The Right to do Wrong

Conservatives love to advocate for "states' rights".  Of course, you probably know that "states' rights" is just a half-clever, Big Brother-style rhetorical trick they use to front as champions of freedom, when if fact they're trying to restrict civil liberties.  For example, when they defend a state's right to ban gay marriage or to ban abortion; they're saying they believe in the freedom to be oppressive.  Back in the olden days, the "states' rights" argument was used to defend the Southern states' liberty to enslave the Blacks; later, it was used in support of Jim Crow. 

Today, the Supreme Court ruled against states' rights, and you might assume that it was the liberals who were responsible.  Oh wait, I forgot to mention, this case was about gun control, specifically, the right of Chicago to ban the ownership of handguns; predictably, all five conservative justices voted to prohibit gun control by states and cities, with the four liberal justices dissenting.  Yeah, so I guess states' rights don't extend to blue states and Democratic cities.  Oh well, we already knew it was bullshit.

I'm ambivalent about banning handguns.  Some say they their sole purpose is to kill human beings, I say their sole purpose is to be awesome and bad-ass.  This means they should probably be outlawed, because being illegal makes just about anything cooler.  After all, if drugs were legal, drug dealers would be middle-aged dorks wearing smocks at Walgreen's, and the only bad-asses left would be guys who say "cunt" in public.