It's a guns-guns-guns day.
Now that the Supreme Court has pretty much established that the 2nd Amendment protects and individual right to bear arms, the gun-control crowd is going to become ever more creative in its efforts to work around that pesky old Constitution. There is this, for example:
The reason Vivek Murthy’s confirmation as Surgeon General stalled for so long is because he’s an anti-gun fanatic and many Republicans worried that he would use the position to promote gun violence as a health issue and enact a sort of backdoor gun control. Murthy insisted he wouldn’t let his personal politics interfere with his job and enough suckers believed him that he was eventually confirmed by a lame duck Democratic Senate.
Now, Murthy has done an interview with the National Public Radio (NPR), and for the first time as Surgeon General has made comments about his gun position. And yes, he intends to push gun control as a health issue.
Before he became the Surgeon General, Murthy was quite the anti-gun activist. As a member of Doctors for America he held the position that assault rifles should be banned, magazine capacities limited, and gun access be severely limited.
I agree with him to a certain extent. If somebody wants to do serious damage to me while robbing or otherwise messing with me, a gun might prevent him from harming my health.
The Justice Department plans to move forward this year with more than a dozen new gun-related regulations, according to list of rules the agency has proposed to enact before the end of the Obama administration.
The regulations range from new restrictions on high-powered pistols to gun storage requirements. Chief among them is a renewed effort to keep guns out of the hands of people who are mentally unstable or have been convicted of domestic abuse.
Gun safety advocates have been calling for such reforms since the Sandy Hook school shooting nearly three years ago in Newtown, Conn. They say keeping guns away from dangerous people is of primary importance.
Keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers seems the least objectionable propostion, but it depends on how they define "abuse." Does verbal or emotional abuse count? "Mentally unstable" is a pretty vague category. People with mental illness, as a group, are no more likely to be violent than the general public. Do we prohibit anybody getting therapy for, say, depression from owning a gun?
Oh, and be sure to wear orange for Gun Violence Awareness Day Tomorrow:
Tuesday will mark the first annual “National Gun Violence Awareness Day.” Through the coinciding “Wear Orange” campaign, a large coalition of organizations is encouraging people to wear orange on Tuesday to honor those whose lives have been lost or forever altered by gun violence.
The color orange was chosen because it is the color hunters wear for safety to alert other hunters they are nearby. It is meant to symbolize the value of human life.
Obviously the real purpose isn't to show solidarity with gun-violence victims but to shame gun owners into thinking themselves as part of the problem and to urge lawmakers to keep looking for those ways around the Constitution.
On the other hand, there is this:
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas lawmakers on Friday approved carrying handguns openly on the streets of the nation's second most-populous state, sending the bill to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who immediately promised to sign it and reverse a ban dating to the post-Civil War era.
Gun owners would still have to get a license to carry a handgun in a visible holster.
The state known for its wild west, cowboy history and some the nation's most relaxed gun laws, has allowed concealed handguns for 20 years. Concealed handgun license holders are even allowed to skip the metal detectors at the state Capitol, as state troopers providing security assume they're armed.
I know I've mentioned this more than once, but it bears repeating: Indiana has even more "relaxed" gun laws than Texas, despite that state's "cowboy history." I'm not that crazy about open carry. Concealed carry works as a deterrent because the bad guy doesn't know if potential victims are armed or not, so he might think twice about carrying out his evil deed.
Women have emerged as one of the fastest-growing demographics of new gun buyers and concealed carry permit holders in the country, and in the process, they have become a driving force in the shift in American attitudes from pro-gun control to pro-gun rights.
In January, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that “women [are] buying more guns than ever.” And the result of this surge in women gun buyers has been an expansion of firearms and firearms accessories made to cater to the female market.
Heh. A lot has been written about the "feminazation of the culture" (or the wussification of men, if you will), but there is an equally interesting, and not as noticed, trend, of the macho-ing of women. It's easier for me today thabn ever to find women who like watching and talking about football. And so many of them do like their guns. My sister-in-lw does not just tolerate by brother's interrest in guns; I think she's as much an enthusiast as he is. (She is the one, I believe, who came up with the idea of uysing Peeps as tragets when they practice at their range. )
