Another Expansion of the Windypundit Media Empire

One of the subjects I’d like to cover more on Windypundit is the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. I haven’t been posting much about RKBA issues here, in part because the Republicans didn’t try to push a lot of gun control measures through Congress, and in part because I just got sick of it all back in the ’90’s.

With the Democrats in control of the federal government again, I expect some gun control measures to start their way through the legislative process. It wasn’t a big issue during the election season, but politicians have a way of returning to their roots once the election is over.

On the other hand, the Supreme Court’s decision in Heller made it clear that the right recognized in the Second Amendment is an individual one, without specifying what that actually meant. This means there are a lot of courtroom battles ahead.

All in all, it looks like we’ll be reading a lot more about guns and gun control in the near future.

With that in mind, I’m pleased to announce the expansion of the blogging team here at Windypundit with the addition of Joel Rosenberg (yes, that Joel Rosenberg). Joel is a firearms instructor from Minnesota, where runs the Twin Cities Carry Course. Online, he posts to his Open Sites LiveJournal page and operates the Twin Cities Carry Forum.

Joel was recently mentioned in a City Pages article by Ward Rubrecht where he gave this great quote:

[Joel] suggests that after five years, mild-mannered Minnesotans have finally learned that a gun tucked into a waistband isn’t the sign of a blood-hungry nutcase.

“It’s like the gay couple that moves in down the block,” he says. “At first some people get upset, but after a while it’s just like, ‘Yeah, that’s just Joe and Todd.'”

I first noticed Joel in the comments over at Simple Justice where I was struck by the fact that even though he clearly had an emotional investment in the issues, he was willing to accept the possibility that he could be wrong, willing to consider alternative explanations, and willing to believe that despite their errors, his opponents were sometimes acting with good intentions.

I hope that my lengthy introduction hasn’t put too much pressure on Joel to perform. I don’t expect him to hit the 10 ring on every post. On the other hand, he’s the first co-blogger I’ve invited who I didn’t know personally, so if he’s too much trouble, he’s outta here! No pressure, though.

His first post is coming up, so be sure to say “Hello.”