Quote of the Day

You can’t help but wonder how long before the border, for decades little more than a welcoming line on maps, becomes hardened somehow.

It already is, psychologically. It’s getting so you have to remind yourself that the two states are still part of the same country, with a common history and traditions. (The governors definitely need this counsel.) But when one side is threatening doctors in say, Coeur d’Alene, with a crime for even suggesting that citizens might travel to the other side — to Spokane, say — for their health care, wouldn’t a logical step at some point be to try to stop the citizens from going?

Same with buying assault weapons, except in the other direction?

I am not making a prediction that we will someday have a literal “Checkpoint Charlie” on the Idaho-Washington border.

But everything else written in this column sounds completely insane, yet it’s all true. So I’ve learned in this era of America fracturing — don’t shrug about the prospect that the crackup may be only just beginning.

Danny Westneat
April 22, 2023
The Cold War between WA and neighbor Idaho gets hotter

I have sometimes wondered about a similar checkpoint. Although I envisioned it at the line between King County (which contains Seattle) and anything east of there.

In any case, the difference in gun availability will be resolved in a year or two as the most oppressive of Washington gun laws will be struck down by the courts. I expect the abortion issue will remain for some time.

Quote of the Day

The turnout was very good, overflowing into other rooms with about six to one against the ban. The witnesses laid out concise arguments with good data and delved into the actual causes of mass killings.

Shawn Herrin
April 19, 2023
Blue State Shoots Down Ban On So-Called ‘Assault Weapons’

I’m surprised! Data and arguments of any type are usually pointless in opposition to gun grabbers.

Quote of the Day

Oftentimes, the guns end up in the wrong hands. So, what do we do to make sure, hey, if you’re practicing responsible gun ownership, don’t leave your gun in an unlocked car. Don’t leave it unsecured in your car.

Gary Carter Jr.
Louisiana State Senator (D)
April 15, 2023
A large number of gun crimes are committed using guns stolen from unlocked cars. A Louisiana lawmaker now wants to hold those car owners liable.

Of course he wants to make the liable. Anything to increase the cost of gun ownership. It seems to me, under Bruen analysis, this is unconstitutional.

It is never about quickly locking up the criminals who have actual responsibility. For them, it is catch and release. By the time they go to prison they typically have been arrested many times:

This guy thinks it is entirely acceptable to blame the victim of a gun theft. I blame politicians like him.

Quote of the Day

So I was proud to be the most pro-gun pro-Second Amendment president you’ve ever had in the White House. I think that’s been acknowledged. And, with your support in 2024, I will be your loyal friend and fearless champion once again as the 47th president of the United States.

Donald Trump
April 14, 2023
Trump to NRA: I’ll Be ‘Your Loyal Friend, Fearless Champion’

Really? So let’s talk about bump stocks for about 30 seconds.

How do you know if a politician is lying? That’s right. His lips are moving.

I will give him credit for some great judges. But he is not loyal.

Quote of the Day

That’s something that people who support gun control measures need to understand: The war is lost. There is no conceivable way for things to change for the better within the next 20 to 30 years, short of a national divorce. There is no way to change hearts and minds of Republicans or the courts. There is no way to change who is in office in most states. There is no way to replace who sits on the courts quickly or change conservative disdain for stare decisis.

Brynn Tannehill
April 10, 2023
The Grim Truth: The War on Guns Is Lost

It is nice of him to admit this. Now if they would just just surrender and stop fighting a lot of money, time, and lives could be saved.

It is also revealing that he believes this is grim news and that somehow stare decisis was involved in declaring many of the existing gun laws are unconstitutional. I suppose that makes it easier to believe he and his ilk are not the baddies here. Delusions are often functional.

Quote of the Day

In ten years the Soviet Union went from being a perpetual world dominating superpower to literal non-existence and is now becoming a forgotten chapter of world history. More of a kitschy joke than a cautionary tale.

But Ayn Rand was right. This was no laughing matter. Millions of people were trapped for decades, in countries where human life was nothing, less than nothing—and they knew it. They lived in constant terror from morning to night and at night they were waiting for the doorbell to ring. In countries where there were no law or any rights of any kind, where basic necessities like food and housing were a constant struggle for everyone and they were absolutely forbidden to leave.

Did they all life happily ever after when the Soviet Union dissolved? Of course not. Utopias don’t exist, but progress does. And so do victories by good over evil. They happen all the time, both personally and politically.

The foes of liberty are many and they are powerful. But they are not particularly impressive. They will do everything within their ability to convince others that their might is eternal. That battle against them is pointless and doomed to fail. This is just another one of their many lies. It is said that they will never give up.

Yet does wanting power over others mean they will necessarily get it and get it easily? Does the fact that they supposedly will never give up somehow imply that their opponents should? Or does it imply the opposite. Evil people surrender all the time. At a certain point the costs, in every sense of the term, simply become too high.

They are not all knowing. Far from it. They are often not even particularly bright. They are not all powerful. They are men and women, far closer to snakes than they are to gods. They can, will, and have been defeated many, many, times. It is possible that those of us who fight for the dignity of mankind will lose our fight. It is not possible that we must lose our fight. That is the white pill.

Michael Malice
December 2022

The last three paragraphs resonated with me in regard to the opponents to the right to keep and bear arms. The lies, the evil, the individuals who are not particularly bright, the seeking of power over others, the belief in their power (nukes and F15s), and yet they are far closer to snakes than to gods.

I highly recommend this book.