Jezebel has reported that two studies indicate that “forty percent of police families experience domestic violence,” a statistic that puts such rates of abuse at “two to four times” that of non-police households. An astute reader asks this question: does this mean forty percent of police officers should be disarmed under the Lautenberg Amendment? I think I’d be okay with that.
Tag Archives: Gun Control
Beware the Republican Anarchists
I’m reluctant even to link to this column at the Huffington Post, the title alone reveals how muddled some people’s thinking is. Bob Burnett allowed his name to be attached to a piece entitled “Disarming Republican Anarchists,” in which he declares that “Over the last five years, the Republican Party has veered to the far right and, in the process, been taken over by anarchists, Tea Party extremists who do not believe in centralized government.”
Never mind that this is the same Republican party that nominated John McCain and then Mitt Romney, two of the party’s most interventionist members. The very idea that anarchists would even loosely associate with the GOP, let alone take over, is patently absurd.
Burnett decries “inflammatory talk suggesting the federal government threatens individual freedom.” Because, after all, there’s no possible way in which the federal government would such a thing. He is terrified that 4% of the Senate, and 11% of the House, are in this anarchist wing. Assuming he’s correct (most certainly he’s not), I fail to grasp how such a tiny minority could be categorized as a “take over.”
More of This, Please
I mentioned this a few weeks ago, but a trend I’ve seen over the last few months is an increase in Google Alerts for “nullification.” In my latest column at the Tenth Amendment Center I describe some of what has come through my inbox lately, and encourage folks to help keep this growing.
From the article:
While the opponents of a Jeffersonian remedy certainly have the upper hand in terms of media exposure, it’s quite clear they’re in way over their heads, historically and intellectually. Of course I’m not so naïve as to believe that most of these critics have any real interest in presenting an objective view, or that all they really need is a good rebuttal to set them straight. I know that instead they would prefer to bar the gates (despite the walls crumbling around them, as Gary North so eloquently put it) and try to hold back the rising tide of dissent against Washington’s illegitimacy. That’s what all this demagoguery from mainstream news sources is; it’s as clear an indication as any that their really scared and it’s why Tenthers ought to press the issue even harder.
Just last week the editorial board of Jackson, Mississippi’s McComb Enterprise-Journal breathed a sigh of relief when representative Scott Delano pulled a bill that would have assisted the state in nullifying unconstitutional federal legislation. The bill’s proponents are no doubt feeling defeated, but the board couldn’t be happier. They’ve suggested that the republican legislator “should be commended for his prudence” in the matter.
Ah yes, prudence, that virtue whereby one party grants another the unchecked leeway to determine the limits of its own power. What could possibly go wrong?
Read the rest here.
LAPD Shoots First, Questions Later
After the L.A. cops started eating their own yesterday, inevtiably, innocent bystanders were caught up in the frenzied search for Christopher Dorner. Police employees from the Los Angeles area wrecklessly targeted as many as three people in two incidents, as LAist reported:
The first officer-involved shooting happened at about 5:20 a.m. in the 19500 block of Redbeam Avenue in Torrance, according to the L.A. Times. Two women delivering newspapers in a truck were struck by gunfire by L.A. police detectives from the Hollywood division. One woman was shot in the hand and the other in the back, Jesse Escochea, who captured video of the victims being treated, told the Times. Both victims were transported to a hospital.
The Times describes the crime scene: “After the shooting, the blue pickup was riddled with bullet holes and what appeared to be newspapers lay in the street alongside.”
The second incident occurred at Flagler Lane and Beryl Street about 5:45 a.m. and involved Torrance police. No injuries were reported.
Here’s a picture of the first shooting. Note that as many as two dozen rounds were fired into the vehicle, and were aimed at the head and torsos of the two occupants.
Reason Magazine’s Scott Shackford wrote “We’ll see if any disciplinary actions follow. That should be interesting, given a huge chunk of Dorner’s diatribe was about how the police abuse the citizens they’re supposed to protect.”
All of this is happening when people across the country are engaged in a roaring debate over gun control. One of the major points made by gun controllers is that individual citizens lack the proper training or discipline required of gun ownership, and that we should all be satisfied to let the police agencies protect us.
Such incidents as this one, along with last summer’s episode of nine bystanders being peppered with bullets from New York City police employees, should raise doubts that monopolized protection agencies are the best possible system. It also throws water on the idea that only the government’s bureaucrats are responsible enough to be licensed gun carriers.
Two Signs Nullification is Going Mainstream
These are certainly anecdotal, but should be cause for encouragement nonetheless.
Over the past two weeks I’ve noticed a dramatic increase in my Google Alerts for “nullification.” Where I was getting alerts several times a week, and often from smaller websites and blogs, I’m receiving regular notices, usually from higher-profile organizations. This is no doubt the result of a near-nationwide push against the president’s new gun control proposals, and is likely to taper off, but its impact on the general public’s awareness of the “rightful remedy” shouldn’t be discounted.
The second indicator is from a local TV news station. In an advertising montage of recent news stories, a reporter says something to the effect that a recent proposal in the house would prohibit the implementation of the program. This is likely a reference to a Missouri house bill to nullify the Affordable Care Act.
