2nd Amendment Basis or Objective Basis for Firearm Ownership?

(Crossposted from the American Constitution Society :: Columbia Law School)

Although I do not agree with people who find a right to privately own firearms in the 2^nd Amendment to the Constitution, I see their point. This amendment — along with a Congressional Commerce Power limited only by prudence and a 9^th Amendment that either does nothing or everything — represents some of the most ambiguous, sloppy drafting in the entire Constitution. Although I don't think you have the constitutional right to buy one gun per month (a limit Virginia has placed on individual gun ownership), I see how people can seize upon the 2^nd Amendment's sloppy drafting to claim that they do have such a right.

On the other hand, the people whom I do not understand are those people who ignore the historical accident of the 2^nd Amendment and attempt to argue from first principles that a universally armed society is preferable to a less-than-fully-armed one.

When Kathryn Lopez, conservative blogger at The Corner on National Review Online, says:

If you want domestic tranquillity, an armed and responsible citizenry ready and able to protect life and property is not a bad way to start.

...she is calling for a type of Wild West society that has been rejected by the rest of the developed world.

Argue from the Constitution that you have a 2^nd Amendment right to private gun ownership and I'll begrudgingly admit that you have a textual leg to stand on. Argue from first principles that the best society is one where we're all armed and I'll remind you that you stand in sharp disagreement with the rest of the developed world.

Update (4/19): My brother-in-law & sister-in-law (...once removed? What do you call the person who married your brother-in-law?) are living in France for several months, and here's Ilia's take on the tragedy at Virginia Tech.

The most telling passage:

In reading the French newspapers concerning the tragedy I noticed that they kept using the English terms "mass murder" and "school shootings" in lieu of using a similar phrase in French. Is it that they simply don't have the words for such atrocities, or are they so common in the US as to be better known around the world by their English names?

Gone Are the Brethren

(Crossposted from the American Constitution Society :: Columbia Law School)

In my 3½ semesters in law school, I’ve noticed a funny expression in old Supreme Court opinions. Justices would often use the phrase “my brethren” to refer to their fellow justices.

As one might expect, the appointment of a woman to the Supreme Court marked the end of this practice. A Westlaw search of the phrase “my brethren” in Supreme Court opinions yielded some 284 Supreme Court cases, from 1795 to 1981, in which the phrase appeared. The last time “my brethren” was used to refer to fellow justices was in Justice Rehnquist’s dissent from a denial of certiorari in Jeffries v. Barksdale, 453 U.S. 914 (1981). The Jeffries dissent was handed down on June 29, 1981; President Reagan nominated Sandra Day O’Connor on July 7, 1981.

Skype Video: Enabling Full-Color Lullabies from 1,000 Miles Away

When I became a dad, some aspects of my previous life came to a screeching halt. Some continued unabated. Still others mutated into a strange and heretofore unknown form. My fascination with technology & gear falls into this last category.

Sure, I still go gaa-gaa over the newest gadgets and grown-up toys, but suddenly I find myself having strong opinions about an entirely different set of gadgets:

• I suddenly have strong feelings about a certain type of swaddling blanket that I consider to be superior.
• If left unchecked, I will ramble on at length about why today's cradle toys put the toys of my youth to shame.
• I gaze in wide-eyed wonder at the incredible absorption qualities of the modern diaper and its awesome next-generation Velcro straps.

I have become a gear-obsessed dad.

My appreciation for most of this stuff doesn't rise to the level of wanting to blog about it, but there is one technology whose utility rises above the rest from this parent's perspective: Skype Video. Instead of blathering on about how great Skype is, I'll permit the picture below to provide the bulk of the explanation:


Yes, that's an actual picture of four generations of my family on one screen during a video conference earlier this evening.

Yes, that's a technology built from the ground up to handle video conferencing (as opposed to other services that include video conferencing as an afterthought).

Yes, that's a service that is 100% free.

According to Google Maps, my hometown is a short 1,385 mile drive from where I currently live, so suffice it to say that I've become accustomed to not seeing my family every weekend. Skype has shortened this distance for my family, letting my parents, my grandparents, my brother, and Steph's family (a short 2,936 mile drive away) interact with Katie in a way that just blows my mind.

Katie already responds to the screen, staring at the faces, reacting to their speech (and their occasional singing). I feel so fortunate that we've found this way of sharing her growth with my far-away family. I can't wait to see where we go from here.

(Incidentally, the camera that took that great screen capture is our new Fujifilm FinePix F30. Very affordable and I've never seen a point-and-shoot digital camera work so well in low light conditions.)

Transatlantic Road Trip

Thank you, Andy, for introducing me to the Sauntering community. I shall strive to live up to his high standards of journalism. That said, I hope you enjoy my first blog post.

Ever have that urge to take a nice long drive? Well, Google maps can help you relive Lindbergh’s famous transatlantic flight from New York to Paris. This time, it's a road trip! (Hat tip: Andrew Obus)



You might consider driving this route in one of these amphibious vehicles:

Big Changes @ Sauntering: Welcome, Colin!

According to the folks who run Blogger, this post is the 725^th since I started working on this project back in August 2003. Sauntering has changed little during the intervening 43 months, and the time for change has arrived.

Over the next few months, a few people will join me at Sauntering, the result of which will be to turn this blog into a little more of a community and a little less of a monologue.

Today, I'm excited to welcome Colin to Sauntering. Colin's provided the grist for many posts to Sauntering over the past year and a half, and I've been thinking about asking him to join me in this project for almost the same length of time. I'm glad he's decided to join up. I know we're all going to love his stuff.

Iranian Fashion/Hostage Crisis Continues/Culminates

Whatever else you might say about the now-ended Iranian/British sailor imbroglio, no one knows how to deflect a hostage crisis through questionable clothing choices like the Iranians.


Having formerly swaddled its British captives in tracksuits, the Iranians chose to release all the hostages clad as game show hosts. All of them except for Faye Turney, the only woman among the 15 sailors. From the photo, it appears that she was released disguised as a Russian Babushka.

I particularly like the guy on the far right, who opted for the three-piece suit. I'm sure he's thinking, "Hey, the Iranians are giving me a free suit. I'll take a free vest, too."

Previously: Iran Complicates Hostage Crisis Through Use of Time Machine

Iran Complicates Hostage Crisis Through Use of Time Machine

Nothing funny about the escalating hostage/prisoner crisis between the UK/US & Iran. Nothing funny at all.

...except for Iran giving the 15 British sailors a bunch of assorted tracksuits to wear during their captivity. U.S. espionage has been able to determine that the Iranians are keeping the sailors in a Foot Locker circa 1995.

Bloggers Filling In Where Reporters Leave Off

The ever-unfolding U.S. Attorney purge scandal has too many fascinating aspects to quickly detail, but one of the more intriguing facets of the affair is that mainstream media coverage of the scandal – coverage that ultimately led to Congress's investigation – was prompted by the diligent reporting of a blogger, Josh Marshall, who first started investigating the scandal at his blog, Talking Points Memo.

Josh is still in the middle of reporting on this shifting story. If you want to read two short pieces that eloquently and concisely sum up what all the hubbub is about, check out his bits on why the U.S. Attorney purge is a problem and why this isn't about Alberto Gonzales.

In a similar development earlier this year, Salon.com broke the Walter Reed neglect scandal (after its original reporting was amplified by the Washington Post), a scandal that ultimately led to top resignations and (one hopes) big changes.

Although I'm pleased that enterprising new media outlets are finding a niche for themselves through diligent, muckraking, yeoman's reporting, I'm dismayed that such work appears to be in the process of being outsourced from more conventional outlets to these smaller shops.

Neither Big Bird Nor Doug E. Fresh Saw This Coming

Sleep deprivation will make you do funny things.

As Steph knows all too well, I have the really annoying habit of – occasionally, mind you – beatboxing to songs outside the hip-hop genre. Lately, I have been known to beatbox to the tinny electronic lullabies generated by our borrowed bassinet's onboard music box.

As a children's song/beatbox enthusiast, I was pleased to see flautist Greg Pattillo's interpretation of the Sesame Street theme — an interpretation where he plays the flute while simultaneously beatboxing:


Hap tip to Daddy Types.

A Little Young for Law School

After four weeks, hundreds of diaper changes, and me attempting to soothe her by singing every single song to which I know the words, Katie and I are finally studying together.