In Virginia’s last election, the Democrat Party won narrow majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly. Democrat legislators then promptly proposed a series of gun control measures. Among these was a ban on the purchase of so-called “assault weapons” patterned after a similar federal ban enacted by Congress in 1994 and signed by President Bill Clinton. (Although the federal statute sunsetted in 2004, it was in force long enough to establish conclusively that – quite unsurprisingly – it had had no measurable or detectable effect on the use by criminals of firearms.) Simultaneously, the Democrats have proposed additional equally fatuous...
On a hot and humid July 1964 night in Jonesboro, Louisiana, there occurred a series of unheralded but nevertheless pivotal events in the parallel histories of the civil rights movement and the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. These events unfolded during the Freedom Summer conducted by the Congress of Racial Equality which had come to Louisiana and Mississippi to register black voters and to integrate the public schools. Since CORE’s arrival, racial tensions and the threat of violence had been high. In the preceding month, CORE volunteers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney had gone missing and foul...
Here’s my latest in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer regarding the Virginia Beach massacre. Since many Inky readers are far left of center, I anticipate that this piece will cause many heads to explode. If you are like me and derive perverse amusement from that sort of thing, click on this link to view the article on Inquirer.com where you will be able to read the posted comments. [Parental advisory: some reader comments may not be suitable for children.] I want to thank the editors at the Inky for running this and my other pieces. Each time they do so, they receive...
Tomorrow the print edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer will feature my op-ed regarding the latest gun control legislation being considered by the House of Representatives. If you want to see the reader comments (anguished or otherwise), it can accessed online today at Philly.com. Spoiler alert: the proposed requirement for universal background checks for the transfer of firearms won’t materially reduce gun deaths or keep guns out of the hands of criminals. Anyhow, here’s the piece: BACKGROUND CHECKS WILL NOT PREVENT GUN DEATHS Last week, the House Judiciary Committee began to consider legislation that would require a universal background check for all transfers...