Choosing your weapons wisely

In the comments to my last post advising people not to panic-buy guns because of COVID-19, I got a request from a regular wondering how to choose a first firearm wisely, and about safe storage practices. He said: “I’m thinking in the next year of getting a gun for home defense, and I’d like myself… Continue reading Choosing your weapons wisely

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Categorized as Firearms

PSA: COVID-19 is a bad reason to get a firearm

I’m a long-time advocate of more ordinary citizens getting themselves firearms and learning to use them safely and competently. But this is a public-service announcement: if you’re thinking of running out to buy a gun because of COVID-19, please don’t. There are disaster scenarios in which getting armed up in a hurry makes sense; the… Continue reading PSA: COVID-19 is a bad reason to get a firearm

Grasping Bloomberg’s nettle

Michael Bloomberg, the former Mayor of New York perhaps best known for taking fizzy drinks, and now a Democratic presidential aspirant, has just caused a bit of a kerfuffle by suggesting that minorities be disarmed to keep them alive. I think the real problem with Bloomberg’s remark is not that it reads as shockingly racist,… Continue reading Grasping Bloomberg’s nettle

Gratitude for Beto

Beto O’Rourke is a pretty risible character even among the clown show that is the 2020 cycle’s Democratic candidate-aspirants. A faux-populist with a history of burglary and DUI, he married the heiress of a billionaire and money-bombed his way to a seat in the House of Representatives, only to fail when he ran for the… Continue reading Gratitude for Beto

The Order of Defenders

Officiant: “One comes before us today who wishes to become a Sworn Brother. Let him approach.” Officiant: “Are there two Brothers present who will affirm that the candidate is of sound mind and good character, being aware that the penalty for error in this judgment is expulsion and disgrace?” Upon hearing affirmations, the officiant continues:… Continue reading The Order of Defenders

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Categorized as Firearms

Gun voodoo and intentionality

There’s a recent article about gun violence in Haiti that features the following quotes: But the anthropological lesson from Haiti is that the truth is more complex. It isn’t just the technological lethality of guns that makes them dangerous: They also exert a power on human agency. They change us. It is both the technology… Continue reading Gun voodoo and intentionality

The critical fraction

I’ve seen analyses of the long odds the U.S. government would face if it ever attempted to confiscate civilian firearms before. The Mathematics of Countering Tyranny seems like a particularly well done example. The authors compute that under very generous assumptions there are about 83000 door-knockers available to perform confiscation raids. Dividing that into the… Continue reading The critical fraction

Decentralized threats as the mother of liberty

Dave Kopel gives us a fascinating account of the divergence between American and British gun culture in The American Indian foundation of American gun culture. I learned some things from this article, which is not a trivial observation because I’ve studied the same process from some different angles. While Kopel’s article is excellent of its… Continue reading Decentralized threats as the mother of liberty

NRA loses the plot

Dear NRA leadership: are you out of your fucking minds? Supporting a ban on bump stocks in the wake of the Las Vegas massacre is a terrible idea, for all the usual reasons that there has never been any case in the history of the known universe in which supporting a ban on firearms or… Continue reading NRA loses the plot

Dilemmatizing the NRA

So, the Washington Post publishes yet another bullshit article on gun policy. In this one, the NRA is charged with racism because it doesn’t leap to defend the right of black men to bear arms without incurring a lethal level of police suspicion. In a previous blog post, I considered some relevant numbers. At 12%… Continue reading Dilemmatizing the NRA

Count the SKUs

The Washington Post is running a story alleging that surveys show gun ownership in the U.S,. is at a 40-year low. I won’t link to it. This is at the same time gun sales are at record highs. The WaPo’s explanation, is, basically, that all these guns are being bought by the same fourteen survivalists… Continue reading Count the SKUs

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What Amending the Constitution Cannot Do

An underappreciated fact about U.S. Constitutional law is that it recognizes sources of authority prior to the U.S. Constitution itself. It is settled law that the Bill of Rights, in particular, does not confer rights, it only recognizes “natural rights” which pre-exist the Bill of Rights and the Constitution and which – this is the… Continue reading What Amending the Constitution Cannot Do

What killed the duel?

A&D regulars will probably not be much surprised to learn that I’m something of a topic expert on the history of the duel of honor. This came up over on Slate Star Codex recently when I answered a question about the historical relationship of the duel or honor with street violence. I’ve read all the… Continue reading What killed the duel?

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Categorized as Firearms

Why I joined the NRA

After 20 years of evading joining the NRA, I finally did it last week. I’ve never been a huge fan of the NRA because, despite the fearsome extremist image the mainstream media tries to hang on it, the NRA is actually rather squishy about gun rights. A major symptom of this is its lack of… Continue reading Why I joined the NRA