Making the Right to Carry Universal

Armed citizens have done much recently to demonstrate the value of right to carry permits. Check out this sample of stories courtesy of Civilian Gun Defense Blog. See here, here, and here's one more:

The fatal shooting of an aggravated robbery suspect in the 1200 block of Canterlane about 3:30 a.m. today will be referred to a Harris County grand jury, Houston police said.

The identity of the deceased suspect, who had been shot in the stomach, is pending notification of next of kin.

The robbery victim is identified as Derriun Raney, 26. He suffered a cut on his head.

Police said the suspect, dressed in black and wearing socks on his hands, knocked on the front door of Raney's residence. Raney, who had been asleep inside, opened the door with a pistol in his hand. He said he was repeatedly struck in the head with a tire iron by the suspect.

He then fired several shots at the suspect striking him in the abdomen, police said. The suspect fell to the ground and died on the front yard, police said.

Witnesses told police that the suspect intended to rob Raney.

When it begins to dawn on the human refuse which populates our streets that many of their intended victims are capable of responding with lethal force there will be far fewer attempts to create more victims. It's sad that we live in a society in which old people and shop owners feel they have to arm themselves, but it's quite obvious that we do. No one should be denied the right to protect themselves, or their families, which is why we support universal right to carry laws which would allow anyone licensed to carry a firearm in his/her home state to legally carry in any state.

For Weak Spelers

Those of you for whom spelling is not a strength will find this e-mail we received to be somewhat reassuring:

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

It is indeed amazing. Not only is it just the first and last letters that are important, though, it is also the context. We have an expectation, based upon context, as to the meaning of a sentence and thus an expectation as to what word belongs in it. Evidently our mind "sees" that word as soon as we receive the visual clues provided by scanning the first and last letters.

We're constantly astounded at what blind chance, time, and physical forces can accomplish purely by accident.

Talk About the Plan

William Arkin argues in The Washington Post that the U.S. is upgrading plans for an attack against Iran and that we should be publicizing the fact. His argument is that Iran needs to know it's playing a deadly serious game.

Unfortunately, we think they know this full well. The trouble is they think they're going to win it.

VDH on the Critics

Victor Davis Hanson surveys the current controversies surrounding the prosecution of our policies in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran and concludes that the criticisms are pretty much vacuous and inconclusive:

Apart from the ethical questions involved in promoting a book or showcasing a media appearance during a time of war by offering an "inside" view unknown to others of the supposedly culpable administration of the military, what is striking is the empty nature of these controversies rehashed ad nauseam.

Hanson goes on to write an outstanding piece, putting these controversies into historical perspective. He concludes with this:

What we need, then, are not more self-appointed ethicists, but far more humility and recognition that in this war nothing is easy. Choices have been made, and remain to be made, between the not very good and the very, very bad. Most importantly, so far, none of our mistakes has been unprecedented, fatal to our cause, or impossible to correct.

So let us have far less self-serving second-guessing, and far more national confidence that we are winning - and that radical Islamists and their fascist supporters in the Middle East are soon going to lament the day that they ever began this war.

Anyone interested in the debates over who should be blamed and what they should be blamed for would do well to read Hanson's essay.