“Judge in Virginia Strikes Down Federal Limit on Age of Handgun Buyers,” Glenn Thrush, New York Times
“18-to-20-year-olds can’t be barred from buying handguns, judge rules,” Salvador Rizzo, Washington Post
“Children and teens are more likely to die by guns than anything else,” Annette Choi, CNN
“Child and Teen Firearm Mortality in the U.S. and Peer Countries,” Matt McGough, Krutika Amin, Nirmita Panchal, and Cynthia Cox, KFF Global Health Policy
The Supreme Court of the United States thinks you should be able to carry a concealed handgun in public just because you think it’s cool and want to feel like a big shot. For over a century, New York had required gun owners to have a reason to carry a concealed weapon. Police issued concealed carry permits to business owners who carry bags of cash to a bank’s night deposit facility, those who had a demonstrable proper cause to be concerned for their personal safety, and so on. Now any dumb schmuck who hasn’t been caught committing a crime — yet — will be enabled to do so, with deadly consequences, thanks to six SCOTUS conservative ideologues. That doesn’t sound like a “well-regulated militia” to us.
What can you expect?
More gunshot deaths, murders and suicides.
More civilians killed by police, who will be more likely to assume that anyone they come into contact with is armed with a concealed deadly weapon.
More:
“Supreme Court strikes down New York’s concealed carry gun law,” Oriana Gonzalez, Axios
“U.S. Supreme Court expands gun rights, strikes down New York law,” Andrew Chung and Lawrence Hurley, Reuters
“Supreme Court strikes N.Y. law, finds right to carry guns outside home,” Robert Barnes and Ann E. Marimow, Washington Post
“SCOTUS Strikes Down New York Gun Control Law, Expanding Gun Rights In Wake Of Mass Shootings,” Kate Riga, Talking Points Memo
“While the Second Amendment protects every citizen’s right to own a gun, it does not require taxpayers to subsidize that right,” said San José mayor Sam Liccardo in a statement.
U.S. states and DC require automobile drivers to obtain liability insurance or post cash bonds against liability, and motor vehicles, unlike firearms, aren’t even designed to be killing machines. Nowhere does the Second Amendment forbid a well-regulated program to ensure firearms responsiblity.
More:
“San Jose passes first U.S. law requiring gun owners to get liability insurance and pay annual fee,” CBS News
“A city will require gun owners to have liability insurance in an effort to incentivize safety,” Timothy Bella, Washington Post
“Florida Christian School in Miami put a few order forms on its website to make school supply shopping easier. Parents can purchase their children T-shirts bearing the school’s logo or some snugly winter wear. Or, for $120, they can buy them bullet-resistant panels designed to slip into their backpacks in case of a school shooting.”
— “Florida school lets parents buy bulletproof panels for students to put in backpacks,” Travis M. Andrews, Washington Post
More:
“It weighs less than a book and can stop a bullet. It’s a backpack option at Miami school.” Alex Harris, Miami Herald
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“When criminologist Dallas Drake and two interns first searched for church shootings in the United States, they found 137 instances between 1980 and 2005, the majority of them causing no deaths. More recently, Drake decided to update the database, and found a disturbing trend: There were more shootings in Christian churches between 2006 and 2016—147 of them—than in the 25 years prior.”
— “Church Shootings Are Becoming Much More Common,” Francie Diep, Pacific Standard
More:
“The other deadly church shooting in America on Sunday,” Cleve Wootson, Washington Post
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Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
According to White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, “there will certainly be a time for that policy discussion to take place, but that’s not the place that we’re in at this moment.”
So we can’t talk about sensible gun control measures after a senseless mass killing. It’s like that guy who won’t fix the hole in his roof when it’s raining because he doesn’t want to get wet, and when the sun shines he says he doesn’t need to fix it.
More:
“Now is exactly the right time to talk about gun politics,” Mark Kelly, Washington Post
“Chuck Todd: ‘Why is now not the time’ to talk about gun violence?” Josh Delk, The Hill
“Mass shootings are an American problem. There’s an American solution.” Chris Murphy, Washington Post
“If Newtown Wasn’t Enough, Why Would Las Vegas Be Enough?” Charles P. Pierce, Esquire
“Why ‘thoughts and prayers’ is starting to sound so profane,” Kirsten Powers, Washington Post
“We don’t need your prayers in Sin City. We need gun control,” C. Moon Reed, Los Angeles Times
“Washington’s Ritualized Response to Mass Shootings,” Ryan Lizza, The New Yorker
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