Bloody Math: SCOTUS for Dummies
It’s been a big week for the U.S. Constitution. Photo credit: Public domain
It’s been a big week for the U.S. Constitution. The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) issued two of the most monumental decisions of my lifetime. One right that is clearly enumerated in the Constitution was affirmed, while another that was just kind of hallucinated was diminished. I’m sorry if you disagree with me, but that’s the truth. I’ve read the document cover to cover. Guns are specifically addressed in the Bill of Rights. Abortion is not.
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a huge gun ruling this week.
Photo credit: Steve Woods / Unsplash
Guns
I live in the Deep South. It seems like everybody down here is armed. We keep guns in our homes, in our cars, and on our persons. We also seem to get along better with our cops than they do in big cities up North. Leftist politicians apparently think allowing New Yorkers to have firearms will precipitate World War 3. It won’t. That’s just rank hysteria.
Democratic politicians are terrified of a world where law-abiding citizens are armed. Our cops do just fine down here. Believe it or not, having an armed populace creates a sort of kinship with law enforcement that is absent when the people are defenseless. They’re just unfamiliar with the gun culture, and it scares them. Trust me, they’ll figure it out.
Half the states in the Union already have some form of permitless constitutional carry. In every single case the Left screamed that passage of these laws would result in blood filling the gutters. In every single case, that just hasn’t been the case. It won’t be the case in New York, California, New Jersey, Maryland, Hawaii, or Massachusetts, either.
Ours is the most heavily-armed nation in human history. There simply isn’t a statistically-significant problem with civilian concealed carry holders and crime. Ask yourself how many times you have heard about a concealed carry holder going berserk with a gun. Now, compare that to the number of times you have seen news items about cops prosecuted for inappropriate violence. You’ll never find a more pro-cop guy than me, but all law-abiding citizens deserve the right to defend themselves, not just law enforcement.
Abortion is one of the most divisive issues in modern American history.
Photo credit: Ethan Gregory Dodge / Unsplash
Abortion
The SCOTUS didn’t outlaw abortion. They just left the issue up to the individual states. The Left is screaming that this ruling portends the death of democracy. Are you kidding? This IS democracy.
The same voices claiming that individual states should be allowed to outlaw firearms simultaneously advocate for a blanket abortion mandate emanating centrally from the halls of power in Washington, D.C. The logical dichotomy would be amusing were the discourse not so malignant. But logic never had anything to do with it. This is all about hysteria.
The rest of the country can do whatever it wants, but most folks where I live are rightfully convinced that abortion is murder. I’ve seen it up close, and I am of that same mind. Here’s why.
Now that my side has won this fight, the real work starts. Those of us who are pro-life now need to support the moms and kids this ruling will affect. Failure to do so makes us no better than our opponents.
SCOTUS
Trump’s presidency really was only about one thing, and that was the U.S. Supreme Court. Amidst all the bombast, the chaos, the salacious accusations, and the unfettered vitriol, that was the only thing that really mattered. The ripples begun this week will be felt for generations to come.
This first Supreme Court ruling abrogates New York’s functional prohibition against carrying a firearm for personal defense. The second reverses the 1973 pro-abortion ruling Roe v. Wade. As I type these words the country is bracing for violence.
In response to the New York ruling, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said, “New York’s strong gun laws have saved lives for more than a century, and the Supreme Court’s decision to open the door for millions of New Yorkers to carry a concealed weapon is a nightmare for public safety. Evidence is overwhelming that states with permissive gun laws see much higher rates of gun deaths — from accidents to suicide, domestic incidents to street crime.”
I have a radical proposal. Let’s circle back in five years to revisit these two issues. Then we can compare the number of lives lost because law-abiding New Yorkers got to carry a handgun for self-protection compared to the number of kids aged 4 and under who are alive because 13 states chose to outlaw abortion. That should make for some bloody math indeed.
