Tag: Second Amendment
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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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We’re Having The Wrong Debate About The 2nd Amendment And Guns: “Own” Isn’t In The 2A
This is very much an “Emperor’s New Clothes” situation. America watches a naked king ride by every day while pretending that this bloated, pink-skinned, pimply-and-pock-marked monarch is clothed. As we sit here today, we have it in our heads that the Second Amendment guarantees all Americans the right to own all the guns they want.…
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Does the 2A Really Guarantee Individual Gun Ownership? No, It Does Not!
Sandy Hook… Uvalde… Las Vegas… Orlando… Marjory Stoneman… Columbine… Every-damned-day-in-America! How the hell did it come to this? True Fact: we have been bamboozled into accepting a bullshit framing of the Second Amendment. We have it in our heads now that the 2A is a gun *rights* amendment. It’s the exact opposite – there is…
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Republicans Are What Happens When Tribalism Goes Nuclear
Americans are going to the polls – at a mid-term – in record numbers. That includes a lot more of the youth vote than has ever voted before. It also includes a lot more women. They registered to vote – many for the first time – because the Supreme Court took away their rights! And,…
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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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It’s Time To Demand All Guns Be Insured
Dear Gun Rights Crazies: While, like Charlton Heston, you may clutch your firearms in your hands, insisting your hands will have to be cold and dead before those firearms will be taken from them, the simple fact is no one is coming for your guns. It’s your wallets we’re drawing a bead on. Inside your…
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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…