Guns and Crime

Just because the criminal justice reform has bipartisan support doesn’t make it right

Published

8 months ago

December 19, 2018

Just because the criminal justice reform has bipartisan support doesnt make it right

Don’t get confused by headlines about tremendous bipartisan support for the First Step Act, the criminal justice reform legislation that was passed by the Senate today. Yes, it is overwhelmingly liked by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle as well as the President, but there’s are two very important agendas surrounding the bill that should make citizens squirm.

First, it’s important to note that a small handful of those who are promoting the bill, including Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), have righteous intentions. These intentions may be a bit misguided and may have produced an end result that missed wildly on its stated goals, but their hearts are in the right place. This component of bipartisanship is good for America, especially considering how far apart these two are on the ideological spectrum. It’s a shame it was wasted on such an obtuse piece of legislation.

As for most of the other Republicans supporting the bill, their hearts are not in the right place. They’re being disingenuous. That’s why this bill had so much trouble for years getting to the floor in the first place. These disingenuous agendas weren’t in play then, but they are now.

The first one is financially driven. The right-leaning Koch political machine supports the bill, which means any Republicans who oppose it are not going to get the much-desired financial support that comes from the Kochs’ vast network of GOP donors. It’s as blatantly clear as any corporate lobby in DC. Most Republicans wouldn’t dare pass up on the free campaign money, or worse, risk getting a primary opponent as a result.

The second reason is based on the success of the bill itself. Those who might have voted against the bill saw the writing on the wall when the President backed it. There was nothing that could stop it from getting passed. Republican lawmakers who may be vulnerable to losing even more minority voters than they normally would could not go on record as opposing the bill or they’d risk having it thrown in their face during their next reelection campaign. The bill is highly favored by African-American and Hispanic voters, even if they’re Republicans. Since the bill was going to pass anyway, why fight it?

The reality of the bill is that, despite the President’s claims, it will not make the streets safer. It will not reduce drug trafficking. It will not address the real problems in the criminal justice system.

What it WILL do is open the floodgates way too much. That was the trade-off that was made to get it “bipartisan” support. Democrats on the far left were unwilling to support it early on because it didn’t release enough criminals. To get the support of people like Senator Kamala Harris, the scope needed to be expanded.

There are definitely perversions of justice that need to be addressed. Some people are in jail for ridiculously long terms because of unfortunate loopholes in the system. But this bill doesn’t just help those who are being incarcerated for too long. It helps those who probably should be incarcerated for longer. The concerns of people like Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Conservative Review’s Daniel Horowitz were not satisfied by the meek changes they made to it recently.

A report by the CBO tells a very different story from the one the President and the Koch brothers are pitching:

CBO: First Step Act will release dangerous criminals … and add to the deficit

The revelation from the CBO of how many convicts will leave federal prison early is jolting in its own right. Proponents of jailbreak, who support this and similar bills precisely because it lets violent and dangerous felons out of prison, suddenly get shy when there is public scrutiny on their legislation. They angrily contend that their bill is “reform” and won’t release anyone. Well, now the CBO confirms that is not the case. Imagine releasing the equivalent of 53,000 inmates in one year from the federal population, which houses only 10 percent of the nation’s prisoners, usually the worst career felons, such as cartel and gang members.

Nearly everyone who is supporting the bill has an incentive that is very different from the stated goal of reforming the criminal justice system. We aren’t seeing bipartisanship in action. We’re seeing special interest groups hitting both sides of the table.

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Guns and Crime

Let’s subsidize the 2nd Amendment

Published

17 hours ago

August 19, 2019

JD Rucker

If there’s one thing that chaps my fiscal conservative khakis, it’s subsidies. Too much in taxpayer dollars is given to people and private businesses through programs designed to “help” them despite the demonstrable reality that most subsidies merely enable continued failure. For example, ethanol subsidies combined with fuel mix mandates artificially inflate demand and price while setting farmers up for a cataclysmic fall when superior alternatives arise. Then, there are sugar subsidies which take money from taxpayers so they can then spend MORE on sugar-based products than they would if the subsidies didn’t exist.

In our welfare state, individual subsidies are often panned by the right and embraced by the left, but there are clear arguments about both perspectives. People really do need help sometimes, and it’s not just because they’re lazy or wishing to live off welfare. Many need help through hard times so they can get themselves back on their feet. On the flip side, the left’s perspective that more people on welfare means they’re helping more people is one of the most backward concepts latched onto by a political ideology known for its backwards concepts.

As a whole, both individual and corporate subsidies need to be reduced by weening as many as possible off the assistance merry-go-round through increased prosperity and opportunity, In many cases, this can be accomplished by pulling government out of the way and letting Americans do what Americans are capable of doing when unhindered.

With my obligatory anti-subsidy rant out of the way, let’s talk about guns. More importantly, let’s talk about crime. As crazy ideas go, this is one that’s certain to be panned by both the right and the left, but it’s crazy enough to work. As I’ve said before, the way to mitigate gun violence is to make gun laws looser, not stricter. A gunman’s favorite venue is a place where there are no other guns present. Gun-free zones are massacre spots waiting to happen.

The argument that more “good guys with guns” would help relieve the so-called gun violence epidemic is demonstrated in places where the opposite is the law of the land. Chicago decided to eliminate “good guys with guns” with obtuse gun laws that restrict law abiding citizens from owning firearms. But their gun problem has consistently been getting worse. This makes no sense to the left who can’t seem to grasp that criminals will do as criminals do. They’ll acquire, carry, and utilize firearms illegally, and in a place where the law abiding citizenry is disarmed, it’s the criminals who will rule the streets.

It’s time to give the people the means by which they can defend themselves against crime and government tyranny. Instead of trying to take guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens, we should arm them. It’s time for the government to subsidize the 2nd Amendment.

Any adult who is willing to go through gun safety, care, and usage training and who has no criminal record should be offered a “personal firearm” with varying degrees of government assistance. Low-income families can get them for free, one per household. Others can receive a voucher to help subsidize their purchase of qualified firearms from registered dealers participating in the program.

Just because someone can’t afford a gun doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have one. If the government allows easy and often free access to healthcare, education, food, and other necessities, they should also offer free and easy access to the one thing that can protect them when things get really bad.

Many will balk. They’ll say it’s a terrible idea because more guns means more crime. But they’re wrong. More guns in the hands of the right people will mean less crime. Moreover, the knowledge that any given household a criminal may intend to enter has a certain likelihood of having an armed resident is a deterrent in itself.

There are plenty of drawbacks, which is why this concept is practically impossible to implement in America today. The first time a government-subsidized firearm is used in a deadly crime will be the policy’s death knell. As a society, we have a tendency to focus on individual instances rather than the big picture, which is why calls for “assault weapons” bans are so prevalent despite the fact that less than 1% of 1% of AR-15 owners use their firearms to commit a crime.

But wait a second. You’re thinking it’s ridiculous to call for government to help people acquire more firearms because some will be used to harm others. It’s a terrible plan, you’re thinking. But isn’t that the argument made by pro-abortion activists who are calling for government to fund abortion?

Obviously this is article is (mostly) tongue-in-cheek. It’ll never happen. But it’s no less ludicrous than people calling on government to fund abortion clinics like Planned Parenthood. As Will Chamberlain from Human Events noted, the same calls to subsidize Planned Parenthood could be made into calls to subsidize the NRA.

By denying federal funding to the @NRA

Democrats are restricting meaningful access to citizens’ 2nd Amendment rights

No American should have to pay to exercise their constitutional right to keep and bear arms

Free guns for everyone!

— Will Chamberlain (@willchamberlain) August 19, 2019

At least with gun subsidies it’s certain that doing so will save lives. With abortion subsidies, it’s all about taking life.

Why should low-income families have to choose between putting food on the table and having access to the tools that can keep their family safe? The left calls for subsidized abortions to take lives. Why not subsidized guns to save them?

We are currently forming the American Conservative Movement. If you are interested in learning more, we will be sending out information in a few weeks.

Mixi.Media News

Guns and Crime

Keep attacking gun control. The President is listening.

Published

21 hours ago

August 19, 2019

CQ Livingston

Keep attacking gun control The President is listening

We may never know what the President heard. Perhaps it was internal polling that showed his base has no appetite for gun control. Maybe he read an article (we’ve posted about two dozen on gun control in the last month) or watched a video detailing how the bipartisan measures being proposed are both unconstitutional and ineffective. It could have been an adviser or someone close to him not named Ivanka who said gun control is a bad idea.

Whatever prompted the change of heart, the President indicated over the weekend that he has soured on universal background checks and now Democrats are up in arms attacking his apparent backtrack.

Democratic leaders assail Trump’s apparent reversal on background checks

Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi are lamenting President Donald Trump’s apparent about-face on enhanced backgrounds for firearm sales, with Schumer calling the move “not only disappointing but also heartbreaking.”

Trump told reporters this weekend he will look “very strongly” at ideas from both Democrats and Republicans but said to remember that “we already have a lot of background checks.” Those remarks followed Trump’s Aug. 7 claim that “we can bring up background checks like we’ve never had before.”

In the Senate minority leader’s view, Trump’s remarks amounted to backing away from burgeoning bipartisan talks on reviving and amending the background checks bill by Sens. Joe Manchin and Pat Toomey.

Following a string of three mass shootings in less than two weeks, many Republican lawmakers were joining their Democratic counterparts in calling for one or more of three primary legislative actions: universal background checks (which already passed the House), incentives for states to pass red flag gun laws, and a new “assault weapons” ban. The last one was always very unlikely. Universal background checks were seemingly a foregone conclusion until the President’s remarks over the weekend.

That leaves us red flag gun laws. Hopefully, the President will realize they are ineffective, risky to both law enforcement and gun owners (like Gary J. Willis), and most importantly they’re clearly unconstitutional. This draconian measure shouldn’t just be rebuked by the White House. It should be repealed in the 17 states that already have them in place.

Conservatives need to keep up the pressure and let the White House, GOP, and President Trump know we must focus on real solutions to violent criminals that do not include taking away law abiding citizens’ 2nd Amendment rights.

We are currently forming the American Conservative Movement. If you are interested in learning more, we will be sending out information in a few weeks.

Mixi.Media News

Conservatism

Why isn’t gun control considered to be sexist as well as racist?

Published

1 day ago

August 18, 2019

DParker

Why isnt gun control considered to be sexist as well as racist

Liberty [Gun] Control is rooted in racism. It also adversely affects women. Why isn’t it considered to be racist and sexist?

A recent video from One America News Network entitled: ‘Gun Rights Are Women’s Rights’ made this very important point on the topic of Liberty Control. The basic facts of science have one sex at a disadvantage to the other, with guns being the great equalizer.

Why doesn’t the Left have to answer for the sexism and racism of Liberty control?

These days, the national socialist Left wields pejoratives Racism and Sexism like an assault weapon. So why aren’t these labels applied to them for their incessant attacks against freedom? Firearms are the great equalizers, with the Left’s gun confiscation agenda having a disproportionate effect on women and minorities. Somehow the Left escapes these facts being applied to them, while they exploit those words with abandon.

We’ve already detailed the racism aspect of this issue here, and case for Liberty control being sexist made in this video.

Why the gun is civilization..

We will wrap this up with a column written in 2007 by Marko Kloos on a WordPress blogging site the Munchkin wrangler. It encapsulates the issue of firearms down to one proposition on how human being deal with each other.

MARCH 23, 2007 by MARKO KLOOS
Why the gun is civilization.
Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that’s it.

In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.

When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force. The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gangbanger, and a single gay guy on equal footing with a carload of drunk guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.

There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the source of bad force equations. These are the people who think that we’d be more civilized if all guns were removed from society, because a firearm makes it easier for a mugger to do his job. That, of course, is only true if the mugger’s potential victims are mostly disarmed either by choice or by legislative fiat–it has no validity when most of a mugger’s potential marks are armed. People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the young, the strong, and the many, and that’s the exact opposite of a civilized society. A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a successful living in a society where the state has granted him a force monopoly.

Then there’s the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal that otherwise would only result in injury. This argument is fallacious in several ways. Without guns involved, confrontations are won by the physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury on the loser. People who think that fists, bats, sticks, or stones don’t constitute lethal force watch too much TV, where people take beatings and come out of it with a bloody lip at worst. The fact that the gun makes lethal force easier works solely in favor of the weaker defender, not the stronger attacker. If both are armed, the field is level. The gun is the only weapon that’s as lethal in the hands of an octogenarian as it is in the hands of a weightlifter. It simply wouldn’t work as well as a force equalizer if it wasn’t both lethal and easily employable.

When I carry a gun, I don’t do so because I am looking for a fight, but because I’m looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means that I cannot be forced, only persuaded. I don’t carry it because I’m afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It doesn’t limit the actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only the actions of those who would do so by force. It removes force from the equation…and that’s why carrying a gun is a civilized act.

[Emphasis added]

We are currently forming the American Conservative Movement. If you are interested in learning more, we will be sending out information in a few weeks.