Tag: Antonin Scalia
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There’s No Such Thing As “Responsible Gun Ownership”
Sorry, gun owners, but calling yourselves “responsible” is really just a nicety you apply to yourselves. I totally appreciate that you aspire to be responsible with your firearms. If you spent money on a gun locker or safe in which to store your weapons when not in use? Good on ya! That was a (relatively)…
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How To Destroy Democracy, Step One: Hijack The Language
Words matter. In a democracy, they matter a lot. Ours is a do-it-yourself government. We don’t have a king or a dictator to solve our problems because we chose to solve them all ourselves – using the majority’s wisdom. In order to do that, we have to agree on a couple of things: to begin…
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America’s Gun Debate Made Simple: Find The Word “OWN” In The 2A
America should not be having a gun debate. That’s because the Second Amendment isn’t a puzzle. It was a straightforward fix to a very particular problem that was relevant then and not relevant now. The good news? Within that fix is our fix – the one we need to solve America’s intractable gun problem. The…
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The Emperor Is Naked And So’s His Gun
California experienced at least two mass shootings yesterday. One in Monterey Park (near LA), the other in Half Moon Bay, not far from San Francisco. Both, it appears, were angry men using firearms (instead of therapy) to resolve their emotional issues. That’s a pretty regular part of many (if not most) mass shooting incidents –…
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Every Gun Is An Accident Or Tragedy That Just Hasn’t Happened Yet
Repeat: every gun is an accident or tragedy that just hasn’t happened yet. And, while we’re at it, there’s no such thing as “responsible gun ownership”. That’s gun owners wanting to put the best possible face on their gun ownership. They’re not irresponsible jerks like the gun owners whose guns kill people. Their guns could…
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Originalism = Bamboozlement
Cover your ears, kiddies. Originalism is bullshit on steroids. That’s probably why conservatives love it so. Originalism is conservatism’s stalking horse. It’s their Junior Frankenstein lab experiment – powered up and filling something very dead with artificial life. Originalists like Antonin Scalia insist that we must interpret the Constitution exclusively from the founders’ perspective. That…
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The Second Amendment Emperor Is Naked: He Doesn’t “OWN” Anything!
It’s not a hard ask. All I want is for someone to point to the word “own” anywhere in the Second Amendment. I’ve been putting this idea out there now for a couple of weeks and the only argument that comes back – other than I’m an idiot (for pointing out a true thing) –…
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Antonin Scalia Ended Our Gun Debate: There Is No Right To Individual Gun Ownership
Antonin Scalia doesn’t often get credit for being the “Daddy Of Gun Control”, but, in spite of himself, he is. In writing for the 5-4 majority in Heller, Scalia argued that one didn’t have to be part of any militia in order to keep and bear arms. Individuals could “keep and bear arms” in accordance…
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America’s Gun Crisis Is Foundational But Fixable – Just Like Chicago’s John Hancock Tower
We tell ourselves this every day now: no other country has the gun problem America has. Gun violence happens here the way peace and quiet happen everywhere else. It’s the missing guns that make the difference. Part of why our gun problem feels intractable is because we make it that way. It doesn’t have to…
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Has Anyone Mentioned That There IS NO RIGHT To “Gun Ownership” In The Second Amendment?
We keep having the same “gun arguments” – more guns vs fewer guns – because we assume those are the only “gun arguments” to be made. That, somehow, over time, we’ve made all the anti-gun arguments there are. Well, I’m here to tell ya that’s bullshit!!! I think there’s one argument staring us in the…