LAGC
LAGC's JournalREJOICE! The Canadian long gun registry is DEAD!
There is another burden, as intrusive, unfair and onerous as the registry, to which the federal Conservatives must now turn. That burden is the minimum sentencing law on gun crimes, which was enacted four years ago. It's not working because, like the gun registry, it is unfairly catching in its wide net people who do not deserve to be entangled in the mesh.
This week, Ontario Superior Court Justice Anne Malloy bravely threw down the gauntlet when she refused to sentence 27-year-old Leroy Smickle to the minimum three years in prison for the "crime" of posing for his own Facebook photo, alone in his apartment late at night in his underwear, holding a gun. Malloy, who gave Smickle a one-year sentence of house arrest as a sop to the law, said given the circumstances, sending him to the slammer for three years would be "unfair, outrageous, abhorrent and intolerable."
She's absolutely right, but she could have gone farther. She could have thrown the case out of court, as there was no reason for the police to charge Smickle with any crime. They burst in on him looking for his cousin, frightening Smickle so much that his laptop and pistol fell to the floor. True, he had been holding a restricted, loaded weapon, but he was endangering no one and wasn't actively engaged in committing any crime.
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http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Shooting+down+laws/6161214/story.html
Good to see our neighbors to the north becoming more free...
I Shook Glenn Greenwald's Hand Tonight
The ACLU of Idaho threw its annual Bill of Rights Celebration dinner and auction tonight in downtown Boise. Glenn was the featured speaker. As an ACLU volunteer, I got to attend the event for free, but I bought a copy of his latest book (which he signed) proceeds of which he's donating to the ACLU of Idaho Foundation. The event was only advertised about a month in advance, but we sold about 130 tickets at $75/pop before tonight, and the remaining 20 seats sold out quickly at the door. We also raised approximately another $10K in silent auction items, plus several thousand more in donation pledges.
As for the speech, what can I say? He was great. He said right from the get-go that he wasn't going to re-hash all the ways the Obama Administration has followed in the foot-steps of the Bush Administration, because after 3 years it was so glaringly obvious, it wasn't even necessary to explain it anymore. Especially not to this crowd. Instead, he focused on the "war on terror" in general, and what it means for dissent in this country, and abroad. He pointed out that the dictionary definition of terrorism ("the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes"
was used by our government against even those who simply disagreed with our foreign policies, yet REAL acts of terrorism (drone strikes against women, children, and U.S. citizens) for political purposes committed by this government are given a free pass. While its easy for Americans to excuse such terrorism committed by our own government, since after all its "One of THEM, not one of US" -- he pointed out that even though many of us may trust the current administration to not wantonly abuse such authority, what about future administrations down the road? What would a Michele Bachmann or a Sarah Palin administration do with such broad powers? To reach out and detain, even kill U.S. citizens, without so much as a trial or proving to the world the case against them, only because the government says they need to go?
He touched on Wikileaks, pointed out how when he put the call out for people to give Wikileaks financial support, so that they could have more resources to hire more people to vet all the leaked info they were receiving, he got dozens and dozens of concerned responses, all saying: "I really want to help, but I'm AFRAID of being put on a list! What if Wikileaks is eventually labeled a 'terrorist organization' by the U.S. government and everyone who gave money rounded up and charged with providing material support?" Indeed, many of us have been scared and intimidated into inaction, because of how broad these new government powers really are.
It was a powerful speech.
During the book signing afterward, I told him: "DemocraticUnderground.com says hi," then after telling him my name, added: "You have many fans and many haters," at which point he chuckled and said he's come across several links to this site and realizes how polarizing of a figure he is, but he appreciates the support. Later on, after almost everyone had left, I got him alone and asked him if he is still in regular contact with Julian Assange. He said he was. He added that he thought it was pretty likely that he would be extradited to Sweden to face those charges, but his spirit is holding up pretty well for the most part still. I thanked him for keeping everyone abreast of the situation with Assange, and reporting news that no one else seems to dare want to report. I ran into him again a third time as we both entered the elevators. He was going up (to his room, presumably -- the event took place in a hotel) and I was going down to my car. He said a final "Good night" and I responded "Yeah, take care."
Say what you will about him, but he's a really polite and likable guy. I can see why he gives Establishment Democrats such headaches, but he's really only doing what President Obama told us to do in the first place when we elected him: "If I ever stray, hold my feet to the fire." While I suspect most everyone in that room will probably end up voting for Obama in the end anyway, it won't be without much disappointment and regret. Disappointment that the Obama Administration is still prosecuting so many policies of the Bush Administration, and regret that our protests have fallen upon deaf ears. We really need more people like Glenn to open up more people's eyes and see how dangerous following in the foot-steps of Bush/Cheney really is, so that hopefully, during President Obama's second term, he is more receptive to civil libertarian concerns. Hopefully, once getting re-elected is no longer a concern, he'll finally listen to his base and act to change some of the worst holdover policies of the Bush Era. Because as Glenn pointed out: "The longer these pernicious policies stay in place, the harder its going to be to get rid of them later."
Glenn Greenwald is a true patriot and a scholar. I hope one day the Democratic Party finally listens to him and takes a firm stand in defense of the Bill of Rights, not because its necessarily popular, but because its necessarily right.
What an awesome night.
Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Several 2nd Amendment Cases
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Williams v. State (Maryland)....asked the Supreme Court to decide whether the Second Amendment protects a right to carry or transport a registered handgun outside the home. Mr. Williams was appealing his conviction for possessing a handgun in public without the required state permit allowing him to do so.
United States v. Masciandaro...involved a man convicted of violating the federal prohibition on carrying or possessing a loaded weapon in vehicles in National Parks after he was found asleep in his vehicle with a loaded handgun in a national park. He sought review from the Supreme Court of whether that prohibition violates the Second Amendment right to bear arms; asking the high court, like the petitioner in Williams, whether the right extends beyond the home.
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While you might think these decisions on the Court's part to not hear these Second Amendment cases means it's reluctant to reconsider the Amendment at all, that's not quite right:
Despite the of certiorari denials in all the aforementioned Second Amendment cases, the fact that the Supreme Court has been requesting responses in these cases shows the Justices are paying unusually close attention to the Second Amendment issue. Of the roughly 8,000 petitions for review filed with the Supreme Court every year, only in a few hundred cases does the Court request a response from the opposing party. When the Court requests a response brief, it is a strong sign that the Court is interested in hearing argument in that case. And, such a request increases the probability that the Court will grant oral argument by roughly 9 times, from 0.9% to 8.6%....
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http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/guns/supreme-court-refuses-hear-several-2nd-amendment-cases
Wow. It almost sounds as if the SCOTUS is telling the government: you can't restrict guns inside the home, but you can restrict the hell out of guns in public. And so what if the government restricts guns to people based off of misdemeanor convictions? And tough luck on getting Heller and McDonald retroactively applied...
And some people think this is a "pro-gun" court.
Did Democrats Give Up in Gun Control Debate?
There are some exceptions to the rule — for instance, according to the General Social Survey, conducted intermittently since 1972, the percentage of Americans who think permits should be required before a gun can be obtained has gradually risen (to 79 percent in 2008 from 72 percent in 1972). Background checks for gun owners are overwhelmingly popular, attracting the support of as many as 90 percent of Americans. And while most Americans say they do not want gun control regulations to become stricter, even fewer — about 10 percent — think they should be made more lax.
Still, the overall pattern is reasonably clear. According to Gallup surveys, for instance, the number of Americans favoring a ban on handguns has been on a long-term decline and is now about 30 percent, down almost 10 percentage points from a decade earlier:
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It is perhaps not surprising, then, that support for gun control measures has declined in recent years, with one of the parties essentially having surrendered on the issue. Somewhere along the line — perhaps between 2000 and 2004, when the rhetoric in their platform changed significantly — Democrats concluded that the issue was a political loser for them and they stopped fighting back.
It may also be that gun control has became less a priority for the Democratic Party’s key stakeholders. On one hand, major cities — where Democratic voters and donors have long been concentrated — became much safer during the decade of the 2000s, and so gun violence would have seemed a less immediate threat to an Upper East Side liberal in 2008 than it would have in 1988.
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http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/11/did-democrats-give-up-in-gun-control-debate/
Pretty interesting analysis by Nate Silver there at the New York Times.
Lower crime rates have lead to less households owning guns, yet people are becoming more tolerant of guns in general.
Long before the McDonald or Heller decisions, the Democratic Party acknowledged individual right to keep and bear arms, which makes it harder to push for gun control now.
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