Wendy
McElroy Article Archive
Beans
and Bullets and Bear Markets. Oh my!
It used to be that only survivalist cranks
and their sympathizers expounded on 'the coming economic collapse'
that would devastate society. Intellectually-speaking, people
would cross to the other side of the street when they saw such
an exponent coming. Read
more
Who
Polices the Police?
Without police, there could be no police state. Every
tyrannical law needs flesh-and-blood enforcement agents who are willing
to break down doors at midnight and spit on human rights. Without
them, unjust laws are nothing more than ink on paper. But with them,
no door is strong enough to stay closed against government; no home
is safe.
Read
more
Why
Do Good Men Do Nothing?
In his book Thoughts
on the Cause of Present Discontents (1770), the British philosopher
Edmund Burke wrote, "When bad men combine, the good must associate;
else they will fall one by one…" This sentiment has survived
as "All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men
do nothing." Why do good men do nothing in the face of evil,
especially when evil aggressively invades their lives? Read
more
Anti-Gun
Myths Harm Women
It is rare for a prestigious institution to nakedly
compromise its research integrity to promote a political agenda. Yet
this is what the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) does in an
anti-gun
press release (April 17) that trumpets its recent study on the
murder of women.
Read more
Girls,
Get Your Guns
The spotlight on Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito's
position on abortion has shone so brightly that the issue has overshadowed
another controversial question: Where does he stand on gun ownership?
It is just one example of how gun rights have been temporarily pushed
aside.
Read more
Gun-Proof Your Children
On May 9th -- Mother's
Day -- the "anti-gun" Million
Mom March will gather on the West Lawn in D.C. in protest. Meanwhile
the pro-gun Second
Amendment Freedoms for Everyone (SAFER) will rally nearby. Both
organizations claim to speak against violence and for children's safety.
Yet each espouses diametrically-opposed positions on gun legislation.
Who really speaks for children? Read
more
Do
Gun Control Activists Pad Gun Death Statistics?
Last week's release of police
documents and evidence on the April, 1999, Columbine school shootings
has sparked many questions -- not only on the specifics of Columbine
but also on the general issue of guns. The answers are unsatisfying
on all counts. Read more
The
Right to Self Defense
On June 27, in the case of Castle
Rock v. Gonzales, the Supreme Court found that Jessica Gonzales
did not have a constitutional right to police protection even in the
presence of a restraining order.By a vote of 7-to-2, the Supreme Court
ruled that Gonzales has no
right to sue her local police department for failing to protect
her and her children from her estranged husband. Read
more
Women
with Guns Fight Back
Women need to defend themselves, especially single
women or those with husbands overseas. And the media has a responsibility
to discuss honestly the issue of gun ownership. The John Walsh
Show on NBC may have dealt a blow (4/29) to both goals by "ambushing"
three women who agreed to discuss their gun ownership and advocacy
on air. Read more
War
May Redefine Gun Control
Despite the high emotions that surround war --
or perhaps because of them -- people are focusing again on "normal"
life. But what is normal has shifted in ways both obvious and subtle.
Consider how war has affected just one issue: the debate over gun
control. Read
more
Arm
the Afghan Women
It is commonplace to assume that toppling the
Taliban will free Afghan women. But in an unstable country where soldiers
celebrate conquest by raping — and where there is currently no
guarantee that whatever form of government eventually assumes control
will not be equally oppressive toward females — women have to
protect themselves to remain free. Read
more
