Some work by Catoites responding to the lethal rampage by an Islamic State devotee at closing time last Sunday morning in Orlando’s LGBT-oriented Pulse nightclub:
- Michael Tanner on why our first reactions should not be partisan and why neither Team Red nor Team Blue delivered a message fully in keeping with national unity.
- I’ve got a piece at Ricochet about how the killer’s psychobiography is of less importance than his ideology: “Don’t Blame ‘Self-Loathing,’ Blame Jihadism.”
- Marian Tupy at Cato’s Human Progress website on how the evolution of social and cultural norms has made America both more socially tolerant and safer. Related, and published a few weeks before the massacre, from Cato Vice President David Boaz: “Capitalism, Not Socialism, Led To Gay Rights.”
- Adam Bates on terror watch lists and “no-fly, no-buy” gun control proposals; Ilya Shapiro on due process; and Trevor Burrus on why, contra the American Medical Association, shooting homicides in America (which have drastically declined in number from earlier levels) do not constitute a “public health crisis.”
- New Cato podcasts on motives of mass killers with Trevor Burrus and kneejerk policy prescriptions after tragedy with Adam Bates; and broadcast clips of Roger Pilon on gun control on KQED’s Michael Krasny show and Julian Sanchez on FBN’s Kennedy.
Writes Michael Tanner in his piece: “As Representative Justin Amash (R., Mich.) noted, he has heard ‘Democrats and Republicans endorse violating the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th Amendments’ in response to the attack. About the only thing we are missing is a call to quarter troops in our homes.”
And more: “Without self-defense, there are no gay rights.” Dave Kopel has a post today at the Volokh Conspiracy, “The history of LGBT gun-rights litigation,” citing the pioneering work of several scholars and activists whose name will be familiar to Cato readers, including Cato University director Tom Palmer, leading up to and following the landmark D.C. v. Heller individual rights case.
