Roanoke Times Pro Op-Ed

DaveH · July 6th, 2008, 10:49 AM

As I have said before, the Roanoke Times is very anti-Gun -- but they do present some Op-Ed items.

The following re-print appeared today:

The gun-rights fight isn't over - Los Angeles Times

Quote:

The gun-rights fight isn't over
Self-defense is upheld, but control advocates aren't done by a long shot.
By Brian Doherty
June 27, 2008
» Discuss Article (13 Comments)

The Supreme Court's decision in the District of Columbia vs. Heller case settles a long, heated debate, finding the 2nd Amendment protects an individual right to own weapons for self-defense -- not merely a right related to membership in a "well-regulated militia."

But the ruling doesn't end the struggle over gun control, nor does it mean gun regulations have been eliminated. The court lists a number of laws the decision does not affect, including concealed-weapon prohibitions and "long-standing prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms."

Still, even though the decision didn't ban gun control outright, it did make a strong statement about our right to self-defense and safety.

The city of Washington claimed its gun ban helped protect citizens. But the facts show how foolish it is to rely on gun control for safety.

Washington's per-capita murder rate has exceeded the rate in 1976 (when the ban passed) every year but one since then. For 10 of the last 30 years, its murder rate was more than twice as high as in '76. The ugliest aspect of D.C.'s law was its implication that your life is not worth protecting -- given that police cannot, and don't promise to, protect you in every life-threatening situation.

Like other epochal Supreme Court decisions, Heller will give rise to a protracted legal and public-policy debate.

Leading gun-control advocates, such as the Brady Center, are already spinning Heller as a victory: They claim the gun-rights lobby's strength is based on stoking the public's slippery-slope fears that any gun regulation is a forerunner to a total ban. With that ban now impossible, gun-control advocates believe they'll have more ability to restrict sales, possession and carrying in ways short of prohibition.

Gun-rights advocates, for their part, are expected to use this decision to challenge Chicago's handgun ban next, attacking another important question: Does the 2nd Amendment apply to state and local or only federal laws?

The right at issue -- an ancient right, preserved but not created by the 2nd Amendment -- is that of self-defense. The gun-control debate will continue, but it is a blessing that the court has refused to deny us the means of protecting our homes and families.

Brian Doherty is a senior editor at Reason magazine and the author of the forthcoming book, "Gun Control on Trial."

But just so you don't think they are getting soft, attacked are two cartoons they had in the paper today -- one from India and one from China.

falcon1 · July 6th, 2008, 03:26 PM

Thanks for posting. You know, in that second cartoon, the scene looks very peaceful and orderly....

I suspect the cartoon was intended to strike fear into the heart of the viewer; but, somehow, I (and the vast majority of the people on this forum) aren't scared one bit by the notion of the law-abiding being armed. Shocking....

ccw9mm · July 6th, 2008, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveH

But just so you don't think they are getting soft, attacked are two cartoons they had in the paper today -- one from India and one from China.

Well, the one from China got it right ... all the way down to Lady Liberty bending over. She has for decades, and still is. The Heller ruling does acknowledge a person's right to have self-defense in the home, but it conversely says, essentially, that one's life has little value outside one's own door. Liberty my eye. That's sacrilege (the ruling, not the bend over, which is symbolically, IMO, right on the money).

One step at a time, though, I suppose. One jerky step at a time.

DaveH · July 6th, 2008, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by falcon1

Thanks for posting. You know, in that second cartoon, the scene looks very peaceful and orderly....

I suspect the cartoon was intended to strike fear into the heart of the viewer; but, somehow, I (and the vast majority of the people on this forum) aren't scared one bit by the notion of the law-abiding being armed. Shocking....

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An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life. --
Robert A. Heinlein

July 6th, 2008, 03:26 PM	#2
falcon1 VIP Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Tennessee Posts: 4,432	Thanks for posting. You know, in that second cartoon, the scene looks very peaceful and orderly.... I suspect the cartoon was intended to strike fear into the heart of the viewer; but, somehow, I (and the vast majority of the people on this forum) aren't scared one bit by the notion of the law-abiding being armed. Shocking.... __________________ If the public are bound to yield obedience to laws to which they cannot give their approbation, they are slaves to those who make such laws and enforce them.--Candidus (in the Boston Gazette, 20 January 1772)

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