Fifteen months after receiving the "Sport Shooting Ambassador Award" from the World Forum on the Future of Sport Shooting Activities (WFSA), Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has done his part to make sure that, at least in the U.S., the future for his gun industry friends and their lobbying pals is a little bit brighter.
In authoring the opinion overturning Washington, DC's handgun ban, Justice Scalia leaves little doubt as to why he was honored with the Ambassador Award, which offers "public recognition of the social contribution made by some of the many public figures who have a longstanding interest in the shooting sports." The WFSA is an international organization comprised primarily of gunmakers and pro-gun organizations (including the National Rifle Association) from around the world. Scalia was awarded the honor and gave the keynote address during the WFSA's 2007 annual meeting in Nuremberg, Germany, held in conjunction with the Internationale Waffen Ausstellung (IWA), "the world's leading exhibition for hunting and sporting arms." The previous year's winner was Ugo Gussalli Beretta, president of the Italian gun manufacturer Beretta. The award consists of a silver reproduction of a 16th century pistol with powder flask.
According to the April 10, 2007, edition of The New Gun Week, Scalia's keynote address "focused mostly on trends and threats to the international traditions of sport hunting." The cover of the issue features Scalia posing with Second Amendment Foundation founder Alan Gottlieb, a convicted felon who at one time lost the ability to possess guns. (He later regained the ability to own guns through the now-defunded federal "relief from disability" program, a multi-million dollar program that re-armed convicted, often violent, felons, at taxpayer expense. The program was defunded after being exposed by my organization, the Violence Policy Center.) In the background of the picture appears to be pro-gun attorney and National Rifle Association grantee Stephen Halbrook (who also authored the amicus brief signed by members of the U.S. House and Senate in support of overturning the DC ban).
While the WFSA Web site has photos and comments from prior "WFSA Ambassadors," no such honors are offered for Justice Scalia, whose name sits unadorned by a photo or additional information.
Perhaps the WFSA will post today's decision on its Web site in his honor.
militias? And wasn't it because most people lived
in very isolated areas and had to defend their own
property, because there was no one else.
I know what I am about to say is probably trite to most,
but yesterday someone shot two dogs on their own
property. One dog had to be put down because her eye,
tongue and part of her jaw were gone. She lived to
make it to a vet. The other survived.
don't fire themselves at kids at schools. Besides, two
people shooting at each other gives both a 50/50 chance.
Course, we'd be in trouble if the deer and other game lobby
the right to own guns.
a lot of close advisors to the Bush administration. The
NRA is a strong lobbying group. Go figure.
-- George Mason.
In the view of our Founders, they are most certainly a part of the militia. What you wish to call the 'Militia' is what Our Founders would refer to as a 'Standing Army', something they sought to avoid.
Guns are not primarily for hunting, as many progressives/liberals often fail to understand. They are for protecting property and life that belong to the gun owner. When the LA riots went down after the Rodney King verdict, Korean store owners positioned themselves on top of their grocery stores and insured their right to continue operating by firing semi-automatic rifles at those who would have robbed them blind.
In times of civil disruption, people need tools top protect themselves. As many have noted, the police can not always protect us, and in fact have no legal responsibility to do so. If they see us being robbed and choose to turn away, that is their right, and they cannot be prosecuted for it.
If certain fascist elements in this or any country tries to take over, the right to bear arms will make it well nigh impossible to get away with civic murder. To protect us from the crazy suicidal elements of society by banning guns is simply not going to protect us.
Perhaps the best regulation would be for one's friends and relatives and perhaps a doctor to sign on to gun permits. If several said, "no way," then deny the permit.
Now Obama will have 8 years to quietly go about the business of realigning the court. You know all those 5-4s could easily become 4-5s. Thanks boys for taking a bullet for Barrack.
Let me see now... A man in DC was required to carry a handgun for his work (Security)... Why would he not be just as safe having that handgun in his home? And, wasn't WA DC recently the Murder Capitol of the World? But also had some of the most restrictive Gun Laws? BUT, BUT, I thought LAWS stopped crime? Maybe it was NOT Law Abiding citizens committing those crimes.... Ya think?
One would think the Supreme Court just ruled in favor of Criminals by the comments on this subject...
If the authors of the constiution thought that every citizen has the right to own a gun, why did they bother to write the part about militias into the second amendment?
Zimbabwe has restrictive gun laws.
I am a safe and responsible gun owner. I enjoy participating in a target-shooting league, and training to learn more about tactical defense... just in case. I enjoy knowing that I could protect my family if someone came into my house to do us harm. There have been 29 home invasions in my county during the last year. Some of them ended in murder of the homeowner. To ignore the risk is a little naive, in my opinion.
I'm also a blue-belt in Tae Kwon Do. I regard my martial arts training the same way I regard my handgun.... I have it in the hope that I'll never have to use it in a life-or-death situation. That said, I'd rather have it and not need it, then need it and not have it.
Although I own a handgun, I frankly can't stand the NRA, and when you see the type of people who are the most vocal pro-gun faction I understand why many liberals are anti-gun. If being pro-gun meant being Ted Nugent, you could count me out.
But having a knee-jerk reaction to some issue you don't fully understand is usually the territory of the Right. I have come to expect a higher level of intellectual examination from the Left.
It's good to see that at least some here are not letting me down in that regard.
So am I, and there is no conflict. For some reason, people on both sides want to make this a conservative vs liberal. It is not.
Besides, the concept of individual liberty has always been a liberal one. Where does everyone think the word 'liberal' came from?
I would like to see Josh Sugarmann, Paul Helmke, the 4 dissenting Supreme Court Justices and our anti gun politicians live in the worst crime ridden neighborhoods of DC, Chicago and Baltimore for 6 months. I believe they would change their views on gun ownership. Well that's not entirely true. I think they would believe in their right to own guns but still disagree with gun ownership by the non liberal elite.