"Make My Day": SCOTUS and America's Gun Fetish

I have to admit that I'm a Clint Eastwood fan -- though I never got into the Dirty Harry movies from which I took the title of this post.  Yesterday the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, struck down Chicago's 28 year old handgun ban.  In this decision, they extended an earlier decision to strike down the District of Columbia's ban to all jurisdictions.  Though leaving room for regulation, outright bans will not be permitted.  Now, it's important to note that Chicago's ban really hasn't worked well.  Handgun-related homicides remain extremely high in that city, but of course when you have a patchwork set of regulations that cover the nation, it's pretty hard to regulate gun ownership and use in a city the size of Chicago.

What is disturbing about yesterday's decision, to me, is not just the reasoning behind the decision, which props up even more the idea that the 2nd Amendment grants every American the right "to keep and bear arms," but the ongoing love affair that a considerable portion of America has with guns. 

Before I address that love affair that is celebrated in the Westerns of yesteryear, including those of Eastwood, let me note the reasoning given by the majority, that gun ownership is a fundamental right.  Even though they leave room for regulation, the NRA is adamant that they oppose most if not all forms of regulation.  Thus, this isn't the end of the debate, and with the current makeup of the Supreme Court, which not just leans right, but is firmly on the right (Anthony Kennedy doesn't seem to be swinging left very often these days).     

The question that I want to raise at the end of this concerns the American Gun Fetish, the one pictured in those classic westerns.  A goodly number of Americans seem to long for the days when everyone strapped on their six-shooter and walked around town, fully loaded.  Don't get me wrong, for some reason I like all those old movies and shows, but I don't long for the days of the old west when the quickest draw won the day.  I don't see the need to ban guns entirely -- many of my friends are hunters -- but I think we need sensible gun laws that first of all keep guns out of the hands of those who shouldn't have them, that require instruction and licensure to use them, and that cross state lines so that one state's or city's regulations are not undermined by the laxity of laws in nearby jurisdictions. 

So, go ahead and make my day by making sensible laws that protect the populace from runaway gun violence.  And most of all, let's let go of this gun fetish!  You know, that fetish that led to one state recently legalizing the carrying of guns in churches -- like we need that -- or even more bizarre the churches that bless the guns of members.  No need for such things.

Dem Ticket Palin by Comparison

The 2008 U.S. Presidential election just keeps on getting more and more interesting with every passing day. Of course this pace cannot continue, and now that both parties have set their full tickets things will settle down a bit to the serious campaigning, particularly once next week's Republican National Convention passes. But what presumptive Republican nominee John McCain did today was toss a serious curve ball to the Democrats and their nominee Barrack Obama. For months, the McCain camp has pointed at a lack of experience on Obama's part as a serious shortcoming. And for their part, the Obama folks have called McCain nothing more than the same old tired Washington politics, and a continuation of Bush policies. So when given the chance to name Vice-Presidential running mates, who did each candidate choose? Obama chose the ultimate Washington insider, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware, a man whose middle name is 'same old politics'. Then today McCain names as his running mate the Governor of Alaska, Sara Palin, whose national political experience is almost as short as Obama's. So the Dems have a man at the head of their ticket who is a 3-year Senator with no governing experience, where 2 of those years have been spent running for President, and a man at the back end of their ticket who is as 'more of the same old Washington politics' as any person around. Meanwhile the Republicans have at the top of their ticket a seasoned political veteran and universally acknowledged American hero, and at the back end of the ticket a woman, the first woman to ever be nominated on the top Republican ticket. Once the shock of not having someone like Tom Ridge, Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, or even Joe Lieberman as the Veep choice wears off, the conservative base of the Republican party should find much to love about Sara Palin. First off, she is pro-life, which should be a litmus test for any Republican. Second, she is a lifetime member of the NRA, an outdoors woman with a passion for intelligent, informed environmentalism and the 2nd amendment. Her state's proximity to Russia and it's abundance in prospective oil make her experiences with those issues stronger than most. She has governed, albeit for just the past two years in Alaska. But that is two more years than the man at the top of the Dems ticket has ever governed in his life. In her personal life, she was born in Idaho and raised in Alaska. She is the 20-year wife of her high school boyfriend. And she is a 5-time mom, having just given birth in April to her 2nd son, a Downs Syndrome child. She is a woman, a wife, a mother, a Governor. She is an attractive, articulate, intelligent Vice-Presidential candidate for the Republican Party, which makes this ticket every bit as historic as the Dems ticket. Uh, yes, I did say she was attractive. That is not a slight or a sin to notice. The woman was the runner-up in the Miss Alaska pageant a couple decades back, and still looks great today. So sue me for noticing. In November, the United States will either elect it's first African-American to one of the top two offices, or the first woman. Experienced war hero backed by governing, conservative woman on the Republican side, or inexperienced liberal backed by old-time Washington politico on the Democrat side. The choice is now clear, and when held up against the light of the Republican ticket, the Dems choice is palin' by comparison.