There are many things about the 19th century Republicans that I prefer to their 21st century counterparts. There is a great deal to be learned from them, and not just for Republicans. But civil disobedience is something that has to be approached with caution. As William F. Buckley wrote in 1969: “Dr. King’s discovery of the transcendent rights of the individual conscience is the kind of thing that killed Jim Crow all right. But it is also the kind of thing that killed Bobby Kennedy.”

What’s happening in Connecticut may be passive resistance (possibly even slothful resistance), but it strikes me as a good thing, and I hope that the state’s rifle owners will continue to decline to comply with this intrusive and unjust law. And if 30 million Americans should refuse to pay their taxes one year, it would make me smile.