Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Warring visions: Justices Kagan and Scalia on gun rights

As I noted the other day about Ron Paul's "win an AR 15" raffle, the tribal divide in America is so deep that the "we are all Americans first" meme is of dubious accuracy.  A similar tribal divide is seen between Associate Justices Elena Kagan and Antonin Scalia.  They skirmished? jousted? traded shots? rhetorical pyrotechnics? over gun rights last week in the "straw buyers" case Adamski v. United States.  The Guardian tells the story and assembles the warring blasts.  A taste follows:

Scalia: The majority [contends] “the individual who sends a straw to a gun store to buy a firearm is transacting with the dealer, in every way but the most formal.” That certainly distinguishes that individual from the intended subsequent donee or purchaser; so would the fact that he has orange hair.

Kagan: But that is an example of wit gone wrong. Whether the purchaser has orange hair, we can all agree, is immaterial.

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