One may protest against evil…Against stupidity we are defenseless.
The Honorable Hunter:
by Michael G. Sabbeth, Esq.
The cliché phrase ‘unintended consequences’ is often an exercise in deceit and or incompetent thinking. The consequences of a policy illuminate its intentions. Good intentions are morally meaningless, and can be perverse, if they do not lead to virtuous consequences. Sometimes a policy’s consequences are so obviously egregious that the claim of good intentions is manifestly fraudulent. The most rational conclusion is that the policy’s malevolent consequences were intended as the price its advocates were willing to inflict in an alleged service to a higher cause. Gun Violence Restraining Orders (GVROs) and Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs), generically known as ‘Red Flag’ laws, are such policies that luminously disclose their intent.
Presently drafted Red Flag laws are a toxic stew of Constitutional abuses and wasp’s nest of procedural requirements that will predictably lead to violence without any societal benefit. Their defects have been persuasively presented in many insightful articles crafted by Second Amendment and gun violence data experts , such as Dave Kopel, research director, and Rob Natelson, Constitutional scholar, at the Independence Institute, Independence Institute. See David Kopel and Joseph Greenlee, Kopel Greenlee and Rob Natelson Natelson Constitutionality See also Michael Filozof , Gun Laws Would Do Nothing, and Massie and Lott, Jr. Red Flags Wrong Solution, Massie Lott Jr. Donald Kilmer Washington Examiner, describes the practical enforcement problems. red flag enforcement. Firearms will be confiscated from residents legally entitled to possess them when residing with a target of the ERPO.
These writers persuasively argue that Red Flag laws put our Constitution through a metaphoric Cuisinart by violating 1st Amendment: speech; 2nd Amendment; 4th Amendment search and seizures; 5th Amendment due process mandates and the 6th Amendment right to be confronted with the witnesses against an accused. The Petri dish for government abuse, overreach and incompetence is vast. In at least one instance, in Florida, the government knew the wrong person was cited in the warrant and yet proceeded with a firearms confiscation. See Mistaken Identity
Uniquely frightening and not addressed sufficiently is enthusiasm with which legislators and advocates trash our Constitution and dismiss foreseeable harm. I search for explanations. This statement from, On Stupidity: Letters and Papers from Prison, by Dietrich Bonhoffer, executed in 1945 for conspiring to kill Hitler, gives a partial explanation for the menacing mindset behind these laws.
“Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil…Against stupidity we are defenseless. more here
How about the kook who had his guns taken away that killed his mother with a sword?
Yeah, works great.
https://www.secondamendmentdaily.com/2019/08/red-flag-failure-police-take-guns-from-illinois-man-kills-mother-with-samurai-sword/
all laws take away freedom, in one form or another.
any law that empowers force by government is evil.
the Constitution empowers ‘the people’. laws empower the government
well written, thoughtful, articulate article. I applaud, & will read again, this author. he laid out his argument & supported it well.
We’re dealing with a cultural problem, not a gun problem.
A sick, twisted murder mentality that will kill with any weapon available.
You can’t legislate culture any more than you can legislate morality!
So what we’re left with here is gun-grabbing under the pretext of “safety”.
We all know that guns owned by the law-abiding citizen are being targeted.
The law will be justified with a few mental cases to demonstrate legitimacy, then twisted to snare the legitimate gun owners! Stop the Hype!
btw, the only thing missing in ‘Red Flag’ laws is the yellow hammer & sickle
… or the black swastika
Let’s hope and pray that when these laws get challenged to the Supreme Court, Ruth Ginsberg is long gone and replaced by President Trump with one of the good guys (or gals).
they are laws that circumvent due process. I don’t like them.
That said- I have a consideration that I don’t hear being raised, and I consider it to be important. I think that some people who might benefit from mental health consultation or therapy might now avoid such a course, in fear of later being flagged for doing so. This will lead to yet more untreated individuals in society. Some of them will progress and move on to injuring others, with gun, sword, hammer or TV remote control (yes, that has happened). If there is yet more stigma associated with obtaining mental health care, more people will avoid it.
if a person is too crazy to own a gun they should probably be locked up. there are plenty of ways for them to kill other than using a gun. a homicidal maniac is gonna homicide.
I am of the opinion that the leftest gun grabbers are not primarily well-intentioned, but just ignorant do-gooders.
They are fully aware that the primary reason for the 2nd amendment is to provide & protect the means of citizens to shoot politicians that become tyrants. And they don’t like it. King George also didn’t. They want gun free zones to more safely enforce their will. Similar reasons why mass shooters select gun free zones, no effective opposition to their plans.
And they well know the secondary reason for the 2A is self defense against violent thugs, and only a distant third purpose is for citizens to be able to shoot Bambi Doe, or Stevie Squirrel.
Dealing with the mentally ill, that may become violent, requires a different solution, that has noting to do with gun laws, but they’re not interested in finding it. It’s a crisis they don’t want to go to waste. Their goal is intended consequences. Not unintended consequences.
Like most communist ploys Red Flags laws are a simple plot to take guns from veterans. Disarm the vets and you are more than halfway to your goal of a gun free sheeple,
The bastards do everything except stop letting violent criminals loose.
Our Constitution’s been (more or less) a dead letter since the “Civil” War.
As has been written (ad nauseam):
There are NO unintended consequences.
There are NO (political) co-incidences.
There are NO paradoxes.
Legislation is crafted by Legislators. Crafted! It doesn’t just fall out of the sky in a piece. Just as men have been “hanged by a comma,” rights have been abridged by a phrase. And the sad part is that We, the People of the United States, allowed Them, the Liars and Usurpers, to get away with it.
izlamo delenda est …
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
If I did not think you are not my son; you could be him.
You are clearly my alter ego.
I agree with both your posts!
For 30 years I thought my son was the only human more coservative than I! You are making me “think twice”!
If you’re reading this blog….take the time to read….
“Unintended Consequences” by John Ross….
It’s on the web and was free.
“The cliché phrase ‘unintended consequences’ is often an exercise in deceit and or incompetent thinking. ” Hear that iotw posters. You’re deceitful and incompetent.
Ed357 – Time to feed the hogs.