It's not a crazy idea, but you have to give something to get something. Let's take a may-issue state like Maryland where the local police will generally only issue a handgun permit when you can articulate a specific and near-term threat (in other words, "because I live in a high-crime area" isn't enough). If you…

I don't think that's so. Change doesn't happen because of voting. Voting is a result of change occurring, and that change comes from everyday discourse between people. Change starts in hearts and minds and only finds its way to the law once it takes root there. The reason there's no change is that people have…

While you may be right, I think it's the gun control side that has the more fundamental inability to grasp their inherent incoherency, which is the inability to accept the words "the right of the people to bear arms shall not be infringed". Before you even get to the societal questions of weighing rights, you have to…

Beyond what's already been said, you're assuming that causing serious or deadly harm to a living thing must always be absolutely wrong. That's not so. If you run in on someone trying to rape and murder a loved one, I'm going to say it's OK to cause serious or deadly harm to that person. If a rabid dog is about to…

I thought about that the other day, not because I'm for or against it, but just on the "would it even be possible" level. 75% of states would need to ratify. 23 states are currently red. That's close to half. There's as much of a chance at repealing the law of gravity as there is of repealing the second amendment.

I think you're missing the fundamental point, which is that firearms ownership is a fundamental right protected by the Constitution and cigarette smoking isn't. The framers intended for every citizen to have the right to bear arms because arms are a necessary element of securing freedom. Cigarettes have no such…

I think you're way off on the Heller decision, and this is coming from someone who doesn't own a firearm and probably never will, and has never voted Republican in his life. The militia clause doesn't impact the right at all. It's just a rhetorical flourish. If the authors meant for it to mean the right of the…

Sort of, but not in the way you're thinking. Suppose a gun manufacturer knows of a defect that frequently occurs in a particular model that causes it to jam and be unable to fire but refuses to fix it because the recall cost would be too much. Suppose a local police department chose to use that model, not knowing…

What's wrong with defending a fundamental right spelled out in the Constitution? I'll grant you the NRA has become very hostile to reasonable gun control laws, but you must acknowledge they have good reason. They're faced with a bunch of people who are perfectly fine with nullifying that constitutional right. We…

I don't own a gun, probably never will, but I cannot for the life of me understand why the gun control side has so much trouble acknowledging that the individual right to bear arms is clearly a fundamental right. Look at the wording of the first amendment, which says "Congress shell make no law respecting … the right…

Here's what they ought to do - a cold open. Open with the quiet theme that usually follows the opening crawl - think the one where we start on empty space and pan down to see a ship, or a probe droid, or something like that. That leads us to an opening scene - maybe an Imperial shuttle on its way to carry parts to…

I want to take one phrase from what you wrote, which is this:

And what does that say for the future of politics in the UK and elsewhere (e.g. the US)? Ignore xenophobia at your own peril. If you write it off as the product of backwoods yokels who just need to be bestowed with the light of your correctness to change their minds, think again. Acknowledge it, understand it, and…

I think the really troubling thing is that the "remain" side should have had a layup (or an open goal, if you will) and somehow managed to throw up on their shoes and miss completely. The "remain" side ought to be embarrassed. They were thoroughly outclassed in terms of messaging by the "leave" side. Let this be a…

I think you're giving the electorate too much credit. How many people even bother to listen to the experts ramble on about the technical details? Your argument is that people hear that and say what's it going to matter to me; I don't even think it gets that far. Modern political campaigns aren't about the technical…

Well said. Do not underestimate the passion of a motivated electorate. It wouldn't surprise me at all if most of the people who didn't vote were in the "remain" category. Elections can be won and lost based on who cares enough to show up.

Hey, just think of it this way. While the world may be a chaotic and tumultuous place, at least databases will always obey a coherent set of rules. Let them become your hideaway when the tornadoes of life come to your door.

I think your last paragraph is spot-on (not that the rest wasn't but the last really nails it), and I'd expand it beyond England or the UK. It's very much the state of affairs in the US. Multicultural population centers that mostly lean left, the rest of the country mostly leaning right, and an almost even division…

But it does basically illustrate how much of a voodoo science economics is. This happens, which makes this more expensive for these people, but it's a better value for those people, which in turn does x, and then y happens, and then z, and so on. It's a massive, interlocked, chaotic system that is well-night…

I'm a rank amateur, but I think the immediate effects boil down into this: there's enormous uncertainty surrounding the future of the UK, and financial markets HATE uncertainty more than anything else, therefore the UK pound is suddenly far less valuable because people would rather hold the currency of countries that…