Did you hear that the Left has totally lost the gun control argument?

No? Let us catch up.

For years, in nearly every location, if you wanted to carry a firearm on you, you had to have a license or permit to do so, and you had to either carry it concealed so that no one sees it, or you had to carry it open so that everyone sees it and can avoid you. Some states had “Shall Issue” requirements, which meant that law enforcement had to give you a permit if you asked for it and met whatever the general requirements are to carry a firearm—usually, no criminal record, no history of drug or alcohol abused, no mental conditions that would make you dangerous, over a certain age, and so on. Other locations had “May Issue” restrictions, which meant that even if you otherwise met these requirements, you still could be denied the right to carry based on the whim of local law enforcement. If you were a bad egg or a weirdo or a prevert or something, the sheriff could deny you a permit. In pretty much every other place, you could not carry a weapon at all, no matter what.

“Constitutional Carry” is the interesting phrase that has been cooked up to describe a different approach, and one that had been used successfully by the State of Vermont for a long time: you can carry pretty much whatever firearm you want, open or concealed, with no permit, no license, no special training classes, and no caprice by law enforcement. Just like our pioneer ancestors used to, and guess what? Crime did not skyrocket in Vermont. In fact, as predicted, it either went down (violent crimes) or stayed the same (non-violent crimes). The more gun control enthusiasts screeched about adding more restrictions and bans, the more the gun community pointed to Vermont.

In the last year or two, constitutional carry has been the trend: Wyoming, Alaska, and Arkansas joined Vermont. Arizona became a constitutional carry state. Most of Montana allows constitutional carry as well. And now Oklahoma and Ohio have pending legislation to join them. So too does South Carolina—the governor has indicated she will sign this bill into law, already on its way to her.

This equals nine states—almost 20% of the country—where Constitutional Carry has been adopted. And in no state (of which the Czar is aware) has a bill for open carry been defeated. This spells trend.

And now, to just about everybody’s shock, the Ninth Circuit court decided California’s “may issue” requirements (there, they cleverly call it “shall issue with good cause&148l, which is of course a may issue) are unconstitutional. You can have open carry or concealed carry or both, but you cannot make it neither…which is what happens with a may issue.

This will easily be challenged and will make it to the Supreme Court. But as you know, the Supreme Court considers gun control a settled issue: Heller has the ability to overturn the vast majority of gun laws and will probably agree with the Circuit Court by 5-4 at worst.

It seems that Americans know more about firearms than liberals. And it seems that undecided and un-involved Americans know more about guns than liberals. As a result, you are seeing a trend toward constitutional carry.

On an unrelated note, Americans are becoming similarly educated about abortion. What do you think the polls are saying about support for abortion in this country? Just as support for gun laws stayed even in this country until just recently, guess how Roe v Wade is holding up?

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.