I want to claim that this echo of Weber (who said “Today … we have to say that a state is a human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory”) is utterly inapt in gun control debates, at least such debates in a Western country.
To begin with, note that, read literally, my friend’s proposal is not “old-fashioned.” It’s not new-fashioned. It has never been the fashion in any jurisdiction in America.
Peggy Noonan wonders (sorry, the Journal doesn’t seem to believe in permalinks for current articles):
The last testament Cho sent to NBC seemed more clear evidence of mental illness–posing with his pistols, big tough gangsta gonna take you out. What is it evidence of when NBC News, a great pillar of the mainstream media, runs the videos and pictures on the nightly news? Brian Williams introduced the Cho collection as “what can only be described as a multi-media manifesto.” But it can be described in other ways. “The self-serving meanderings of a crazy, self-indulgent narcissist” is one. But if you called it that, you couldn’t lead with it. You couldn’t rationalize the decision.
Such pictures are inspiring to the unstable. The minute you saw them, you probably thought what I did: We’ll be seeing more of that.
I hope that this puts to rest any insanity about nominating Alberto Gonzales to the Supreme Court. If they are going to have an Hispanic affirmative action nominee, he should at least display some level of intelligence and competence.
I’ve seen stories that the killer had been diagnosed as autistic at age eight. Assuming that’s true, while he clearly was functioning at a fairly high level, when you hear the stories of his academic behavior at college, one has to wonder–how did he get into VPI? What kind of high-school record did he have?
Was there some affirmative action going on here? (Kind of strange, if so, because usually Asians are disadvantaged by it.)
Amidst the discussion about whether or not professors are capable of protecting their students with guns, we have the example of one professor who saved his students without one.
I’m getting very tired of hearing this trite phrase, as though it’s obvious, or indisputable, or useful. Or even true. Of course there is a military solution, or at least, the military is a key component of whatever solution we come up with. There’s certainly no non-military solution to nihilistic madmen bent on murder and mayhem. It’s not policy analysis–it’s simply a mindless mantra.
I’m getting very tired of hearing this trite phrase, as though it’s obvious, or indisputable, or useful. Or even true. Of course there is a military solution, or at least, the military is a key component of whatever solution we come up with. There’s certainly no non-military solution to nihilistic madmen bent on murder and mayhem. It’s not policy analysis–it’s simply a mindless mantra.
I’m getting very tired of hearing this trite phrase, as though it’s obvious, or indisputable, or useful. Or even true. Of course there is a military solution, or at least, the military is a key component of whatever solution we come up with. There’s certainly no non-military solution to nihilistic madmen bent on murder and mayhem. It’s not policy analysis–it’s simply a mindless mantra.