The FCC Goes Local, Economic Woes and Gun Rights

Senators express concern over proposed FCC localism regulations.

The U.S. economy avoids recession status with modest growth in the first quarter of 2008.

A federal court upholds a law limiting lawsuits against gun manufacturers over acts committed by criminals with guns.

1. TECHNOLOGY

Senators express concern over proposed FCC localism regulations.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Technology Policy Analyst Cord Blomquist on the status of the ‘localism” debate:

“In 1987, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) relaxed rules requiring broadcasters to operate their main studio in their communities of license. The FCC is now considering reverting to the rules of two decades ago, forcing companies to maintain a physical presence in each city in which they broadcast. This, despite massive technological evolution that has made it possible—and more efficient—for stations to locate studios in remote locations without sacrificing a focus on community content.”

 

2. BUSINESS

The U.S. economy avoids recession status with modest growth in the first quarter of 2008.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Eli Lehrer on the problems with the Treasury Department’s blueprint for new financial regulation:

“The report seeks to replace a confused, sometimes inconsistent financial regulatory system with a clearly defined one that would bring a strong regulatory state to bear over many financial institutions. It discards institutions, forms, and ideas that have grown up organically in response to specific problems and replaces them with large, one-size-fits-all regulatory mechanisms structured along functional lines. Although certain portions of the framework have considerable merit, particularly regarding insurance regulation, many more of them have serious flaws. ”

 

3. LEGAL

A federal court upholds a law limiting lawsuits against gun manufacturers over acts committed by criminals with guns.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Special Projects Counsel Hans Bader on the debate over the case:

“The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence has claimed that the law violates ‘separation of powers’ by changing the outcome of pending court cases (an argument that, if taken to its logical conclusion, would require invalidating the 1964 Civil Rights Act because it legislatively overturned trespass convictions of civil-rights demonstrators who engaged in sit-ins). I earlier commented on the Brady Center’s hypocrisy in claiming that it is ‘judicial activism’ for judges to strike down gun bans based on the Second Amendment, but not judicial activism for judges to strike down the democratically-enacted Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act based on unwritten separation-of-powers principles.”

 

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