The “New Normal”…

The “New Normal” is spreading like peanut butter over warm toast. This from the National Review at no less than NPR, National Pubic Radio’s website:

The Supreme Court’s rejection of Chicago’s handgun ban in McDonald v. City of Chicago is more than a recognition that the Second Amendment applies to the states as well as the federal government. The McDonald decision is a harbinger for the end of gun prohibition as an idea. The simple, undeniable truth is that gun control does not work.

McDonald brings the law up to speed with reality, where advocates of gun control have been wrong since the issue became a national discussion.

Strict gun-control policies have failed to deliver on their essential promise: that denying law-abiding citizens access to the means of self-defense will somehow make them safer. This should come as no surprise, since gun control has always been about control, not guns.

[…]

A generation from now, legal and policy discussions will look back and see gun control for the sham that it has always been. The real shame is that it took decades of political action, millions of dollars in litigation, and thousands of lives lost to end the preposterous idea that governments can reduce the number of victims of violent crime by first taking away their means of resistance.

IMHO, the challenge for those of us in the gun culture is multiple:
• While our organizations continue the attack on restrictive gun laws at state and municipal levels, we need to be vigilant on a local level. Gun control advocates know they’ve lost the war, but it doesn’t mean they can’t win battles on a local level. And blocking the passage of local antigun legislation is both faster and a heck of a cheaper than fighting those laws all the way through the court system!
• We need CCW reciprocity. I personally favor the “Constitutional” permitless carry of Vermont, Alaska and Arizona, but that isn’t going to fly (at this time) in many states. Reciprocity would be the next best thing. I think we’ll probably get this in 2011.
• We need to focus our organizations on egregious anti gun laws that fly under the radar, For example, the fact that New York, Boston and Chicago airport jurisdictions have decided on their own to ignore federal “safe transit” laws and jail unwary travelers who get stuck in their cities while carrying guns is completely unacceptable. This needs national legislative remedy.
• The main battlefield is now access. The Second Amendment becomes meaningless if we have no place to shoot, to introduce the next generation to our gun culture. This is both for shooting on public lands and formal ranges.