Larry King on the Second Amendment

With warped wisdom on the Second Amendment, it is no wonder that today Larry King seems welcomed on South Park and on the Russian Television propaganda channel.

  

Vlad from the Kremlin, you're now on the air (sic).

Mika Brzezinski on Talking About Gun Control Immediately After the Florida School Shooting

Less than a day after the Parkland Florida School Massacre, in which at least 17 people were killed, MSNBC Anchor Mika Brezinski was insistent about having constructive talk about solutions.  Considering the midtown Manhattan mores of the mainstream media, this mean venting about gun control. Brzezinski threatened to unbook any guests on the Morning Joe who wanted to defer this constructive talk to either wait for confirmed details or out of respect for the victims' families. 

It is natural as members of the media cover this travesty live, they will opine supposed "answers" to make sense of the mire.On Fox News, conservative Sean Hannity got on his hobby horse for his entire hour in prime time to push for all schools to hire armed veterans for school security. For cash strapped districts, a guest suggested having federalized security, like the TSA.  The morning after the Parkland School Shooting, Salem Radio's centrist Republican Hugh Hewitt wondered why there was not a "No Buy List" for mentally troubled individuals. While that touches on the mental health aspect, it raises issues about an over expansive no-buy list, as Obamacare barred many Veterans diagnosed with PTSD from exercising their Second Amendment rights.

Although there are many indications that the shooter had a troubled teen with many mental illness markers, inevitably the knee jerk reaction for this so called "constructive talk"  will be a gun grab or advocating measures like a better background check (which have already been instituted).

Just as reality shows are somewhat scripted, Morning Joe is positioned to proffer reliable perspectives. Mika's booking benchmark shows how progressive will not let a good crisis to go to waste to grab guns.

About Senator Joe Manchin and a Victory for the Swamp

Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) has been representing West Virginia in the Senate since the death of Senator Robert Byrd in 2010.  Manchin ran on a pledge protect Second Amendment rights as well as to to take dead aim of Barack Obama's Cap and Trade policy, which severely threatened the coal industry.  

While he may call himself a centrist or perhaps a conservative Democrat, in modern terms he ran as a Republican.  But now Mountain State voters may well wonder if Manchin was just blowing smoke around election season.

As Manchin vies for a second full term, he is considered the most vulnerable Senate incumbent for Election 20118.  Manchin's refusal to drift to the left endangers himself with the progressive drift of Democrats, yet he is chary about crossing the aisle to the Republican side.

So in a bid to save his seat, Senator Manchin took the the Senate floor to promote a pledge of bipartisan cooperation and agreement.  While that sounds noble and constructive, the reality is that Manchin was coercing his colleagues not to campaign against him or raise money against him.

 An incumbent wants to ensure that notable opposition can not criticize him on the hustings because of a supposed pledge of bipartisan cooperation.  How convenient! No wonder pundits and comedians are so critical of anything labeled bipartisan. 

Radio commentator Larry O'Connor surmises that Manchin is trying to obscure the fact that he votes with Democrat Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) regarding the tax reform. Manchin also campaigned hard for Hillary Clinton in 2016, which proved quite out of step with his West Virginia constituents.  

The Republican National Committee used Twitter to expose Senator Manchin's Janus faced campaigning, as the supposed maverick conservative Democrat posed with both Planned Parenthood as well as Pro Life activists.  

Manchin laughed off this apparent hypocrisy saying that he'd pose for pictures with anyone.  Larry O'Connor laments that this was one more victory for the swamp co-opting a maverick.  

 It may be better to think of this as  sort of a pyrrhic victory which salts the swamp and causes the District of Calamity to be drained of unviable swamp creatures and Congress critters.

H/T: Washington Times

Taking Aim at Second Amendment Restrictions

Aside from impacting the defense of individual liberty, six time Olympian  Kim Rhodes points out how California's ever increasingly restrictive gun laws are impacting shooting sports training.

When the Supreme Court Acts Like Politicians

The Supreme Court will start consideration of cases in its new term on the first Monday in October.  A Federalist Society panel previewing the Supreme Court's new term expected that SCOTUS will have a diminished case-load during the 2016-2017 term as it awaits confirmation of  Associate Justice Antonin Scalia's replacement. It  is assumed that the Supreme Court is avoiding some controversial cases to avoid having a 4-4 tie, which does not establish precedent and upholds the Appeals Court ruling.

There are several schools of thought concerning the vacancy on the Supreme Court.  If Democrat Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (D-NY) wins the election but if the Republicans retain control of the Senate, there is good reason to believe that Obama designee Merrick Garland will be confirmed during the Lame Duck session.  Although Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) claims that Lame Duck sessions are not appropriate for SCOTUS confirmations, the thinking from the GOP may well be to go with the Devil they know rather than one which they don't know.

Some Democrats believe if they win both the White House and the Senate, then Hillary would want to install her own (presumably more progressive pick).  But some optimistic institutionalists hold fast to the notion that Mrs. Clinton would abide by the process and still push forward her predecessor's choice.  Either way, in such a scenario, it would be expected that there would be a lengthy evaluation and vetting process to achieve Senatorial Advice and Consent, thus keeping the evenly divided court well into the term.

Ass. Justice Anthony Kennedy

A more philosophical question is what should be the role of the Supreme Court.  A common rallying cry in Presidential elections is control of the Supreme Court.  Justice Scalia's passing in February levels an ideologically fractured SCOTUS (four liberals, three conservatives and Ass. Justice Anthony Kennedy), but with indications that progressives are itching to be more activist. 

Chelsea Clinton has mentioned on the hustings that openings the Supreme Court will allow her mother to fundamentally redefine the parameters of the Second Amendment.  

Most likely there would be no outright repeal of this fundamental freedom given by God, but it would take a narrow reading of the organic law and assert that this right is limited to organized militias. This would effectively make it a dead letter, like the Tenth Amendment.

So instead of being final arbiters of cases, the Supreme Court would act like a super-legislature, only they are unelected (thus unaccountable) and there is virtually no way to upend their ukases.

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) while campaigning for President proposed having retention elections for the judiciary, as they do in Iowa.  That sounds more appealing on the campaign trail then it would be applicable in the Federal City. However, it does voice the frustration of many Americans who feel cut out of the governing process.  California twice approved referendums defining marriage (which was primarily a state issue), yet in Obergefell, the Supreme Court overturned the will of voters under a Right of Dignity interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment and then expanded this right of same-sex marriage to all 50 states.

Two longer shot prospects not considered by judicial watchers are the possibility that Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump (R-NY) might win and actually live by his promise to nominate conservative judicial candidates.  

The other way to remedy judicial tyranny would be limitations on Article III power.  While Congress can theoretically reign in lower courts, it is unlikely to do so. This would leave such reformation to application of an Article V Convention of States.  While the Article V safety valve for a Convention of States has been in place for 227 years, it has never been successfully invoked yet. But as more and more power is taken away from states yet they are saddled with the brunt of implementing dictates from the District of Calamity (sic), this may become a more feasible possibility. 

Armed Societies are Polite Societies

A Somali Muslim stabbed eight people at the Crossroad Center Mall in  St. Cloud, Minnesota before being fatally shot three times by Jason Falconer, an off duty law enforcement officer.  The assailant shouted Allahu Akbar (Arabic for "God is Great") and asked one stabbing victims if they were Muslim before he was felled by the legal concealed carry permit holder. There were several mall cops on duty but they were unarmed.

Once again it seems that guns don't kill people as much as gun free zones kill innocent people. Thankfully, a trained concealed carry citizen could mitigate the madness at the mall.

Donald Trump on the Second Amendment

Geraldo Rivera Shoots His Mouth Off on Second Amendment During Active Shooter Terror Attack

As the San Bernadino Shooting was ongoing, Fox News War Correspondent Geraldo Rivera took to twitter to condemn the Second Amendment and the NRA.

Wonder how he will shovel his opinion as it becomes clear that it was a terror attack, the likes of the Paris Shootings of November 13th which threatened his daughter studying overseas?

General Ray Odierno on the Unarmed Stateside Military

In the aftermath of the Chattanooga shooting (which the Obama Administration is loathe to call a terror attack), US Army Chief of Staff Ray Odierno justified the continuation of a 1992 Department of Defense directive prohibiting most stateside military personnel from carrying arms while on duty.


Odierno's opinions on maintaining the current regulations seem political to justify that current Commander-in-Chief's policies to check soldiers, sailors, Air Force and Marines while denying that there really is a war by radical Islamists which have come to America's shores. The safety concerns  seem specious as these armed forces are trusted with weapons while on duty abroad.

In response to the Chattanooga terror attack, the Pentagon ordered military recruiters to make modest security measures like closing their shades and they were told not to wear their uniforms in public.  It is pathetic that concerned civilians feel compelled to stand guard near military recruiting centers as the service personnel can not legally carry firearms.

The DoD Regulation 5210.56 occurred during the Pentagon's drawdown from Cold War readiness.  After the attack of military recruiters in Little Rock in 2009 and Chattanooga in 2015 along with the Fort Hood shooting in 2009 (which the Obama Administration "workplace violence") and the 2014 Fort Hood shooting, it is time to change the policy to protect our troops and eliminate sitting duck targets in no gun zones.  

Mark Levin on Weapons

Martin O'Malley Exploits the Charleston Church Shooting

    

 Longshot 2016 Democrat Presidential hopeful Former Governor Martin O'Malley (D-MD) used the atrocity of nine people being shot at Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina as an opportunity to sound hip, fund-raise off the the tragedy and pitch his pet issues. Soon after the shootings in South Carolina, the O'Malley campaign released an email denouncing the NRA, touting O'Malley's "F" rating with the Second Amendment organization, while asking for"support" to fight for gun control as well as his fledgling campaign.  

   

O'Malley's rhetoric repeatedly used the colloquial phrase "I'm pissed".  That does not sound presidential but then again President Obama used the "N" word when granting an interview to WTF podcasts, so perhaps deviancy has been defined downward.  Nonetheless, it seems garish to push for more gun control before the dead have been laid to rest.  But as Rahm Emmanuel posited don't let a crisis go to waste.

Karl Rove on Gun Control

Tim Huelskamp on Legal Comity

Vince Vaughn on the Second Amendment

Vince Vaughn's interview with British GQ Magazine has created some controversy.  Not only does Vaughn properly recognize the rationale behind the Second Amendment, he notes how gun control does not effect the elites while making "gun free zones" target zones for the hoi polloi. 

Greg Gutfeld on Guns

Greg Gutfeld on Gun Free Zones

Will Jim Webb Throw His Hat in the Ring for POTUS?

Former one term Senator from Virginia Jim Webb (D-VA) has been making rumblings that he is seriously considering making a run for the Presidency.  

Webb served as the Secretary of the Navy in the Reagan Administration.  In 2006, Webb narrowly won (by 0.4%) a Senate seat defeating incumbent Senator George Allen (R-VA).  Legislatively, Senator Webb tried to make his mark in 2007 by being a Vietnam war veteran who proposed a bill would which cut off Bush Administration funding for the war in Iraq-- after a flourish in the Lamestream Media, the bill died in committee but Mission Accomplished (sic)!

Regrettably, Senator Webb's most memorable moment from his six years in the Senate was in 2007 when Webb's legislative aide was arrested entering the Russell Senate Office building as the aide was unwittingly carrying Senator Webb's loaded pistol and unregistered ammunition. Of course, this violated the strict gun laws in the District of Calamity (sic), but prosecutors dropped the case. 

After five years in the Senate,  Webb announced in early 2011 that he was not going to seek a second term, so that the then 65 year old Senator could go back into the private sector.  Political observers noted that as an incumbent Web would have enjoyed an advantage but that it would have been a tough campaign..

Political junkies and low information voters alike might wonder why Webb thinks that he would get traction in the Democrat Presidential field in 2016.  Webb can not point to real legislative achievements during his one term.  The only notable thing that Webb did during his so-called return to the private sector was to write a self-serving memoir "I Heard My Country Calling".  That sort of seems political to promote oneself and not be accountable to the electorate for tough votes. 

Webb's staunch support of the Second Amendment (including his aforementioned inconvenient experience on Capitol Hill) makes him a rara avis among national Democrats.  Moreover, Webb's ploy to cut off funding in Iraq might not play well as President Obama has begun bombing ISIS in the Levant.  So what's Webb's strategerie (sic) for winning the nomination.

The answer may be none.  Sometimes, minor politicos will float their name around to promote a pet issue (e.g. former UN Ambassador John Bolton for foreign policy issues or former Governor Sarah Palin on the Tea Party).  Some merely want to sell books or keep their name in the news.  But some suffering from "Potomac Fever" seem to enjoy living the high life.  Take Al Sharpton for instance. Sharpton supposedly ran for the Democrat nomination in 2004.  He got included in a couple of debates and got to campaign while staying in five star hotels, on someone else's dime.  Ten years later, Sharpton still owes over $1 million for his 2004 "run"  while landing a nightly television show on MSNBC.

At least if one term wonders like Jim Webb or former Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) who are toying with a Presidential run in 2016 do not have to travel far to sate their symptoms of "Potomac Fever". 

Al Gore Agitates: "Our Democracy Has Been Hacked"

Sorry Al Gore, the United States of America is not a democracy, it is a Federal Republic which holds democratic elections.

The video kvetches that Congress can't pass meaningful gun control, thus the system has been "hacked".  Guess that the former Vice President hasn't read the Constitution lately.  There is something called a Second Amendment which involves the rights of citizens to bear arms. Even the Supreme Court in the Heller case reaffirmed that INDIVIDUALS have the right to keep and bear arms.

 If they Congress did want to do something about it, we would likely have to change organic law.  Perhaps the former Vice President has not read the Constitution lately, but there is something called the Second Amendment, which allows Americans to keep and bear arms.  Congress would have to vote 2/3rds in favor in each chamber and then it gets sent to the states, where 3/4ths of the states would be needed to ratify.  If states wanted to do something, they could try convening an Article V Convention of States.  More less radical activism on guns, this is the proper domain of the states.

Since Gore wanted to sound techie when referring to America's Democracy being hacked, it merits a geeky retort GIGO-- Garbage In, Garbage Out.

Ice-T on Tyranny

A Bit on Gauzy Gun Grab Gambits

After the Navy Yard shooting , many are troubled at another massacre in America.  This has inspired progressive politicos to renew efforts to “do something”. 

[L] Gabrielle Giffords [R] Mark Kelly testifying before Congress Feb. 2013

One such source for grabbing guns is the “Americans for Responsible Solutions”, the gun control pressure group created by former Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ 8th) and her husband Mark Kelly.  Giffords  who was critically shot in the head in an assassination attempt in Tuscon, Arizona in January 2011.  Since then the couple has sought to “support the Second Amendment” while “keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people like criminals, terrorists, and the mentally ill.”.

Gabby and Mark’s letter reads in part:

We have disturbing problems - gun crime, mental illness, and the easy access that dangerous people have to guns. But our public officials seem more interested in political theater and special interest threats than in leadership. Congress, you must lead. Come together, take a sober look at the problem, and pass laws that protect our families and communities. Please act. 

How could anyone oppose that?

But as Oscar Wilde observed: “It is always with the best of intentions that the worst work is done.”  Digging deeper into to discern the policy prescriptions,  one discovers that the Americans for Responsible Solutions advocate:

• universal background checks

• limiting the sale on “assault” weapons

• limiting high capacity magazines

• stopping gun trafficking

Thus the bromides from Gabby and Mark’s open letter were translated into policies which are political non-starters that are also gauzy gun grabbing forays. 

[***]

But in my estimation, clamoring to do just “Do SOMETHING” is imprudent.  While dialoguing with an Americans for Responsible Solutions proponent,I noted that Remington 870 pump shotgun  which the Navy Yard shooter used was one that was exempted from Senator Feinstein’s "modest proposal" as it is a popular hunting rifle.  My interlocutor interjected “That proves my point–we need to do better”.  It seems that the Swiftian allusion was not well appreciated. But it seemed like no contrary opinions were acceptable for one so convicted.

If the government wanted to do something, then for starters this Administration (and future ones) could enforce the gun laws already on the books with due process not by showy tactical teams in low risk situations.  Alas, after that,  there are not easy answers.  So it is worth having real debate on causes and solutions.  However, Representative Steve Cohen (D-TN 9th) goes on MSNBC and slandered Second Amendment supporters as being "Murderers Row", this does not seem like respectful or introspective civic discourse.  And refusing to respond to point by point challenges on the root causes of mass shootings or the consequences of the “Do SOMETHING” impulse makes it seem like the issue is being cynically stoked to fire up bases for partisan wedge issue politics at the expense of innocents. 

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