Heller Denied D.C. Gun Permit

Dick Heller, the plaintiff in the landmark Supreme Court decision that overturned Washington, D.C.'s 32-year-old ban on handguns and established that the 2nd Amendment provided an individual right to own guns, was denied a handgun permit by the District yesterday. He was among the first in line Thursday morning to apply for a handgun permit. But when he tried to ...

D.C. Bans Guns with Red Tape

The District of Columbia has made it legal for residents to own a handgun after being so ordered by the United States Supreme Court.  But they're not making it easy. The plaintiff in the Supreme Court case that overturned Washington's strict 32-year-old handgun ban was among the first to arrive as the city started registering firearms.  Dick Heller showed up early ...

Gun Control Irony Alert

Under the provocative headline "The Thugs Win the Case," WaPo columnist Colbert King sniffs of the Supreme Court's ruling yesterday in Heller, There's one group of District residents absolutely unfazed by today's U.S. Supreme Court ruling shooting down the District's strict handgun ban: the dudes who have been blowing away their fellow citizens with abandon since the law was put on ...

Female Gun Market?

Megan McArdle has some interesting thoughts on the Supreme Court's decision today overturning DC's handgun ban. As she readily admits, you can get better legal analysis elsewhere. This, however, is a unique contribution to the debate: There is a distressing lack of attention to the female market in gun companies. I want something with accuracy and stopping power, but ...

Tokyo Stabbing Spree

A crazed Tokyo man has killed seven people in a stabbing spree. A man who police said "was tired of life" drove into a crowd of pedestrians Sunday and then went on a stabbing rampage in Tokyo's premier electronics and video game district, killing seven people and wounding 10, authorities said. The deadly lunchtime assault happened in Akihabara district after the ...

Lunch With Instapundit

I just had a lunch with Glenn Reynolds, who was in town to speak to the NRA Convention about Heller. We discussed such things as local politics, the high amusement value of the Democrat Presidential primary, Joss Whedon returning to Fox, and the fact that while the overall quality of movies is declining there are actually more TV shows ...

Gun Owners Not Uneducated, Poor, or Bitter

Syracuse University professor Arthur Brooks steps past the politics of "Bittergate" and looks at the actual facts. Barack Obama said of people in small town American that, "They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or antitrade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations." ...

On Bitterness, Cynicism and Frustration

So I'm just now getting around to following "bittergate"--the blogospheric furor that has erupted from Barack Obama's sociological observation that people vote on cultural issues because they don't trust the government on economic issues. (My colleague James has covered this matter here and here.) For further reference, here is the particular portion of the speech at issue, which ...

Obama on Guns, God, and Hate in Rural America

Barack Obama's foray into pop psychology, trying to explain why rural Pennsylvanians aren't warming to him and are asking him to talk more about patriotism, is causing quite the stir in the blogosphere. "You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now ...

Our Fine Government at Work

A man who mistakenly brought a load gun to Ronald Reagan National Airport was arrested by the TSA. At first glance you might think, "Well duh. Sounds like government is doing its job for once." Not so fast. WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A passenger who went through an airport security checkpoint -- before remembering that he had a loaded gun -- ...