i cannot remain silent

a bit of an oldie, but good

"...And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."

those words are from our favorite slave-owning, slave-screwing founding father thomas jefferson. they are in reference to the necessity of waging war against the british if the colonies wanted their independence ("colonies" is a minor misnomer, but that's for another blog

"... a lawsuit filed last week in Washington, D.C. seeks to establish a broad Second Amendment right to carry firearms in public -- which, if successful, could mean that William Kostric's exercise in public handgun ownership will become much more commonplace. "

let's dissect mr. mccullagh's statement. for one thousands of lawsuits are filed daily. using a filed lawsuit to expand a law as evidence to support the actions of this man is tantamount to defending charles manson because he never actually committed those murders. legal or not, these actions SHOULD raise red flags in the eyes of any reasonable person. you don't bring a firearm to a political rally, ESPECIALLY if that politician is the first black president, period, notwithstanding if you're holding a sign that calls for blood. given our nations history with race relations, in which the two biggest black civil rights leaders and the president that heard their call to action were assasinated, you gotta wonder how this guy thought his display would be taken.
next, its a little presumptuous to assume that a successful case WILL prompt people to carry firearms to all manner of public forums again (i can't wait to see guns in school and .22 totin' preachers). lets face it: court decisions, even highly publicized ones, take time to catch on. hell, after the Brown v. board of education decision was publicized, 9 of the millions of black students in the country integrated a school. it took years (and the national guard, and a few additional court rulings)for integration to complete itself. and this is one of the biggest court decisions ever. so fie on your logic mccullagh!