Addressing the Elephant in the Room in the Gun Control Debate

Our major media sources have been disturbingly superficial in their published commentaries, reports and essays on gun violence. They note that despite a majority of Americans, even gun-owners, supporting increased background checks, even that a very modest form of gun control, Congress won’t pass such legislation. The common story is that the NRA buys enough […]

Having Removed the Confederate Flag, We Must Remove the Gun Culture from the American Consciousness

In a beautiful celebration of human dignity, the Confederate flag, a blatant symbol of white supremacy, was removed from its place outside the South Carolina statehouse. It took a while, but it happened through democratic means – the people voiced their views, their representatives debated, and the right side won the day. The success of […]

Control

When mulling over a philosophical problem or antinomy, I have found that it can be conducive to well reasoned thinking to indulge in some improvisation on a musical instrument. On Sunday I was writing an entry on a Kantian perspective on gun ownership, and took a break to play a little guitar, during which time […]

Law and Morality (Columbia MD, gun rights, consequentialism, Kantianism, and client counseling)

I was responding to a very interesting comment on another blog when some new thoughts on an issue that I find myself thinking about frequently quickly materialized: the intersection and overlap of law and morality. It’s a thorny issue for me, because as a moral realist I think that there are objective moral truths and […]

Columbia, Maryland (and rights, gun control, and arguments from analogy)

I have refrained from writing on the controversial topic of gun control but I feel now that I must address it as today’s shooting in Columbia mall is literally too close to home for me to not comment – my father goes to a new age church in Columbia, Maryland, and I have friends who […]