Second Amendment
June 23, 2022 — John Hinderaker
Today the Supreme Court decided New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, a challenge to a New York State law that barred residents from obtaining a carry permit unless they could show “proper cause.” Proper cause, in turn, required the applicant to “demonstrate a special need for self-protection distinguishable from that of the general community.” Under the Court’s controlling precedents, Heller and McDonald, I think the New York
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June 12, 2022 — John Hinderaker
A bipartisan group of senators have announced an agreement on gun legislation. I am not sure whether their deal has been reduced to legislative language, and I don’t know whether it will get through the Senate, or whether Democrats in the House will vote for it. (If I were a Democrat, I would think that the deal is extremely weak, and its main effect may be to take gun control
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June 4, 2022 — John Hinderaker
I haven’t written much about the latest round of gun control hysteria, mostly because I have said everything I have to say on that topic many times over the years. The liberal solutions to mass shooting incidents, which are very rare, are every bit as silly and ineffective as their solutions to crime in general, which is ubiquitous and therefore vastly more important. Defunding the police makes about as much
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May 26, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Yesterday at the White House executive-order signing ceremony commemorating the death of George Floyd, President Biden unleased a false bromide that he has often repeated (transcript here): I spent my career, as chairman of the Judiciary Committee and as Vice President, working for commonsense gun reforms — as I said, as a senator and a Vice President. While they clearly will not prevent every tragedy, we know certain ones will
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June 24, 2021 — Scott Johnson
President Biden shared his deep thoughts on the surge in violent crime (a/k/a “gun violence”) with a weary populace yesterday. The White House has posted the text of Biden’s remarks here. Among his deep thoughts: For folks at home, here’s what you need to know: I’ve been at this a long time and there are things we know that work that reduce gun violence and violent crime, and things that
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June 7, 2021 — John Hinderaker
On Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Roger Benitez ruled that the State of California’s ban on “assault weapons,” which dates to 1989 and basically refers to AR-15 style modern rifles, is unconstitutional. Benitez’s ruling was clearly correct under controlling Supreme Court precedent, in my opinion. Under District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008), as Benitez wrote, “the Second Amendment protects guns commonly owned by law-abiding citizens for lawful
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March 24, 2021 — John Hinderaker
The 21-year-old who murdered ten people at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado has been identified as Ahmad Al Issa. He is a refugee from Syria who came to the U.S. as a child. Based on what has emerged so far, Al Issa had anger issues and a paranoid streak. He might have been a paranoid schizophrenic, but so far nothing has emerged that suggests he was insane in a legal
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March 15, 2020 — Scott Johnson
One of our gimlet-eyed friends has asked for anonymity to report from the firing line. He calls himself Ammoboy. I’ll give you his name when you pry it from my cold, dead lips. We are happy to protect his identity with a nod to our beloved humor columnist and grateful for the opportunity to put forward his modest proposal. He writes: I shoot a lot. Three times a week minimum,
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March 10, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Pressing the flesh with factory workers in Detroit today, Joe Biden was challenged on his Second Amendment views by a man in the crowd (CNBC account here, video below). Here we see something of a throwback to the old Biden — the freedom with the facts, the logic chopping, the fake manliness, the bullying style. The Detroit man has taken note of Biden’s delegation of gun control duties to Bobby
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February 7, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Ammo Grrrll explores the deep meaning of the RUGER SHIRT. She writes: Last Wednesday, I had a really good day at the Tactical Range. I’m sure we’ve all had them; you remember all your mechanics and execute well. Your weapon is really sighted in and seems to be almost incapable of missing the x-ring. You are – to use a popular sports figure of speech – IN THE ZONE. That’s
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January 20, 2020 — John Hinderaker
Today an estimated (by police) 22,000 people demonstrated at the Virginia capitol in Richmond in favor of Second Amendment rights, which are being threatened by the newly-elected Democratic majority in that state’s legislature. Liberal news outlets were hoping the rally would turn violent, and their disappointment when it didn’t was palpable. Thus, the Washington Post: And CBS: And CNN: The Babylon Bee headlines: “Media Offers Thoughts And Prayers That Someone
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December 18, 2019 — John Hinderaker
I am tempted to say that the Democrats’ pre-ordained, 100% partisan impeachment vote is the bottom story in today’s news. But that might be a slight overstatement, so I am grateful to my Power Line partners who have the patience to delve into something so boring and insignificant. While impeachment might not be at the very bottom, there were any number of more important news stories today, like this one:
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December 9, 2019 — John Hinderaker
It is still not clear whether Pensacola murderer Mohammed Alshamrani was part of an extremist Muslim cell or acted alone, although some of his fellow Saudis evidently shared his political views and bloodthirstiness. For now, I want to salute the contribution of Joshua Watson, 23 years old, who was one of Alshamrani’s three victims. Watson graduated from the Naval Academy in June and was stationed at Pensacola because he wanted
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September 23, 2019 — John Hinderaker
It is remarkable how little most people who are adamantly opposed to firearms know about them. In general, of course, blissful ignorance of guns is perfectly fine. But if you are a legislator, and you set out to ban something, you do have a duty to know what it is you want to make illegal. Sheila Jackson Lee is the latest to embarrass herself. She wants to ban America’s most
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September 18, 2019 — John Hinderaker
The City of San Francisco recently adopted a resolution labeling the National Rifle Association a “domestic terrorist organization” and threatening to boycott anyone who does business with the NRA. In response to this despicable act, the NRA, the nation’s largest and most effective civil rights organization, has produced this video. Dear San Francisco….
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September 14, 2019 — John Hinderaker
One of the more shocking aspects of last week’s Democratic debate was the cavalier manner in which the Constitution was treated. Beto O’Rourke said he intends to confiscate guns that were legally purchased by law-abiding Americans, and put out a t-shirt to that effect immediately after the debate. Kamala Harris said the same thing, and when Joe Biden pointed out that the government lacks power to do what she proposed,
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September 3, 2019 — John Hinderaker
I wholeheartedly endorse the conservative plan to reduce homicides that Paul wrote about earlier today. With respect to the latest round of mass shootings, I haven’t yet had time to delve into the statistics, but here are a few observations. First, the last couple of mass shooters likely are copycats. More than anything else, giving less press coverage to mass shootings, and especially refusing to publish “manifestoes,” would reduce the
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