(Photo courtesy of Oleg Volk)
Patrik Jonsson of the Christian Science Monitor recently wrote about a startling trend in the media presence at the recent National Rifle Association convention:
In the press box, bloggers outnumbered national reporters by a good margin. And officially, nearly 50 bloggers — compared to 100 mainstream print journalists — were accredited by the NRA press office to attend the 138th annual convention
Experts say that ratio at a major national news event featuring a panoply of GOP stars — including John McCain and Mitt Romney — presents a stunning affirmation of the rise of a mix of both partisan and fiercely independent and sometimes downright cranky “New Media,” marking its growing power to not only cover breaking news, but set the tone for political policy…
Comments
"The District of Columbia, home of the VPC, is the only place in the country to maintain a total gun ban for over 30 years, a policy VPC consistently supported."
Not quite true. I've been working this issue for years, so please bear with me: DC has never had a "total gun ban".
Instead, the District has used a combination of laws to make it impossible for ordinary citizens to do certain things, pre Heller.
Pre Heller, an ordinary DC citizen could not buy a new handgun. She couldnt' keep a shotgun loaded and ready for use in self defence. She couldn't get a concealed carry licence unless she was politically connected.
In a way, the sort of gun laws DC had pre Heller were much more dangerous than a "total gun ban". By preserving, in however so attenuated form, some type of "gun ownership", the DC Council was able to argue that "we aren't banning guns, just establishing "reasonable restrictions" on their storage and use."
Andy, you are technically correct, but in reality, the law was written and enforced in a way to make it a total ban on functioning firearms. If they don't function, they're not firearms, but useless curios. I called it like it is, and the Supreme Court did, too. Heller treated it like a total gun ban. Even though Heller admitted that there are certain reasonable restrictions to the Second Amendment, they were clear that what DC was doing wasn't reasonable, it was a total violation of the 2AM.
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