NYT: Virginia Tech killer legally barred from gun purchase
Entry posted by M. Porcius Cato
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Today's NYT has an interesting report that claims that the Virginia Tech killer's history of mental illness made his gun purchase illegal. The report is interesting because (1) it challenges the assumption that more gun control laws are needed to prevent future VT-type massacres, (2) it demonstrates the difficulties in enforcing existing legislation, and also (3) it illustrates how small differences in the implementation of federal law at the state level can have devastating repercussions. From my perspective, this is an interesting set of observations because it fits in with neither the standard 'liberal' view on the alleged obsolescence of the Second Amendment nor the standard 'conservative' view on the supremacy of States' rights. Rather, the implication of (1) and (3) is that a strong federal government--strictly bound by the Constitution--is potentially more effective at meeting the legal needs of the people than is commonly supposed by liberals and conservatives alike. Further, the implication of (2) is that this potential requires cooperation from state authorities. This makes me wonder whether there are many more issues like this one and whether there is a non-governmental organization that monitors such issues.
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