Turnabout

I’ve said it for nigh-on 20 years, now; gun control is the class war the Left’s been barbering about for the past century.  And they are the patricians.

And the plebeians are winning. 

Glenn Reynolds notes something I’ve been talking about for the past half-decade; the legal, social and moral landscape of the gun question and the Second Amendment has inverted completely over the past 25 years:

Overall, the trend of the past couple of decades seems to be toward expanding gun rights, just as the trend in the 1950s and 1960s was toward expanding free speech rights. America has more guns in private hands than ever before, even as crime rates fall, and, after a half-century or so of anti-gun hysteria, the nation seems to be reverting to its generally gun-friendly traditions.

This is a state of affairs that seemed almost inconceivable a mere two decades ago, and therein lies a reminder: It often seems as if the deck is stacked, and change is inconceivable. Twenty years ago, the prospect of this kind of expansion in constitutional freedom seemed very dim. But in America, change, when it comes, can be sudden and dramatic — even when, as here, the general current of punditry and political opinion seems set in stone. Keep that in mind, as you contemplate other political issues.

And there’s an important lesson there; while the Second Amendment is in the ascendant, it’ll only stay there with constant vigilance and effort – and in the meantime, we have many other civil liberties that’ve been serving as bureaucratic playgrounds for decades now; the Fourth, Fifth and Tenth Amendments in particular are in about the same state today as the Second was thirty years ago.

2 thoughts on “Turnabout

  1. Hoping the war on the Boy Scouts might be the last straw for the lavender mafia.

  2. If the republican party worked with the same resolve as the pro-second amendment movement they wouldn’t be in the shape they’re in now.

    Even though he’s been silent on the issue lately, I believe that destroying the second amendment is the president’s top priority. Having committed the unforgivable sin of pretty much withstanding his concerted efforts to destroy them, pro-gun Americans, the president will stop at nothing to recapture his honor; no one says “no” to Billy Mumy on the Twilight Zone …

    Mr. Berg is correct in the need for constant vigilance. Just because the jackal isn’t chewing on you at the moment, it doesn’t mean he likes you. He’s just not hungry enough yet.

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