{"id":2292,"date":"2008-03-20T12:10:49","date_gmt":"2008-03-20T17:10:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=2292"},"modified":"2014-12-12T14:53:12","modified_gmt":"2014-12-12T20:53:12","slug":"why-is-a-right-not-a-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=2292","title":{"rendered":"Why Should A Right Not Be A Right?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The course of the Minnesota Monitor<\/em> has been an interesting one.<\/p>\n

The MNMon <\/em>is, and has always been, a bald-faced propaganda site, funded by “liberals with deep pockets” – after a year of official denials and stalling huffing and puffing, Eric Black admitted<\/a> that there was some George Soros money in the mix.<\/p>\n

When they started under original editor Robin “Rew” Marty, the Mon <\/em>had a recent-college-grad-ish earnestness about it; it was a genial, sloppy production prone to dumb mistakes<\/a>, but they seemed at least to mean well and to try, <\/em>in most cases, to do a credible job. Paul Schmelzer, former “Media” reporter and one of the Mon’s <\/em>few genuinely good writer\/reporters, took over as editor (seemingly briefly), around the time Eric Black jumped from the Strib and classed up the joint for a bit; for a few months, the Monitor’s <\/em>material was a source for discussion rather than derision.<\/p>\n

And then, about the time Black bailed to go to the MNPost, they hired former City Pages <\/em>editor and Daily Mold <\/em>blogger Steve Perry. I and a fair chunk of the the local RealAmericansphere has been scratching our heads watching the hilarity<\/a> ever since. Perry seems to have brought over a bunch of the City Pages <\/em>less <\/a> stellar <\/a>exiles, and changed the site’s focus from semi-original reporting to screechy polemics<\/a> seemingly copied word for word from pressure-group press releases<\/a> and topped off with a dollop of shrill, giggly, usually ignorant commentary<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In other words – Soros et al have finally hired a genuine, respected journalist to run the Monitor<\/em> – and he’s basically turned it into a rantblog.
\nIf it were a good<\/em> blog-with-a-different-name-and-lots-of-money, there’s at least a chance someone could have written something better than this comically-bad piece by Heather Maartens<\/strike> “Anna Pratt”<\/a> on the Heller <\/em>case.<\/p>\n

The scare strikeout is (like, let’s face it, all scare strikeouts) very much on purpose; there is nothing about this piece (like the Monitor’s <\/em>“coverage” of Tony Cornish’s “Stand Your Ground” bill), that doesn’t look like it wasn’t directly cribbed from a Citizens for a Supine <\/strike>“Safer” Minnesota press release.<\/p>\n

When is a right right and when is a right… wrong? In this case, when does one’s “right to bear arms” also trespass on the rights of others?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This could only be written by someone who has not the faintest clue about this nation’s moral, intellectual, political or social history. It’s a symptom of this nation’s catastrophic ignorance about the humanities of our own history.
\nThe answer is “Rights don’t trample on other peoples’ rights”. Your right – or Anna Pratt’s right – to free speech doesn’t trample mine. I have no right<\/em> not to be offended or nauseated by someone else’s speech – but I do <\/em>have the right to respond with better speech. Not that it takes much.<\/p>\n

The law-abiding, responsible exercise of your God-given rights, by the very nature of “Rights” (as opposed to “privileges” and “entitlements”) can not <\/em>“trample” anyone else’s rights.<\/p>\n

Rights have responsibilities and limitations; we have free speech, but we may not yell “I’m lighting my farts” in a crowded theater; we may worship freely, but if your poisonous snake kills someone’s child, you might have some ‘splaining to do. Abusing ones’ right to keep and bear arms has serious consequences; ironically, it’s the Second Amendment movement that’s moved to make those consequences more sure and severe, while the anti-gun left has steadily sapped them.<\/p>\n

But I digress.<\/p>\n

I’m talking about the Supreme Court controversy regarding the constitutionality of the handgun law in Washington, D.C., where nary a gun is allowed, excepting those of police officers.On Tuesday, March 18, arguments for and against Washington D.C.’s handgun ban were presented in a federal appeals court.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ms. Pratt? That “Federal Appeals Court” is called the “Supreme Court of the United States”.<\/p>\n

I never, ever thought I’d say this, but…go ask Jeff Fecke how to read and fact-check your stuff? OK?<\/p>\n

This comes after a lower court’s 2-1 vote last year took issue with the ban.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On the other hand, the “lower court” was a US Circuit Court of Appeals, which isn’t really all that “lower” by court standards.<\/p>\n

Now, to be fair, I’m not sure if Anna Pratt (like Dan Haugen and Andy Birkey before her) is completely oblivious to the actual law and history <\/em>involved, or if she’s just cribbing off a press release from Citizens for a Supine <\/strike>“Safer” Minnesota (whose ignorance of law and history is a matter of documented record) – but while the flubs above might <\/em>be a result of bad reporting and fact-checking, the below is just plain made up from whole cloth.<\/p>\n

That would reverse nearly 70 years of legal precedent.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And there’s the tell; this “article” is cribbed from CS<\/strike>“S”M.<\/p>\n

Teaching moment, Anna: there is not 70 years of legal precedent. There is one case, US V. Miller<\/em><\/a>, from 1939, which is open to widely-varying interpretations<\/a>, which has only been mentioned in five subsequent cases, and which is notable in that neither the defendants nor their lawyers were actually able to show up at the SCOTUS hearing. To claim Miller <\/em>is a clear precedent is the sort of wishful thinking that most of us shy away from, and that Heather Martens takes as her stock in trade.<\/p>\n

The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which hasn’t gotten such play since 1791, states, “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”Heather Martens, president of Citizens for a Safer Minnesota (CSM), which lobbies for a public-health approach to prevent gun deaths and injuries, asserted in an email that a decision favoring the right to carry guns could “set off a deluge of legal actions across the country challenging every gun regulation there is, no matter how reasonable.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Let’s take Heather Martens at her word – which, given that virtually everything she’s ever said on the subject has been a lie, is a bit of a gift.<\/p>\n

So what?<\/p>\n

The laws – as Pratt herself notes further down in the crib <\/strike>article – are doing no good anyway! Why not challenge them<\/em>?<\/p>\n

CSM is part of the Protect Minnesota campaign<\/a>, a coalition of gun owners and non-gun owners alike, who are working to ensure background checks for gun purchases and safe gun use.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The “Protect Minnesota campaign” – like every <\/em>anti-gun group in Minnesota, includign the “Million Mom March”, which might muster five or six “moms” for a protest these days – is an astroturf, checkbook advocacy group, and any Potemkin “gun owners” that are part of it are sock puppets, pets kept on the leash by “groups” like this.<\/p>\n

Across the state, gun deaths and injuries are on the rise, according to campaign information.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well, that sounds bad, doesn’t it?<\/p>\n

Of course, it’s utterly meaningless; the deaths and injuries are being caused by criminals. <\/em>And the Constitution doesn’t protect criminal activity!<\/p>\n

But the Constitution would seem to be the least of Martens<\/strike>‘ Pratt’s concerns:<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court debate recycles an old issue and as such, it is standing in the way of resolving firearm-related violence.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

BAD Supreme Court<\/em>! Get out of the way and quit interpreting the constitution!<\/p>\n

Attention, Anna Pratt – “recycling old issues” is what the SCOTUS does<\/em>!
\nI’m not sure who Anna Pratt is – but if Steve “Mister Furious” Perry’s goal is to turn the Minnesota Monitor<\/em> into the dumbest rantblog in the state, she’s gonna be a great help!<\/p>\n

CORRECTION: Foot pointed out that I, too, got a level of jurisprudence wrong. Fixed it. Suppose Anna Pratt will do the same?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The course of the Minnesota Monitor has been an interesting one. The MNMon is, and has always been, a bald-faced propaganda site, funded by “liberals with deep pockets” – after a year of official denials and stalling huffing and puffing, Eric Black admitted that there was some George Soros money in the mix. When they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[326,22],"tags":[201,274],"class_list":["post-2292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-alt-media","category-victim-disarmament","tag-heather-martens","tag-protectmn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2292"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49881,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2292\/revisions\/49881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}