Chesapeake Observer – Page 83 – Perspectives on public affairs from Maryland's Eastern Shore

Observations on Gun Violence in the US

May 25, 2021

A reader has asked for my thoughts on gun control. What follows is an effort both to educate and to stimulate a dialogue on gun violence in the United States. While it does offer opinions and proposals, I have tried to base these on objective data and unbiased research. Let’s begin with the Second Amendment, which is not a model of artful drafting. It simply says: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. In the 2008 Heller case (decision and discussion of same here), the Supreme Court held that “The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.” This was the first time since the 1939 case United States v. Miller that the Supreme Court had directly addressed the scope of the Second Amendment. Subsequent precedents all emanated from the inclinations of the lower courts and had limited authority... Read More

My rant is brief, and to take this discussion beyond my conclusions I am recommending a selection of articles representative of the research on which I have relied. The first is a basic survey of the growth of the managerial state, followed by DEI in military services, suppression of results at NIH, and climate policy. I end with a contrary and more optimistic point of view. My point is not how misguided policies adopted in the past four years have been -- I need not repeat that story -- but how these policies did not get or need Presidential attention in order to be adopted. They are the continued working of a self-perpetuating layer of managers.

A basic introduction to how the managers have taken over everything from elected officials

The great historian Niall Ferguson, now an invaluable columnist in the Free Press, discusses how far we have fallen under Biden-Harris-Blinken-Sullivan foreign policy.

A detailed report on how our military establishment has decided to indoctrinate future generations of admirals and generals.

How an NIH researcher is withholding results that undermine claims that sex change is good for teenagers.

A good discussion of the basic unrealism of EPA’s new regulations to mandate electric vehicles and remove natural gas and coal from electricity generation. It is complemented by this survey that few Americans even care about the climate cause or want the regulations imposed by these managers..

And to wrap up my concerns about the powers that be, a point by Matt Taibbi: “Something’s up. Suspiciously similar editorials about possible post-election emergency measures coming out in multiple publications” The managers are worried but have a plan to hold on to power.

But maybe I am wrong. Alex Gutentag and Michael Shellenberger observe how Kamala’s campaign is ”circling the drain,” in the immortal words of Bo Snerdley. Gutentag and Shellenberger describe its many pathologies that have driven pillars of my “managerial class” away from Democrats. One good line is that in Kamala’s world “shaming and belittling take precedence over actual debate. This, in the long-term, has been another losing strategy.” I have been the target of shaming and belittling, and we will see if these optimists are correct. I hope and pray they are.