Unforeseen Contingencies

I'm about to hit the road (I think there's a road somewhere under that snow) but before I do wanted to post two interesting links.

The first is from Kimberly Strassel in WSJ.  She argues that there is a real consensus on draconian gun controls, in Congress and in the public -- and the consensus is against such controls.  Outside of the MSM and the left, there's no support for the citizen disarmament proposals being floated. She also argues that Obama and Biden have potentially blundered in raising the expectations of disarmers so high:

"The White House is playing its usual fuzzy double-game. Does it intend to stick to mental-health recommendations and slough off on Congress any gun decisions? Or does it intend to embrace gun control in its liberal remake of the country? Was the leak that the Biden task force is debating big gun restrictions a signal of a fight to come? Or was it a deliberate head fake—to make smaller proposals look more reasonable? No one has a clue.

Whatever the White House intends, it is already in a tough position. The task-force leak, combined with Mr. Biden's tantalizing suggestion of a gun-related executive order, has seriously raised expectations. Anything less than the dismantling of the Second Amendment will earn Mr. Obama a lambasting from his left."

Regardless of what the White House is up to, it has intentionally and dangerously increased the divisions in this country.  Leftists call for killing gun owners, outlawing the NRA and similar groups, and killing republican leaders -- and it's treated as acceptable political discourse.  Meanwhile gun owners are stripping shelves of weapons and ammunition, and discussing what to do if the Department of Homeland Security begins trying to confiscate weapons.  The President is knowingly creating this crisis.  Enough said.

The second piece is by a Hillsdale College student, Richard Thompson.  In this short piece he cuts straight to the essential point -- gun control is not about crime control, it's about disarming law abiding citizens and making us subjects in stead of citizens.  He is exactly on target.  I don't know Thompson, but his piece reminds me of the reason why being able to teach at Hillsdale always feels like an honor.  Read it.

Photo: DPMS varmint rifle.  The scope, barrel, and magazine ought to be camouflaged as well.