The Musings of

Something full of magic, religion, bullsh*t.

Fox News is posting a very interesting article about the recent return to reason in the gun-control debate. After several years of being on the defensive following the Columbine shootings, pro-gun legislation is once again in ascendance. The expected failure of reactive gun-control legislation in lessening crime has prompted pro-gun legislators to return to the argument that gun rights is a security issue, and that gun control only takes guns from law-abiding citizens who could be using them for self defense. The money shot quote states:

"At the scene of these crimes, despite all the good intentions of the police, the prosecutors, the courts, the judges — they're all coming in later," said Wayne LaPierre, chief executive of the National Rifle Association. "The country as a whole is taking another look, across the board, at the idea that maybe it makes good sense to allow people to protect themselves in as many situations as possible."

As someone who was once active in passing concealed-carry legislation, I couldn't be happier about this trend. Constitutional rights aside, the notion that gun control has any positive effect on crime or safety is laughable. There are enough guns in this country to arm every adult -- nearly 200 million. Nothing the government does, be it gun licensing restrictions or house-to-house searches is going to change the fact that criminals will always have easy access to guns. As noted above, the only people who follow gun laws are people who follow the law. Why is this so difficult to understand? When you place roadblocks in front of gun owning citizens you are only limiting their ability to protect themselves and others. In fact, estimates are that guns are used 1.5 to 2.5 million times a year for self defense. Safety? It has been reported that private citizens are 5 times less likely than police to accidentally shoot an innocent person they mistake for a criminal.

Not all the ambush interviews and rigged "documentaries" in the world can change the fact that a return to gun freedom is good for America.

Update: According to the Arkansas News Bureau, this weekend DNC Chair Howard Dean stated that he was not going to put a gun question on his 50-state issue survey of what the Democratic message should be. "Guns aren't an issue," he said. 

0 Comments:

Post a Comment