Liberals mugged

Remember the old joke that a conservative is a liberal that's been mugged? Paul Soglin reports some of his thoughts on his bike ride Sunday,

The Sunday Wisconsin State Journal has an article about the significant increase in hand guns in Madison. I spent a good part of the ride mulling over what it will take to convince city leaders that crime and poverty are of major proportions.

Whether or not the city leaders have figured it out, it's clear the residents have. Thank goodness they still have the 2nd Amendment to make the choice to defend themselves.

Update! 4/30/07 10:13pm Former Madison Mayor Paul Soglin zings me pretty good because, quite frankly, I didn't read the article he didn't link to. Here's the article in question.

Gun-seizure cases by Madison police have climbed nearly a third over the past five years, as officers increasingly find deadly weapons while investigating incidents ranging from traffic stops and domestic disputes to robberies.

"Certainly there is a belief among officers that we're seeing more gun cases and getting more complaints about shots fired," said Capt. Tom Snyder, who leads investigative services for the department. "There's no doubt that we're seeing more gang-related activity."

What Soglin wrote, "The Sunday Wisconsin State Journal has an article about the significant increase in hand guns in Madison. I spent a good part of the ride mulling over what it will take to convince city leaders that crime and poverty are of major proportions." Easy to see how I mixed up the context.

Of course, none of this changes that 1) crime is up in Madison 2) if Soglin is correct that city officials do not recognize the crime problem, I'm correct in saying the best hope of the residents is in their 2nd amendment rights.

Update 2! Random 10 puts this debate up like a clay pigeon (I'm working on my similes):

Furthermore, the idea that thugs might purse their Second Amendment rights seems deeply disturbing to liberals. In Wisconsin, felony convictions can abrogate a person’s right to keep and bear arms, but given that our civil society depends on the application of innocent till proven guilty, a misdemeanor thug has rights. The left interprets the fact that poverty has a partial correlation to crime to mean that poverty causes crime. This is simply false. Crime is not a result of income, objects or situation. Crime is personal acceptance of unapproved values.

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