Dodging The Whirlwind
By Mitch Berg
I’m going to call this one a tactical victory for Real America. It’s a won battle; it’s not the war.
The President saw the result of Slow Joe Biden’s trial balloons last week – the suggestions of magazine limits, assault weapon bans and other draconian nationwide assaults on law-abiding Americans’ Second Amendment Rights – which was measured in an explosion of NRA memberships, a mobilization of grass-roots support for the originalist version of the Second Amendment, and the greatest gun-buying frenzy since the US Army signed gave a blank check to John Garand in 1040 – and blinked.
No ineffective gun bans – this time. No reinstatement of the worthless and abuse-prone Assault Weapons Ban – yet. No useless magazine capacity restrictions – this go-around.
That’s the good news.
In a more mixed vein? Here, reportedly (according to Business Insider) are the Administraiton’s recommendations, with my responses following in blue:
- Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system.
- Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system. [These first two, at first glance, don’t seem like bad ideas in and of themselves, although I have a hunch what’s in that data is going to be worth a fight. More below]
- Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system. [Like what Minnesota could have done, had Gov.
MessingerDayton not vetoed the “Stand Your Ground” bill in a fit of bitchy partisan picque, you mean?] - Direct the Attorney General to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks. [Nice and vague and subject to boundless politicization]
- Propose rulemaking to give law enforcement the ability to run a full background check on an individual before returning a seized gun. [I’m a little amazed this doesn’t already happen. I’m also leery of giving more “discretion” to law-enforcement, or at least law-enforcement in places like Chicago]
- Publish a letter from ATF to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers. [Superfluous]
- Launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign. [You mean, like the ones the National
BoogeymanRifle Association has been running for decades?] - Review safety standards for gun locks and gun safes (Consumer Product Safety Commission). [Superfluous; gun locks and safes arguably prevent a few accidents; again, it only bears on those responsible enough to use them, rather than criminals]
- Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations. [Again, amazed this isn’t already the case]
- Release a DOJ report analyzing information on lost and stolen guns and make it widely available to law enforcement. [As above]
- Nominate an ATF director. [Superfluous at best, adding to the bureaucratic misdirection at worst. The BATF has little measurable effect on crime; it serves mainly to badger the law-abiding, at least when it comes to firearms sales]
- Provide law enforcement, first responders, and school officials with proper training for active shooter situations. [Which is great; law-enforcement has advanced a lot in this area since Columbine; given that it took cops 20 minutes to respond to New Town, it’d seem it hasn’t advanced enough. And you can be sure the federally-mandated training won’t include the conclusion that’s blazingly obvious from the training that is being given to law enforcement (that resisting as immediately as possible with lethal force is vital); that having people in the target area with guns and the abiliity to resist is beyond vital]
- Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime. [Exactly as the NRA has been asking]
- Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence. [Now we’re getting Orwellian – and this is the area where Real Americans need to be watchful. The Administration seems to be moving toward the passive-aggressive long game – towarad calling gun ownership a precursor condition to mental illness. There is great danger here]
- Direct the Attorney General to issue a report on the availability and most effective use of new gun safety technologies and challenge the private sector to develop innovative technologies. [This is a nod toward “gun safety technology” like bolt-face stamps and biometric safeties that make guns much less safe for the law-abiding user, and much more expensive for the lower-income citizen. Which is, of course, one of the goals]
- Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes [In other words, turning doctors into Adminstration spies, gathering data for future actions. Suffice to say I’ve got one ‘condition’ I’ll never tell my doctor about]
- Release a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities. [Also amazed this isn’t generally the case]
- Provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers. [Wait – you mean exactly as the NRA recommended?]
- Develop model emergency response plans for schools, houses of worship and institutions of higher education. [Provided, apparently, that those “model plans” not include “armed citizens killing monsters”]
- Release a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover.
- Finalize regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within ACA exchanges. [Within the context of a rapidly-socializing healthcare system, this and the previous are how the whole “Mental Health” issue gets dealt with, I suppose. Sigh]
- Commit to finalizing mental health parity regulations.
- Launch a national dialogue led by Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan on mental health. [Because who better to lead a dialogue on mental health than a couple of bureaucrats?]
LIke most tactical victories, today’s developments leave many potential roads to future battles; the definition of mental health, the potential for using Obamacare’s information systems to add millions of Americans to the federal NICS database as “mentally ill” without any real recourse, and on and on.
And on some issues – “School Resource Officers” and safety training – the Administration is bordering on triangulation to the right. Which isn’t all bad, since both of those measures are (on their face) sensible.
But the price of liberty is eternal vigilance – and the orcs have left us much to be vigilant about. Joe Doakes of Como Park emails:
The President assured the nation the federal government isn’t going to take all guns, just impose common sense public safety measures.
I’m thrilled to hear it. I encourage the President to extend that reasoning to other Constitutionally protected rights.
We won’t ban all religions, only those with a tendency toward violence: Catholics. And Jews, because their mere existence provokes peaceful Muslims.
You still can say things that have serious artistic or literary merit, but nothing critical of the government; that’s sedition.
We will only use warrantless searches on the persons, papers, houses and effects of radical extremists: gun owners and church-goers.
See how easy this is? Utopia is within our grasp if we only have the Will to impose it.
Joe Doakes
Como Park
The slope is still slippery. It’s not as steep as it could have been, but we’re all still sliding.
January 16th, 2013 at 12:19 pm
Here are a few of the reasons Hawaii County will deny you your 2nd Amendment rights:
The meaning of these oddly written bullet-points is determined by the local Chief of Police.
http://www.hawaiipolice.com/services/firearm-registration
January 16th, 2013 at 12:23 pm
“4.Direct the Attorney General to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks.”
RIGHT!! We’re to rely on a criminal to sort out the dangerous and criminal. If it were a just world he could do the review from his prison cell.
January 16th, 2013 at 12:25 pm
“……add millions of Americans to the federal NICS database as “mentally ill” without any real recourse, and on and on.”
Sure, don’t want that pesky Due Process to get in the way now.
January 16th, 2013 at 12:35 pm
Amazed that Barry mentioned mental health…heck, many conservatives would rather argue about
clipsmagazines than discuss root cause.Mental illness prevention and treatment will be the theme I’ll be pushing Saturday.
January 16th, 2013 at 12:50 pm
I’ll tell a doctor if I have gun or not if he tells me if he drives a dangerous high powered sports car. Or one of those big evil SUVs. I’d hate to hear that our health professionals are potential killers on the highways.
January 16th, 2013 at 1:00 pm
Ref Item 9: If the Gummint doesn’t register guns, how do they trace them? If they trace back to an “item stolen” list, fine. If they can trace a gun someone bought lawfully at a gun dealer, not so fine.
January 16th, 2013 at 1:16 pm
Watch malpractice rates climb because now doctors are on the hook for future gun shootings.
January 16th, 2013 at 1:35 pm
Insty linked this : http://phelps.donotremove.net/2013/01/obamas-new-executive-orders/comment-page-1/#comment-10889 a translation of the days orders.
January 16th, 2013 at 1:44 pm
#9) …as the ones in Fast & Furious?
January 16th, 2013 at 1:45 pm
The “doctors” thing is an effort to make constitutional gun ownership a health issue.
In poli-sci, they taught us that the way you tailor a policy to your coalition’s requirements is to control its context.
“The Right to Bear Arms” needs no public health context to be interpreted properly.
Tell you what — no discussion of gay rights proper without looking at the public health issues surrounding the “gay lifestyle”. It’s not about civil rights, it’s about public health!
January 16th, 2013 at 1:58 pm
Kind of like how sexual preference became sexual orientation. And gay (or homosexual) marriage became marriage equality.
If you can control the language, you can control the debate.
Actually I would aruge that 2nd amendment rights activists have had some victories recently. 10 years ago you never read the term “gun ownership rights” in MSM, but today you do.
January 16th, 2013 at 2:22 pm
Terry, you are 100% correct.
According to the CDC, AIDS has killed 619,400 in the US so far…there is no way to accurately tally the financial costs. And yet, the government schools are teaching kids as young as 7 that homosexuality is perfectly normal, and Minneapolis lights up the bridges in celebration of sodomy during the gay parade.
Yeah, lets have a discussion about public health and guns….
Typhoid Mary was held responsible for 3 deaths, and spent her life in quarantine.
January 16th, 2013 at 3:05 pm
Swiftee: AIDS is an approved disease by CDC. The problem isn’t behavior, it’s the virus. So, let’s not condemn behavior – or even point out the risks – because it’s going to happen. It’s the damn virus that’s the problem.
January 16th, 2013 at 3:15 pm
The textbook example (literally) is about pesticide use.
In the first part of the century, pesticide use was regulated by congress, pesticide manufacturers,and pesticide users. Regulation was about improving human health and increasing crop yields.
Then, in the late 1960’s and the 1970’s, pesticide regulation became a narrative about birth defects and cancer, backed by abysmally bad science.
Control of the media is invaluable when it comes to framing the context of any public policy question. It trumps everything else — science, objective truth, reasoning, and of course the constitution.
Andrew Breitbart knew this.
It is job one.
January 16th, 2013 at 5:20 pm
As noted elsewhere – People concerned about the debt should get their children and grandchildren to write the President with their ideas on how the debt these children are on the hook for should be reduced. This Obama is at his most shameless when he is using children for props.
January 16th, 2013 at 5:26 pm
I always thought Obama was being most shameless when he tries to show Black Americans that he, a half-white, half-East-African child of academics, who was raised in Indonesia by his mother and a petroleum engineer, and in Hawaii by elderly white people — is ‘one of them’.
January 16th, 2013 at 6:10 pm
There’s a hi-larious flame war going on over the new New York gun law on slashdot.
Some fellow commented that we should have gun laws as restrictive as Norway — because Norway has about 1/4 the fatalities per 100k as the U.S.
Another commenter pointed out that if you went by homocides per square mile rather than per 100k of people, the U.S. was clearly a safer place . . .
http://news.slashdot.org/story/13/01/16/0432207/new-york-passes-landmark-gun-law
January 16th, 2013 at 8:43 pm
Decree Number Five:
I know that at least locally background-type checks are run to some extent or another. What does President Obama mean by “background check”?
Obviously the property officer will determine the ownership and releasibility of any item logged into property. A case of stolen booze will not be returned to the rightful owner’s 17 YOA son. A recovered vehicle will only be returned to the registered owner, and then only after his driver’s license has been checked for validity, proof of insurance, etc.
Firearms can be tricky. Both ownership and legality to own are difficult to prove on the spot. Some discretion comes into play at this point as there is no state law which outlines a liability-proof, criminal charge-proof process for law enforcement to safely do this.
Often, if there’s any question, the claimant will be directed to get a court order which directs the XXX Police Department to release it. That’s not easy. But being the cop who provided the gun to the guy who left the PD and killed his family isn’t easy to be either. I know which one I’d rather be.
This decree seems to be intentionally vague. Police come into the possession of privately owned firearms in many non-nefarious ways. They also get them after they’ve been used in crimes. While a clear directive streamlining a release process for them would be helpful, I’m afraid that the simple “common sense” Decree Number Five will not make it easier for your sister to reclaim your late grampa’s stolen WWII Luger. I suspect the opposite …
January 16th, 2013 at 8:54 pm
Re: Norway:
Anders Breviek killed 80 kids in 2011 on an island resort which was the site of a youth retreat. Also killed some people with a bomb in Oslo. He used assault type weapons and explosives. And yes, Norway does have extremely restrictive gun laws.
January 16th, 2013 at 8:57 pm
In Hawaii, if the police are involved in anything — even a complaint against a noisy dog — they will seize any firearms they know about, legal or illegal, germane to the complaint or not, and it takes a court order to get them back.
January 16th, 2013 at 9:50 pm
Hey! My pic showed up!
Yes, that’s really me . . .
What a pale Haole I am.
January 16th, 2013 at 9:52 pm
Per Capita Annual Gun Death Rate (per 100,000 population):
Highest: Louisiana (19.04, 45.6% households contain guns)
Lowest: Hawaii (2.20)
January 16th, 2013 at 9:56 pm
Emery,
Got a link on those stats?
Because I’m pretty sure your correlation is bad.
January 16th, 2013 at 10:17 pm
Mr. Berg,
Google is your friend. Prove it.
January 16th, 2013 at 10:21 pm
Hawaii is sui generis, Emery. It is unlike any other place in the U.S., geographically, culturally, economically, and politically. You should choose another data point.
January 16th, 2013 at 10:30 pm
/”Here are a few of the reasons Hawaii County will deny you your 2nd Amendment rights”/
I would say the results speak for themselves.
January 16th, 2013 at 10:40 pm
“Lies, damned lies, and statistics”
Voltaire
(although Mark Twain is often credited for this)
January 16th, 2013 at 10:58 pm
Emery – got the stats for the Per Capita Annual Gun Death Rate (per 100,000 population) for Jews in Europe between 1933 and and 1945?
January 17th, 2013 at 12:05 am
Yes, Emery, Google is my friend. But I want to use the same data set you used to debunk you.
Because I will debunk you.
So lets cut the cutesy crap and tell us where you got your stats. Ok?
January 17th, 2013 at 1:29 am
One of the things that make Hawaii unique is that it is (obviously) a group of islands. Oahu is the most populous. It is about 600 sq. miles, that is, about 20*30 miles. It has about a million people on it at any given time. It has two mountain ranges, the Ko’o’lau and the Wai’a’nae. You can’t build on the mountains. Everyone lives near the shore or in the valley between the Ko’o’laus and the Wai’a’nae mountain ranges (they don’t call them that on Oahu, BTW). It is extremely crowded. There isn’t much hunting over there, So few people have access to guns that are used for hunting.
The state of Hawaii should never, ever, be compared to any other place in the U.S. Heck, the Big Island shouldn’t even be compared to Maui.
January 17th, 2013 at 6:48 am
Mr. Berg, CDC…
January 17th, 2013 at 6:54 am
Emery – Do you believe the state should have a monopoly on armed violence? It’s a yes or no answer.
What are the stats for the Per Capita Annual Gun Death Rate (per 100,000 population) for Jews in Europe between 1933 and and 1945?
January 17th, 2013 at 7:03 am
/Here are a few of the reasons Hawaii County will deny you your 2nd Amendment rights:
-Are or have been under treatment or counseling for addiction to or abuse of any dangerous, harmful or detrimental drug or alcohol.
-Have been acquitted of a crime on the grounds of mental disease or mental disorder.
-Have been diagnosed as having a significant behavioral, emotional or mental disorder or for treatment for organic brain syndromes.
The meaning of these oddly written bullet-points is determined by the local Chief of Police./
I am not questioning whether these are onerous limitations on the 2nd Amendment. Nor am I in doubt about the geographical or physical characteristics of Hawaii.
What I am saying, is that the numbers speak for themselves.
The policy appears to work in Hawaii and more of it’s citizens are alive as a result of this approach by law enforcement. I thought the onus was to be on the “mental health” aspect and keeping guns out of the hands of those folks with ‘questionable’ mental health issues. Is this not the case once ‘your ox’ is being gored?
January 17th, 2013 at 7:07 am
L’shanah tovah Mr. Nachman.
January 17th, 2013 at 8:06 am
Emery, your Hawaii statistics are wonderful! A real knee-slapper. Tell me, do you write jokes for other comedians? Because that’s what you’ve got there – a joke. Citing two numbers without context doesn’t prove causation; you can’t even meaningfully measure correlation.
Think about it: imagine a place where there are absolutely no guns at all, but people are still murdered (the area just outside the Garden of Eden, for example, where Cain killed Abel). Statistically, there would be zero gun deaths but that’s Not a good thing. You’re focused on the tool. You should focus on the killer. Stop the killer, stop the killing, regardless of the tool.
January 17th, 2013 at 9:04 am
Here’s a link to data collected by The Guardian last year. It shows, one, the rate of gun ownership by country (the U.S. by a wide margin). It also shows the rate of homicide by gun by country. The U.S. rates 28th by this measure, with a per-100,000 rate of just under 3. Switzerland, the country with an assault weapon in nearly every home, has a gun homicide rate of under 1 per 100,000.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/jul/22/gun-homicides-ownership-world-list
January 17th, 2013 at 9:27 am
Never mind John Galt. Who is Joe Doakes?
Many individuals and the NRA claim that, better “mental health” screens are the solution to less gun violence. Many of those individuals post comments on this site that appear to agree with that particular position.
Hawaii seems to agree with that point of view as well.
The statistics are what they are.
In Hawaii they choose to deal with so-called ‘gun violence’ by adding a “mental health” component into their laws.
One can not argue it’s all about “mental health” and then claim they don’t like how the law or policy is applied when structuring that component into the law.
January 17th, 2013 at 9:39 am
Common to almost every mass shooting is that the shooters are male, have been on SSRIs, have played violent video games, and used a gun.
Apparently there’s no going after video games because of the first amendment, and no looking at the use and long-term effects of SSRIs under the privacy penumbra. Going after the second amendment, though, is ok. (And don’t get me started on the war on boys).
January 17th, 2013 at 9:50 am
“Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations. [Again, amazed this isn’t already the case]”
Yeah. The Department of Injustice will get right on that just as soon as it’s finished covering up “Fast and Furious”. The hypocrisy here is stupendous.
January 17th, 2013 at 9:54 am
The statistics are what they are.
“Emery”,
I haven’t had a chance to dig through the CDC stats you referred to, but here’s the result I’m going to find when I do.
Some states with onerous regulations – Hawaii – may well have low gun crime rates. Others with very minimal regulations – Montana, the Dakotas, Wyoming – have equal to lower rates.
Some places with relatively minimal regulations – Louisiana and South Carolina are good examples – will have high violent crime rates. Other places with onerous regulations – Detroit, DC, Chicago – will also have high violent crime rates.
So the stats will show (and they will; like I said, I haven’t had time to look yet, but I’ve been doing this a long long time) that the correlation you showed does not equal causation.
The Deep South, the old Dixie states, full of clannish Scots-Irish with centuries of violent cultural traditions and generations of the southern caste system, were violent before there was a “Gun Culture”; they were violent before there was a United States. They were violent when they voted Democrat, and they’re more violent than the national average today. There is a very direct correlation between Scots-Irish/Confederate/deep south/post-plantation culture and violence.
I bring it up to show how fraught with error – or dishonesty – it is to toss out two contrasting states and try to ascribe causation to a correlation with no context and no deeper analysis.
I’ll run with “error” for now.
January 17th, 2013 at 11:26 am
Mexico has very strict gun laws. Mexico has ~4 times as many homicides per capita as the U.S.
Therefore Mexico’s strict gun laws cause a very high murder rate.
January 17th, 2013 at 11:32 am
Emery – Do you believe the state should have a monopoly on armed violence? It’s a yes or no answer.
What are the stats for the Per Capita Annual Gun Death Rate (per 100,000 population) for Jews in Europe between 1933 and and 1945?
January 17th, 2013 at 1:18 pm
Wasn’t Emery saying something recently about “context”? I’m guessing he thinks “context” is some kind of pad.
January 17th, 2013 at 8:31 pm
Mr. Berg and Terry,
I agree. There are many, many factors to consider.
Terry is correct when he points out the culture in Hawaii is more ‘unique’ than that of the mainland.
Mr. Berg is also correct to point out the regional attitudes and the cultural climates that affect regional trends in violence.
January 17th, 2013 at 8:45 pm
Mr. Nachman,
The most interesting question that we should be asking ourselves is how should we be directing the energy and ambition of young men in the 21st century, so that the less successful among them don’t decide to lash out at society by killing schoolchildren (with a gun or a knife), raping women, joining gangs, or spending their days getting drunk or high? In generations past we have sent our young men off to fight wars, told them that they should be the primary breadwinner for a wife and family, or otherwise given them an attainable goal. When attained that goal yielded them respect and/or a family to care for, and in general a sense of purpose and satisfaction. As we transition into our globalized information economy, the least successful of our young men have no useful role in our society, and their numbers are swelling.
Whether or not we take measures to control gun ownership and better treat the mentally ill, we will continue to have frustrated young men looking for trouble.
Lie-lah tov!
January 18th, 2013 at 6:35 am
Emery – Do you believe the state should have a monopoly on armed violence?
What is Per Capita Annual Gun Death Rate (per 100,000 population) for Jews in Europe between 1933 and and 1945?
January 18th, 2013 at 6:37 am
To reiterate, Emery, in case you didn’t see the above comment.
Do you believe the state should have a monopoly on armed violence?
What is the Per Capita Annual Gun Death Rate (per 100,000 population) for Jews in Europe between 1933 and and 1945?
January 18th, 2013 at 9:24 am
Mr. Nachman,
Yes, I did notice that your cut and paste skills are improving.
“Weapons speak to the wise, but in general they need men to interpret them”
Pindar, Olympian Odes
January 18th, 2013 at 9:30 am
“God made man. Colt made man equal”.
To answer Nachman’s question: averaged out over the ten years from the enforcement of the Nuremberg Laws to VE Day, the murder rate per 100,000 Jews in Europe came to about 7,000/100,000/year.
January 18th, 2013 at 12:18 pm
Since Mr. Berg kindly answered my question concerning the genocidal slaughter of unarmed Jews, Emery needs to answer the other question, without resorting to ad hominem attacks on my ability to use a computer:
Do you believe the state should have a monopoly on armed violence?