Coyotes in the state of nature: "That is the essence of 21st-century progressivism: In matters ranging from financial derivatives to education to gun control, the Left believes that we face a choice between a masterful state and a Hobbesian war of all against all. For all of the smart set’s vaunted and self-congratulatory nu­ance, it is this absolutist vision, this Manichean horror, that forms the foun­dation of progressivism. This, and not the threat of uncontrollable crime, is really at the heart of the subur­ban progressives’ abomination of firearms.”


Court decisions aside, scofflaws have long made gun control unenforceable: "My family (I’m descended from immigrants originating in those suspect regions of Europe) has long had a habit of owning, and often carrying, weapons in and around New York City. But we got to this country — most of my ancestors, anyway — just about the time the Sullivan Act became law. Which means all that carrying and brandishing of weapons took place despite the law, because nobody in my family bothered to get a pistol permit through several generations of residency in New York City. Until me.”