For many years, many have thought (this poster included) that controversy over banni ng handguns or firearms is really not about gun control. There are many reasons for this conclusion. Some are listed below.
1. There is no credible empirical support for the basic assumptions of gun control.
2. There is no credible empirical support for the effectiveness of gun control in reducing violent crime.
3. It is ludicrous to think that criminals will obey gun control laws give up their weapons.
4. Given the millions of handguns and firearms in American society, it is ludicrous to think that gun prohibitions will work. See the National Research Council's 2004 Report entitled "Firarms and Violence," for their evaluation of the research. (You may want to download the free executive summary)
Florida State Criminologist Gary Kleck's research suggest that bans aren't really about crime control.
Today's gun control, like individual state sovereignty, is about the collectivists' subversion of America's Bill of Rights. The first ten amendments to our country's government charter frustrates these social progressives' grab for absolute power. Rather than gun control, how about focusing on gun safety, as promoted by the NRA. Like with professional licensure, public safety on such matters is states' business. The only input federal government should have is to uphold people's inherited natural right to keep and bear arms as recognized by the U.S. Constitution's 2nd Amendment.
ReplyDeleteRead another article today on the safety benefits of carrying. An excerpt:
ReplyDelete"With or without headlines, millions of Americans grasp instinctively that guns make us safer. For when honest citizens carry weapons, criminals are less likely to attack -- and those who do are more likely to fail."
Jeff Jacoby usually writes a good column and you can subscribe to his weekly emailed pontifications.
http://www.jeffjacoby.com/11400/a-safer-society-with-guns
While I regard most of the extreme gun control advocates to be unrealistic, I think that the premise that the average violent criminal is going to be rationalizing about the likelihood of his target being armed equally fanciful. It's not about mutually assured destruction.
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