Friday, June 27, 2008

Reaction To SCOTUS Handgun Ruling

Getting back late last evening caused me to be too exhausted to post anything on this topic. Spending what I consider to be an inordinate amount of time in traffic, I got to hear Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's reaction to the SCOTUS ruling on DC's hand gun ban, ad nauseum.

An “outraged” Mayor Daley this morning denounced a U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Washington D.C.’s handgun ban as a “frightening decision” and a “return to the days of the Wild West.”

Daley predicted that Chicago’s 1982 handgun freeze would be next in the crosshairs of the powerful gun lobby and that gun violence will surge if they’re successful.


Daley must be a prophet, because that is precisely what is happening. The Illinois State Rifle Association immediately filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn Chicago's now unconstitutional handgun law. And the NRA's action will be following there, and other places too.

The Illinois State Rifle Association filed a lawsuit with just that purpose in mind at 9:15 a.m.

"We want to overturn this ban. It's pretty onerous. It takes the right of self-defense away from every Chicago citizen," said Richard Pearson, director of the Illinois State Rifle Association.

The National Rifle Association also plans to file lawsuits in Chicago and several suburbs, as well as San Francisco, challenging handgun restrictions there based on Thursday's outcome.


John McCain stood with the court, while Barack Obama waffled, tap-danced, and otherwise straddled the fence. His inability to take a principled stand one way or the other may have something to do with his recently outed comments, about Pennsylvania citizens clinging to God and guns. At the same time, he must be careful not to upset the George Soros crowd that wants to disarm law-abiding citizens, leaving them unable to protect themselves.

As PYY regular Greg points out on the last thread, the frightening thing about this ruling is the 5-4 margin of the decision, This means that if BHO is elected President, he could appoint a liberal justice that will swing it back the other way should the anti-gun lobby become emboldened again And you know they will.

One thing about the anti-gun lobby's arguments you will never hear is their lack of proof that these bans reduce gun violence. Florida relaxed laws on carrying concealed weapons awhile back and a noticeable drop in gun violence has been noted. DC has had the ban for 32 years and it continues to rise.

Common sense should dictate to us that if a criminal does not know who is carrying and who is not, he/she may very well think twice about trying to attack or rob a person. Likewise, if a person does not know which homes have guns in them which do not, he/she may think twice about burglarizing or staging a home invasion. But I have never used the words common sense and anti-gun activism in the same sentence. And I am not about to start now.



2 comments:

Greg said...

An “outraged” Mayor Daley this morning denounced a U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Washington D.C.’s handgun ban as a “frightening decision” and a “return to the days of the Wild West.”

Because the handgun bans in DC and Chicago have worked so well! Nary a handgun murder in sight!


John McCain stood with the court, while Barack Obama waffled, tap-danced, and otherwise straddled the fence.

Yes, but I was wondering if at some point McCain was going to unveil a coherent campaign against BHO. Here's an area where he could draw a clear distinction with the far-left nut from Chicago. There are many others. I think he'd make a good President, but McCain suuuuucks as a candidate really.

A.C. McCloud said...

We've had concealed carry since the 90s down here. It hasn't caused the wild west to break out, unless you consider an increase of black on black gang crimees, which don't fall under the same stats. For average citizens, it's been a good thing.