comment

I Just Spoke to Alan Gura

No, I’m not kidding.

I called his office number hoping to leave him a message on his answering machine. He picked up the phone.

I congratulated him on the win, and thanked him for all the work he did to get us here today.

Good news: Alan is working with the Second Amendment Foundation and the Illinois State Rifle Association in the lawsuit they filed this morning against Chicago’s handgun ban. More information is available at ChicagoGunCase.com. There will be a press release tomorrow, but right now it says:

Following Thursday’s (5-4) ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of District of Columbia v. Heller that the Second Amendment protects an individual civil right to keep and bear arms, and that a municipal gun ban violates that right, the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA) filed a federal lawsuit (complaint) challenging the City of Chicago’s long-standing handgun ban.

“Chicago’s handgun ban has failed to stop violent crime,” SAF founder Alan Gottlieb stated. “It’s time to give the Constitution a chance.”

Go! Read!

We live in interesting times, indeed!

HELLER AFFIRMED

KevinLeave a comment

HELLER AFFIRMED!!

The decision was, unsurprisingly, 5-4 on partisan lines: Justice Breyer dissented, joined by Justices Stevens, Souter and Ginsburg. One opinion on each side, so there goes that fear.

Correction: TWO dissents, not one.

A link to the decision as soon as it is available.

The decision is HERE (157 page PDF file).

First excerpt, p. 1:

Held:
1. The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.

(Emphasis mine.)

Last update for me this morning:

Because Heller conceded at oral argument that the D. C. licensing law is permissible if it is not enforced arbitrarily and capriciously, the Court assumes that a license will satisfy his prayer for relief and does not address the licensing requirement. Assuming he is not disqualified from exercising Second Amendment rights, the District must permit Heller to register his handgun and must issue him a license to carry it in the home.

So licensing and registration is not “infringement.”

Fuck THAT.

Interesting Statistics

KevinLeave a comment

Interesting Statistics

SCOTUSblog is running three polls on its live coverage.

The questions are:

Why are you following our coverage today: A) the Heller decision, B) another reason.

Heller: 96%

Are you A) a lawyer, B) a law student or C) neither.

A) 18% B) 14%, C) 68%

How many firearms do you own: A) 0, B) 1, C) 2, D) more than 2

A) 26% B) 6% C) 4% D) 63%

Are you a member of the NRA? A) yes, B) no

A) 46% B) 54%

They’re paying attention, too:

We will know the result in the Heller case almost immediately — i.e., affirmed, reversed, or vacated and remanded. But the nuances will be critical and we won’t get the opinion itself for a few minutes. So be patient.

But I WANT IT NOW!!!! 😉

SCOTUSblog is concerned by the level of interest:

Note that we’re temporarily disabling comments to make sure the server isn’t overrun.

UPDATE: New poll question: Are you pleased with the decision in Heller?

86% YES, 14% NO.

Quote of the Day

KevinLeave a comment

Quote of the Day

The America of my time line is a laboratory example of what can happen to democracies, what has eventually happened to all perfect democracies throughout all histories. A perfect democracy, a ‘warm body’ democracy in which every adult may vote and all votes count equally, has no internal feedback for self-correction. It depends solely on the wisdom and self-restraint of citizens… which is opposed by the folly and lack of self-restraint of other citizens. What is supposed to happen in a democracy is that each sovereign citizen will always vote in the public interest for the safety and welfare of all. But what does happen is that he votes his own self-interest as he sees it… which for the majority translates as ‘Bread and Circuses.’

‘Bread and Circuses’ is the cancer of democracy, the fatal disease for which there is no cure. Democracy often works beautifully at first. But once a state extends the franchise to every warm body, be he producer or parasite, that day marks the beginning of the end of the state. For when the plebs discover that they can vote themselves bread and circuses without limit and that the productive members of the body politic cannot stop them, they will do so, until the state bleeds to death, or in its weakened condition the state succumbs to an invader—the barbarians enter Rome. – Robert A. Heinlein To Sail Beyond the Sunset

The Heller decision will be handed down a little bit later this morning. That decision will help tell us just how far our “cancer of democracy” has metastasized in the body politic.