The only good bureaucrat is one with a pistol at his head. Put it in his hand and it’s goodbye to the Bill of Rights.
—H. L. Mencken
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Category Archives: Second Amendment
If It Bleeds, It Leads
Seen at Instapundit—
SEEN ON FACEBOOK: “Jesus, NBC is still wallowing in the blood. The Borderline shooting is wall-to-wall, pictures of the shooter, his full name, teary next of kin of the victims. It’s like they want copycats.”
Well, of course! Back in the ’60s when I was working in broadcasting, the film crews (this was before portable video tape recorders) would get back with their evening reels, and decisions would have to be taken (choices are taken not made) about which film to develop first. Big car crashes or other disasters would always get processed ahead of the Metro Council meetings. NBC is sticking with an ancient form which has the advantage of also supporting their anti-Second-Amendment narrative.
You Say That As If It Were A Bad Thing
NJTV reports that New Jersey Democrats are warning that putting Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court could undermine that state’s draconian gun laws.
Gun Free Zones
As a general principle, I believe that private property owners should be able to declare their properties to be “gun free zones.” I can think of several kinds of businesses that might want to keep firearms away. For example, the muzzle flash from a firearm could cause a serious disaster in an industrial plant with volatile fumes in the air. Also, some people are hoplophobes and have an irrational fear of weapons; they should be entitled to their “safe spaces.” However, they should have to accept the consequences for doing so.
IANAL, but it seems to me that something analogous to the attractive nuisance doctrine should apply to such properties. Just as person who has an unfenced swimming pool can be held liable for a someone wandering into the pool and drowning, a property owner who invites visitors (especially, customers) into a “gun free zone” should be held liable (perhaps strictly liable) for the visitors’ safety.
Rights have responsibilities attached.
The Jacksonville Shooter and Some Facts
The shooter at the Madden 19 tournament in Jacksonville was from Maryland, and he used a handgun.
The Baltimore Sun reports that the shooter had a history of psychiatric problems that include hospitalization.
All handguns legally sold in Maryland since 1 October, 2013, have been registered with the Maryland State Police. This includes private transfers which must be run through a licensed dealer in order to create a paperwork trail for a background check.
Part of the MSP background check includes the purchaser’s mental health history. A release form for the check is part of the paperwork submitted to the MSP.
The Gentle Reader may draw what conclusions he will from these facts.
Playing by the Rules
David Hogg has been on the Twitterz threatening Smith & Wesson with some form of dire direness—
Wow. Hogg seems to think he’s holding all the high cards in this game.
The first thing that’s obvious from those tweets is that this kid slept through both civics and grammar classes, but another thing he appears to have missed was learning one of the practical rules of life: A Smith & Wesson beats four aces.
Progressives Are Clutching Their 3D-Printed Pearls
It’s perfectly legal to manufacture your own firearm. However, it’s illegal to sell such a gun to anyone else without first obtaining a manufacturer’s license from the ATF. And since 1968, any gun that’s manufactured for sale must have a serial number. And since the plastic gun nonsense of ’80s (over those evil Glocks like the ones now carried by the FBI), it’s been illegal to manufacture and sell a gun that won’t set off a properly calibrated security metal detector. We’re talking serious felony time for breaking these laws
It doesn’t take much google-fu to learn those facts, but facts are inconvenient. They can get in the way of a good rant, one like the op-ed from the San Francisco Chronicle containing these lines:
Homemade firearms aren’t new, but a basement gunmaker generally isn’t allowed to sell such weapons. With unmarked, self-made plastic weapons, that limitation won’t exist at all.
Uh, no.
As noted above, any unlicensed “manufacturer” commits a felony by selling any firearm regardless of how it was made.
No new laws further abridging the First and Second Amendments would be effective. The technology of 3D printing and the availability of inexpensive computer-controlled machine tools aren’t going to go away. The CAD files for many existing firearm designs are already in circulation on the Internet on servers beyond the reach of the American legal system. The battle has already been decided, and free speech and technical innovation have won.
