Living and breathing in the Second City
Reader Dan asks why I haven’t commented on the Supreme Court Gun Decision. To which, I have absolutely no response. It is unacceptable. So here goes.
This decision is along time coming. City-wide gun bans are clear attack on 2nd Amendment rights. Period. Mayor Daley is vowing to “fight” attempts to invalidate the Chicago ban. In doing so he will waste taxpayer dollars and his own credibility.
I’ve never understood why so many are obsessed with gun bans. Ask yourself this, is Chicago safer than it was 32 years ago when it enacted the hand-gun ban? The answer is no. The murder rate peaked in 1992. Obviously there’s no correlation.
I also found it insulting that Daley commented, “Does this lead to everyone having a gun in our society?” The words ooze with paternalism. Clearly, without Daley telling us what we can and cannot own, we’d all run out in the street and start killing one another. Arg.
- Tags: Gun Rights, Supreme Court
3 Responses to “Supreme Court Gun Decision”
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The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
-Carl Sandburg
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DGM
June 27th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Daley’s words reek of paternalism? Absolutely! He believes only HE can decide what’s for the good of the citizens of Chicago…individual rights be damned! Only HE can say what is best for us.
Oak Park Village President David Pope, said the ruling would threaten safety in his near west suburb, which banned gun ownership in 1984.
“The ruling puts [Justice Antonin] Scalia and the four other conservative justices squarely on the side of the gang-bangers who terrorize far too many of urban American neighborhoods today,” he said.
This is NOT a valid or logical argument, and yet it seems to be the argument that Daley, and the Oak Park Mayor, and all those who are “outraged” by the Court’s decision are making.
Affirming that individuals have the right to bear arms, to purchase guns does NOT equate to increased violence, or a “Wild West” environment as some against the decision would have you think.
The FACT is that those involved with crime who use guns the MAJORITY (if not 100%) of the time did NOT secure guns through legal channels. So, the laws in DC, Chicago, and Oak Park are in fact hurting law abiding citizens…you are preventing everyone from gun ownership, yet those who do not choose to follow the law don’t pay attention to gun bans. Its pathetically laughable that Daley is outraged, once again (as I predicted to colleagues) invoking his black preacher voice is coming out against the courts decision. This while seemingly every weekend more people are killed BY GUN in the city of Chicago, with no let-up. Yeah, Daley is doing a fine job stopping gun crime with his handgun ban.
The Supreme Court got it right. PERIOD. I may not currently own a gun, but the fact that I can purchase one if I so choose is what I consider “a good thing.” There is something a bit frightening if one pauses to think of a society in which only the military and law enforcement are allowed to own guns.
DGM
June 27th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Great article from a Chicago cop NAILING Daley on his asinine argument:
http://secondcitycop.blogspot.com/
Eric
June 27th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
I haven’t blogged about it because I have mixed feelings. I think they’re right in their constitutional interpretation, but I also feel that that’s not the way it ought to be. I have no desire to carry a gun for my own personal protection, and I find the idea of living in a society where that is expected to be abhorrent.