Victory for the Paul Helmke/Wayne LaPierre axis

In fairness, I guess I should also call this "Defeat for the Josh Sugarmann/Larry Pratt axis."

There's plenty of discussion about this, both from the "Authorized Journalists," and the gun bloggers. No one really needs my take on it--especially since David has already summed it up perfectly.

Bottom line (as I see it) is that the NICS program is unconstitutional (and expensive), and expanding it is a move in exactly the wrong direction. When you add to that the incredible naiveté required to believe in the concept of a "prohibited persons" list (whereby a person deemed too violent to be permitted to openly buy a gun in a shop is permitted to run loose among society with the ability to acquire a gun illegally, make one at home, or simply commit his carnage by some other method), I have trouble believing that anyone actually expects this to save lives.

Maybe I'm just a skeptic.