Posts Tagged ‘Arms’

Can We Trust Megan McArdle With a Gun?

Monday, June 2nd, 2008

Over at the Atlantic, Megan McArdle ponders:

So if Heller, as libertarians devoutly hope, legalizes gun ownership in DC, the question immediately arises for those of us who live here: buy one, or not? On the one hand, they are expensive, and shooting ranges far away. On the other hand, I live alone in an apartment that is something less than amply fortified. On the third hand, I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t handle a gun when I’m sleepy.

First of all, as one of her commenters noted, it’s not “the third hand”, it’s “the gripping hand“.

Beyond that, the short answer is, “Of course!”

And to answer Megan’s objections, perfectly acceptable home defense guns start at about $150; excellent choices can be had for around $500. That’s pretty cheap insurance.

And if you can’t deal with a firearm when sleepy, how will you deal with a rapist who will not accept “lemme go back to sleep” as an answer?

Click for the long answer: Show ▼

In a separate comment, I also responded to some of her commenters:

TW said: “Don’t buy a gun just because you can.”

In my mind, “Just because I can” is a fine reason to buy a gun. You do not need any reason or excuse to exercise a right, particularly one protected by the Constitution.

Oh, absolutely, as I’ve said in an earlier reply which appears to be still pending, take lessons and think hard about how you will use the thing.

However, do not let the training process daunt you. We’re talking about a couple of hours of classroom instruction and a couple of hours on the range, at most. You probably spent more time learning the far more complex task of driving.

And with no training or introspection at all, I trust you — Yes, YOU, Citizen! — with a gun far more than I trust the government with so much as a paperclip. A file cabinet is a far more dangerous weapon than any bomb.

Owning a gun is the only way to truly understand the rights and responsibilities appertaining thereto. Buying a gun is the best way of learning just how radically that right has been infringed.

Buy the gun, Megan. Join the free

Several folks recommended she get a dog. Well, yes, a dog is a fine companion and a pretty good goblin alarm. Do not, however, delegate your security to a critter who can be bribed with a piece of steak or a belly rub, or who can be repeatedly tricked into chasing after a ball that was, in fact, never thrown.

What is the deal with thinking that dogs can be trusted with life and death decisions but humans cannot?

“A Trained, Armed Body of Citizen Volunteers”

Friday, March 28th, 2008

Doc Russia clarifies the Second Amendment with a clever bit of substitution:

while we may not like what the second amendment says inn some places, we cannot choose to quote “a well-regulated militia” while we ignore “shall not be infringed,” or vice versa. I think that we have been focusing too much on the word militia, and too little on well-regulated. After all, what would be the difference between a well-regulated militia, and a poorly-regulated one?

Training.

It was a revelation to me, and when it occurred to me, I was actually a little pissed that it had not occurred to me earlier. Why are even gun banners okay with cops carrying guns? Because they are trained to do that. Why is a seventeen year old flying gang colors with a machine gun terrifying, but the same seventeen year old with a machine gun is reassuring when he wears the uniform of a US Marine? Because the Marine is trained to use the machine gun, and the uniform is the outward sign of that training.

Think about it. The militia was a group of unpaid citizens who volunteered to go through the training necessary to bear arms in the field against aggressors. To shorten this, let us substitute “militia” for “an armed body of citizen volunteers.” If we now apply “well-regulated” to mean “training,” the second amendment seems to become somewhat clearer.

“A trained, armed body of citizen volunteers, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”

So, how would this play out in [D.C. v. Heller], should the Supremes decide to rule along these lines? Well, it would be a simple matter of saying that whatever requirements the states place upon what the lowest level of training one must have to carry a gun as a public servant is, then that is the level which allows a public citizen to carry the same gun.

The more that I think about it, the more I like this idea, for several reasons.

First, it actually clarifies the constitution, instead of either taking sides on an issue, or kicking the can down the road. Second, it is consistent with the rest of the constitution in its tradition of setting up powerful interests in competition with each other. So, you have a state which must reconcile what it will allow its citizens to do, and then holding its own agents to the same standards. So, this effectively eliminates the possibility that the state governments will say that it’s okay for their cops and political allies to defend themselves, but the average citizen cannot. Along the same lines, it will help to diminish the growing ‘us versus them’ mentality in many police departments where they hold cops to one standard, and “civilians” to another (never mind the fact that unless you are subject to the UCMJ, you are a civilian). It also eliminates the ridiculous situation where a retired combat veteran MP is not allowed to own a gun, but the city dog catcher, who has had no formal firearms training, can.

This solution also allows for the individual states to decide what requirements are appropriate for them, and does not force Hawaii to conform to the same standards as Texas, which is also consistent with the manner in which the constitution was written with strong states’ rights.

This training threshold would be the highest standard that the state could impose upon the individual, as anything more would be considered unreasonable. The State would of course retain the ability to loosen its requirements for citizens, and may, indeed, not have any requirements, should it so choose.

[Emphasis and minor spelling and grammar editing mine.]

Want to talk about “reasonable regulation”? This is what it looks like. Gun-grabbers often talk about how you have to be trained and licensed to drive a car, but guns are “completely unregulated”. [Scare quotes on that last because, of course, in most jurisdictions it's simply not true--and in some jurisdictions, such as D.C., New Jersey, and Chicago, it's scarily not true.]

Here’s my take on militia training. I should emphasize that this training must be also be available to adults, for those who didn’t take the suggested high school course.

Also, as noted in my militia article, passing this level of training must not be a prerequisite of home firearm ownership. Disabled persons have the right to defend themselves from their wheelchairs or even beds. Nevertheless, I think it’s reasonable to impose legal training requirements, and possibly even a very minimum range requirement. (If you can’t hold your aim on a target seven yards away, sorry, but you are a hazard to your neighbors. Otherwise, this is a good goad to acquiring your license before being confined to your bed.)

Of course, while age or infirmity might disqualify from active militia service, your right to arm yourself in your home must never be revocable except by due process–which means jury trial, not some pissant administrative hearing that takes place out of your notice.

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In his previous article, Doc Russia makes it clear why we must be free to arm ourselves:
Youtube Video Link

The History Behind Heller

Monday, March 3rd, 2008

Kevin at The Smallest Majority puts up the go-to post for the judicial history of the Second Amendment.

Washington D.C. versus Heller will be argued before the Supreme Court later this month, the first case in almost seventy years to explicitly pit a law against the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. Kevin lays out how the question even comes up.

All you folks who think the slippery slope is inherently a fallacy, this is the existence proof that the slope exists, and works as advertised.

Go. Read. As you hold yourself a free citizen, this is mandatory. There will be no more important Supreme Court case in your lifetime. There may be worse cases to come, laws and rulings that take bigger and bigger bites out of your freedom, but if things do go bad, this is the case that will start the avalanche.

This is it. This is the case wherein the U.S. may finally and fully cut itself loose, and declare the Constitution mere guidelines, a mere road sign, not foundation and framework.

Note well: If the Supreme Court fails to fully uphold Heller the Constitution, it is time to buy guns, not to give them up; time to dig guns up, not to bury them; time to remind Those Who Would Rule who their bosses are. Either the Court holds the line, and gives us firm ground to stand on, or the Great Contract is null and void. The Constitution binds the Government, not us.

If the Court will not defend our rights, then it’s our job.

[update]
Lauren Buechner and Fritz Ernemann at Cornell have an excellent, and to my eye, well-balanced summary of the main points in Heller, as put forth in some of the key briefs before the Court.

It is flawed in its first paragraph by naming the respondent as Joseph Heller (the Catch-22 novelist) and not Dick Heller (the security guard who is trusted with a firearm when guarding people more important that you or I, but not in his own home). I’m sure I’m not the only person to email the authors asking for a correction, and I trust the error will be fixed soon.

Turk Turon
caught the mistake over at Of Arms and the Law.

[update]
I emailed Buechner and Ernemann, and they have fixed the name problem. They are taking the confer v. protect controversy seriously and are reviewing their position, but at this point believe their usage is consistent with the Court’s, and they do not intend to slant their discussion one way or another on the main points.

C. Cannon and D. King have both posted what I believe to be a reasonable argument for “confer” in the discussion thread at Arms and the law.