Pundits on the left and right have sometimes complained about the “politicization of everything” — the way issues increasingly take on a partisan, grudge-match quality to them. There’s little room for compromise and common sense when just about every disagreement turns into a litmus test.
An ongoing case in a federal court in Sacramento illustrates this argument. Attorney General Kamala Harris is defending California’s enforcement of a 1923 gun-related law against some central and northern California firearms dealers. The dealers have challenged the law on constitutional grounds after the state fined them during routine store inspections.