Unbreakable

That’s liberal/progressive blogger Brian Beutler, apparently, who had his spleen vented for him in the unsatisfying sense by some contemptible little bastard on the wrong side of Adams Morgan. I don’t know Brian, but many people do, and along with them I send a prayer and a burst of healing cosmic energy. Also, since Brian is unbreakable, and we haven’t the satisfaction of a perp in the clink, we can fight back with big laughs. Ezra’s graph is a classic that cuts in both directions:

As you can clearly see, post-Heller, the number of friends shot in DC has skyrocketed eight bazillion percent, dodecatupling in size by infinity orders of magnitude.

Now, to be serious: I recognize that Heller looks like a real unfunny joke under circumstances like these, and the point of Ezra’s graph is to convey this in deadly humorous terms. Actually, if I had to identify the root of the problem that spawned Heller, it would be the District of Columbia itself, which, as a stateless city, ought not exist. Heller is an externality of our most peculiar institution, American federalism. Under the circumstances, the best thing to do is certainly to recognize the Second Amendment for what Scalia says it says and proceed to regulate guns in DC as tightly as constitutionally imaginable.

As for Brian’s pathetic assailant (someone refuses to give you their cell phone and you shoot them?), when I first heard this story I barked out a pretty spiteful line: “Clearly what that guy needs is more access to educational opportunities.” I was fairly quickly corrected by my good company — point is, he needed them and didn’t get them, and now look. But that can be true while the truth of his unqualified responsibility for shooting up recalcitrant mugees remains in force. I wish it were as easy to supply good educational opportunities as it is to punish someone for armed assault, especially in poor stateless DC.

Yeah, these are somewhat jangled thoughts, but I think that reflects pretty well the facts of the matter.