Tuesday, June 29, 2010

The New Normal

This is an excellent piece on America post-Heller & McDonald from Glenn Reynolds, who runs InstaPundit. Here's the punchline:
Nonetheless, the Supreme Court’s Second Amendment decisions have made a major difference. In particular, they have offset the gun-control community’s longstanding effort to “denormalize” firearms ownership — to portray it as something threatening, deviant, and vaguely perverse, and hence demanding strict regulation, if not outright prohibition. That effort went on for decades, and received much media support. Two decades ago, it seemed to be working.
But with the Supreme Court saying that it’s clear the Framers regarded individual gun ownership as “necessary to our system of ordered liberty,” that effort must be seen as a failure now. Gun ownership by law-abiding citizens is the new normal, and the Second Amendment is now normal constitutional law. It will stay so, as long as enough Americans care to keep it that way.
Read the whole thing. I think the legal decisions are emblematic of the overall social change we've been talking about for the last year or so. We — the gun culture — are the new mainstream, the new "normal."

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is perplexing that the anti-gun contingent continues to characterize gang violence and street problems as resulting from legal gun ownership and legitimate gun rights. The real situation is that armed, law-abiding citizens are a significant deterrent to crime.

Chicago seems to be nearly a perfect example of a local law intended to disarm citizens having the effect of increasing unlawful uses of guns. "When guns are illegal, only criminals will have guns"…is the old saw, isn’t it?

ericire12 said...

"social change"

It still makes me cringe even when you say it, Michael.

KMitch200 said...

We — the gun culture — are the new mainstream, the new "normal."

Not for some time yet....there are WAY too many people that if not outright afraid, just don't have any use for a firearm.
The fear is easier to overcome than the indifference.

Guns may be mainstream in the media for a few seconds because of the legal exposure, then when lady gaga changes her hair style or some jerk celebrity gets another piercing its off to the back burner we go.