Hours after the Colorado "Movie Massacre," New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on the radio that he believe that every police officer in the country should go on strike, and refuse to come back to work until there were stricter gun control laws.
It was not for days AFTER that until investigators discovered that the shooter had purchased the guns legally by spreading purchases across several stores. He had no prior arrest record, so even with gun control laws, they would not have caught him.
Since this, gun control laws have been debated. That said, I wanted to explain in a calm, rational matter, what this actually is.
First, let's look at what the Second Amendment actually states. A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. What this means is that our founding fathers gave us a unique right, unique to all the world. They understood that it was only through the ability to defend oneself, it was necessary to have firearms. In particular, they believed that we the people needed guns to keep the government in check. So all those who believe that the National Guard remove the need for the second amendment do not understand history. (Point of fact, in WWII, the Japanese said that they did not invade the American mainland because all they knew about America was from Westerns and Gangster movies. They would not attack, believing there would be "a gun behind every bush and tree.")
Second, let's look at what happens when this is taken away. In Atlanta, GA, they passed a law making guns illegal within city limits. Gun-related crimes, like armed robbery quadrupled. Why? Criminals, by definition, ignore the law. So if they saw no cops in a dinner, they could rob it safely. When this law was repealed due to these affects, restaurant and store owners put signs in their windows saying things like "10% off if you are carrying a gun." Crime reached new lows. When Katrina hit, they declared martial law and went into wealthy neighborhoods and rounded up all the guns from the homeowners. Looters came unchecked and destroyed these homes because officials were too busy with search and rescue to defend these neighborhoods. These are true stories. Look them up.
Fear and emotion tend to overrule logic and fact in our time. The fact is, places with stricter gun control laws have more gun crimes. I know it seems counter intuitive, but it's true. I'll give you another. Automatic weapons are not more deadly that other firearms (in fact, they're less so. In Vietnam, those with automatic weapons averaged firing almost 50 shots per kill. Snipers, using bolt-action rifles averaged 1.3 bullets per kill). They're just scarier. In the same way, switch-blades are not deadlier than other knives. They're just scarier, so they're illegal.
The fact is, what if someone else in that theater had a gun? They could have put a bullet in the shooter's eye after he started firing. What if you had no wounded and just the maniac dead? The person that killed him would be called a hero. Period. I read someone saying "He had on body armor, so a regular person shooting him wouldn't have mattered unless they had armor-piercing rounds." Have you never watched a cop show? A bullet in a vest is survivable, but mean broken ribs, maybe even a punctured lung. That takes the fight out of him real fast. That means an apprehended, live, bad guy. Even better.
Now I'm not say everyone should have a gun. I don't have one. But what I am saying is that we should have ordinary people who are trained to use them. I learned gun safety in school. Rule #1: Always treat a gun like it's loaded, even when it's not. Because it might have a chambered round and you not realize it. Rule #2: NEVER point a gun at ANYTHING you don't intend to destroy. Period. (Again, even if it's not loaded.) I learned to respect the power of weapons of all types. So there's no mystery. There's no curiosity leading to stupidity. There is only knowledge leading to wisdom.
So what if any of those four military personnel who were wounded had been carrying a gun? They might have saved a lot of lives.
Maybe what we need is less fearful reaction and more education.
No comments:
Post a Comment