The Shootist

[dexfarkin]

Adam Gopnik (man, wouldn't that be the best name for a hard-line conservative advisor?) has posted an article called 'Abraham Lincoln and the Birth of Stand Your Ground' which analyzes the growth of duelling in the US and how it informs modern day Stand Your Ground. It ties in a speech by Lincoln on vigilante violence and it's effects on democracy. His call for “Reason, cold calculating unimpassioned reason, must furnish all the materials for our future support and defense.” is a strike at the unpinnings of laws like Stand Your Ground which essentially legalize subjective judgement and passion as the root justification for action.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2013/07/abraham-lincoln-and-the-birth-of-stand-your-ground.html?mbid=social_retweet