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Ten Liberal Lies People Believe about Guns

By Selwyn Duke

In the wake of the tragic Newtown massacre, we’re hearing all the usual lies and misconceptions about firearms. And since it’s wise to be educated on a topic before advocating policy on it, this is a good time to explode the gun myths being bandied about.

1. The issue is automatic weapons.

Boston mayor Thomas Menino and CNN’s Don Lemon both recently repeated the common mantra that we have to get “automatic weapons” off the streets. Automatic weapons, however, are machine guns, which, except for individuals who receive special permission from the federal government, have been illegal to own since the passage of The National Firearms Act in 1934. In addition, the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act of 1986 made it generally illegal for any civilian to own an automatic weapon manufactured after that year.

2. Assault Weapons

“Assault weapon” is certainly a menacing, rhetorically effective term, which is why the media use it so much. In reality, though, the guns in question (such as the AR-15-type rifles and AK-47s available to the public) are not machine guns but simply semi-automatic firearms; this means that one bullet is released with each trigger pull. And virtually every gun sold in America is semi-automatic.

Read the rest here.

Time for Schools to be Gun-free Free

By Selwyn Duke

If there’s anything the Newtown massacre has proven, it’s that school zones billed as “gun-free” cannot be guaranteed to thus be.

They’re only virtually certain to be good-guy-gun-free.

And it’s time for this symbolism-over-substance policy to end.

Judge: “Choose Life” Out in North Carolina

By Selwyn Duke

Providing another example of why judicial review needs to be reviewed is U.S. District Court Judge James C. Fox, who just ruled that North Carolina may not offer its “Choose Life” license plates. And wait till you hear his reasoning (if you can call it that). Writes MyFox8.com:

A federal judge has ruled it is unconstitutional for North Carolina to issue pro-life license plates unless the state offers similar plates supporting abortion rights.

[…]Judge Fox concluded, “The State’s offering of a Choose Life license plate in the absence of a pro-choice plate constitutes viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment.”

Allow me to translate: “I, Caesarean Judge, don’t like pro-life messages. So I’m going to rule against the choose-life plate — because I can.”

Students Forced to Stand for “Black National Anthem”

By Selwyn Duke

Students at Capital High School (CHS) in Charleston, West Virginia have been regularly forced to stand during the playing of a song known as “The Black National Anthem.”

The song, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” was played in the morning right after the American national anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance, and students were forced to stand for all three. While the law currently states that no child can be compelled to stand for any kind of pledge, controversy only arose at CHS after two students and a parent complained about having to stand for the “Black National Anthem” (BNA).

I’ll See Your Economic Collapse and Raise You National Demise

By Selwyn Duke

Being just weeks away from reaching our debt ceiling and with frightening talk about a fiscal cliff, there’s much sympathy in Washington for tax increases. Even conservatives are wavering. A few Republicans have dumped their anti-tax pledges, and former Nixon official-turned-actor Ben Stein favors taxing the wealthy. He says that we can’t cut our way to a balanced budget and insists that the revenue end must be addressed. But I have news for him: he’ll have a better chance finding Ferris Bueller on his day off than fiscal sanity through tax increases.

Let’s get real. Federal revenue this year will be approximately $2.5 trillion.

Another Victory for the Anti-Christian Grinches

By Selwyn Duke

The Salvation Army has long been a holy-day season fixture in front of my local supermarket, providing some Christmas sounds and cheer as it raises money to serve the poor. But when I went grocery shopping a couple of days ago, a difference was apparent: there was an SA volunteer and collection pot on the premises, but no trademark bell-ringing. So I asked the man why — even though I already knew the answer.