Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
It's a damned shame I have work to do . . .
. . . because I sure feel like celebrating with the *good* scotch:
Court: A constitutional right to a gun
Answering a 127-year old constitutional question, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to have a gun, at least in one’s home. The Court, splitting 5-4, struck down a District of Columbia ban on handgun possession.
Justice Antonin Scalia’s opinion for the majority stressed that the Court was not casting doubt on long-standing bans on gun possession by felons or the mentally retarded, or laws barring guns from schools or government buildings, or laws putting conditions on gun sales.
In District of Columbia v. Heller (07-290), the Court nullified two provisions of the city of Washington’s strict 1976 gun control law: a flat ban on possessing a gun in one’s home, and a requirement that any gun — except one kept at a business — must be unloaded and disassembled or have a trigger lock in place. The Court said it was not passing on a part of the law requiring that guns be licensed.
I know a lot of people don't want a gun in their home. Fine, don't have one. But this is a good decision for our civil rights, even if Scalia wrote the majority opinion.
Jim Downey
(Cross posted to Communion of Dreams.)
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Interesting
It is a cause for celebration that the evil government that one might need a gun to defend oneself against has said that a person can have a gun? Does this mean they aren't evil any more so I don't need a gun to defend myself against them?
That aside I wonder what the eye test for gun ownership is? None perhaps? No reason the legally blind shouldn't own a gun after all. Not that that would be a comfort in such an eye test since even those police with extensive training above and beyond the basic ability to see still miss their intended target an uncomfortably large percentage of the time. Certainly uncomfortable for anyone in the vicinity.
Before people are given a license to operate a car they have to go out with someone and demonstrate the ability to drive it. So before someone is given a license to operate a gun for personal defense they ought to be taken though mock up training on the most likely usage scenarios. Unless the purchase of a firearm magically confers this knowledge on the owner. In that case forget I suggested it. I'll just go order that avian pork now.
It's a good ruling
Even conservative judges can make the right rulings when religious ideologies aren't involved.
I don't own any guns, and I don't know if I will in the future or not. I sometimes think of getting a shotgun or a rifle of some kind, but I doubt I'll get a handgun. I used to shoot really well when I was in the Army (qualified Expert every time with rifles and handguns), but I don't know if my eyes or hands would let me be as good now.
We don't have kids to worry about in the house, so that's not the issue. I guess we just live in an area where I'm not afraid of home invasions or criminals. I'd like to think that, in the worst case scenario (accosted either at home or out in public some dark night) that I would be able to handle myself in movie-star like fashion, but a part of me thinks that I would be just Rambo enough to get myself in trouble if I had a weapon around.
I hate the thought of meekly giving in to someone and not defending myself, but there's no way I could live with myself if my actions caused my wife (or anyone else) to get hurt.
Still, it is fun to target shoot, and I would like my wife to know at least the basics of handling firearms.
Rob Miles
--
There are only 10 types of people in the world;
those who understand binary and those who don't.
Trigger locks
This morning listening to my local (Northern California) radio news station, I heard our Senator Feinstein declare, more than once, that the ruling had banned trigger locks. (Not the requirement for trigger locks, but trigger locks themselves.) She's not my favorite politician, just better than the neocons who've run against her. But even she should be smart enough to get that one right.
Personally, guns scare the heck out of me. But everyone I know who actually owns and uses a gun (they're all hunters) is very aware and careful of gun safety. Seems to me that rather than banning handguns, it'd make far, far more sense to require the owner to demonstrate basic skill and safety knowledge. We (theoretically) don't give driver's licenses to people who don't know how to drive,right? But we do license them when they've passed a test. A car can be deadlier weapon than a handgun.
Sigh
It is at least theoretically possible to leap out of the way of a speeding car. With muzzle velocities of 700-1300 ft/s you will not be leaping out of the way of any speeding bullets. And despite the shrinking of cars to increase fuel efficiency they have not yet shrunk to the point where I can carry one around in my pants so that no one knows I have it and I don't often carry my car into my house or other buildings. YMMV.
Good call.
Karen, my compliments on not being irrational about guns - so many people who don't care for them or find them scary go completely over the edge about it, and think that because they find them frightening all guns should be banned.
Most states which allow for concealed carry *do* have a requirement for safety training, and that is likewise a requirement for getting a hunting permit. I think basic gun safety and handling should be taught in elementary school, but that's me.
Stay safe with the fires up your way - we've got family in Mendocino county who are watching the fire reports very closely...
Jim Downey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like Science Fiction? Read *or listen to* my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
Re: Good Call
Jim, thanks for your compliment. My response to guns comes completely from the gut, and stems from an unfortunate incident a long time ago; nobody was hurt, thank goodness. I was in my early 20's in a unfamiliar farm town, stopped at an independent grocery for a soda, walked around a corner to reach the door of the place -- and found myself looking up the barrel of a very large rifle, with a cop at the other end. He was responding to what turned out to be a false alarm, but he told me to go in and tell the owners to come out. I walked in the door -- and had my very first asthma attack. So there I was, could barely breathe, couldn't talk, not noticed because there were many customers checking out, didn't have a clue as to what was happening to me, and was absolutely terrified that I was about to die. The cop finally came in, my throat opened up a little, and I slunk out before anyone insisted I try to talk to them. For some reason, this incident put me off guns, though I've long since gotten meds for the asthma.
On the other hand, I really, really, really like venison from southeastern Minnesota, from the critters that feast on my uncle's cornfields all summer before he, uh, harvests one in the fall. So the gun is really just a livestock management tool, along with being an insurance policy of last resort against drunken rowdies who might decide to visit an isolated farmhouse late at night.
Well, if it's fear of the unknown...
I now there are people pushing for classes on the Bible and abstinence education, but is anyone pushing for even rudimentary firearms safety and usage training in public schools?
Or does this fall under abstinence training as well?
"Timmy, I'm not going to tell you what a gun is or what it does, just know this: you will probably come across one someday and you shouldn't do what you can do with it."
--
"Ponies are atheists, you know, technically."
- Me
Improbable
Anyone who lives here in the U.S. who doesn't know what a gun is or what it does is Amish or lives under a rock and owns neither a computer nor a television.
firearms safety
Yeah, the NRA has a program that might interest you in regards to teaching firearm safety - the "Eddie Eagle" program.
You can read about it here:
http://www.nrahq.org/safety/eddie/index.asp
I agree
I've turned away from guns for the most part but I still maintain 2 and hope to start hunting again. However, even without being a "gun nut" I agree that this is a great decision.
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