This isn’t so much of a damning omission, or a truthful admission, but just an example of anti-rights philosophy.
As you well know, most states have Child Access prevention laws making the owner of the weapon liable if a child uses it in an accidental shooting or homicide. There are laws in place but with rights come responsibilities. It is too late to prosecute, if that is the route taken, once the bullet kills or injuries someone. Let’s prevent it ahead of time.
I’ve coined a phrase to show the absurdity of this philosophy: “If owning guns was as illegal as murder, nobody would be murdered with guns.”
Its kinda foolish when you think about it. Murder is one of the highest crimes in the land and no matter HOW nasty the gun laws are wherever you are, the punishment isn’t as severe as the statutes for murder. But we still have murder, and frankly that’s the core of the anti-freedom argument is that there is too much murder….well they often say “Gun Death”, but I’ve never heard one admit that non-gun deaths don’t count….they just aren’t worth any time, consideration, emotion, legislation….well anything, but they count…just the antis aren’t counting.
We could make selling a gun (FFL or otherwise, imagine a full ban on firearm transfers) punishable by 5 years in prison. Yep sell that pistol you didn’t like, or want to upgrade, or buy give your son or daughter their first .22 and you go to JAIL. That may stop SOME people…but not all, and frankly the people it won’t stop are the people we’re concerned about. If I were to sell Jay who’s a personal friend, family man, and of course somebody with a clean background to match his kind heart (and eyes!) one of my guns…but say skip the Massachusetts paperwork. Or let’s say while I’m in Maine I grab a few new-made Glock magazines at a local store. (Note I do not OWN a Glock)
Now both of those actions would be a crime, punishment by felony conviction, loss of permits and rights, and time in jail. But what HARM would come of it? Jay and I already have LOADS of guns…if we wanted to start some shit wouldn’t we have started it already? And I got lots of magazines and ammo, what exactly would bringing a new 15 round G19 mag into Mass exactly do?
Meanwhile this weekend in Boston a gang member is going to borrow the communal pistol (likely stolen ages ago) and shoot a rival drug dealer. He won’t have a permit, the gun isn’t legally his, he can’t posses ammo, he can’t carry a gun in public….but he’ll do it anyway. Why? Because he’s already decided to do murder, the other crimes are petty.
And there’s the crux of my argument, the anti-rights people (and remember I say Anti-Rights, not Anti-Gun) want to stop murder. Not reduce it. Not take dangerous murderers off the streets, but essentially un-invent the crime of murder. Make it so one of the highest crime in all of history suddenly is gone in a puff of logic.
Now I won’t fault them for that wish, its a nice one, but its impossible. There has never been a time when humans haven’t murdered (OK if you want to get technical Murder is a construct of the criminal code, its unknown if pre-historic man had such distinctions…tho frankly I imagine that the distinction between “Justified Killing” and “Murder” likely popped up pretty early in human social behavior) hell there are lots of animal species that will kill their own kind out of personal convenience.
I don’t fault them for wanting to rid the world of an ugly thing…but I do fault them for attacking human freedom to attempt to do the impossible. Its like banning apples in attempt to repeal the laws of gravity. Sorry you won’t accomplish anything and I like apples. Also I like oranges more, and if you ban apples and are unsuccessful at stopping gravity what’s to keep your hands off my oranges?
There’s another hollow philosophy. The anti-freedom types often assure us “We’re not coming for your guns” yet they are taking away rights in attempt to do the impossible (eliminate murder) or simply the irrelevant (disregard murder rates and attempt to stamp out “Gun Death”), so where will you go when you’re not successful? Away?
Of course not.
-There are many states that have bans on private sales (this is one of them), it doesn’t work, criminals still get guns, and still murder each-other with other weapons. Yet they want to push it nation-wide.
-There are many states that restrict magazine capacity (This is one of them) it was done nation wide as well, it didn’t work, it was repealed nationally and there have been no trends or falls into ruin. They want to push it nation wide.
-There are states that ban “Assault Weapons” by arbitrary features. (This is one of them), and it was done nation wide. Of course those features can be removed or modified with minimal effect on the performance of the gun…and of course the law was a solution to a problem that never existed. They still want it back.
And these all arose from other gun control ideas. Ideas that didn’t work. When they failed they simply demanded more restriction of rights, more declarations of once legal activities and property to be criminal. They say that THIS time they will manage to do the impossible, and lawful gun owners have nothing to fear, because this will be the last step. Only it won’t be. They won’t stop, nor will they look at the flaws in their reason. They are a religion more than a political movement. They are blind followers of a hollow faith carried on by political whores who have secured jobs that net them six-figure incomes if they just preach the lies.
I used to attempt to debate them, because I used to be one of them, and I guess I saw a little part of me in them. I don’t see that anymore. I didn’t need lengthy debates or 100+ comment blog posts, or twitter debates. All I needed was one or two good gun owners to demand I bring proof before pointing a finger at them. It was a logical request, and a request I would have made of others even when I was more leftist and less worldly. So I attempted to make a case.
I attempted and I failed. That was all it took. That was all it took because I was honest.
These people are not honest. I wanted to ban guns because I thought it would do some good in the world. I had an honest reason. When I found that my reasons were deeply flawed I didn’t give up my hopes for a better world, I just changed my methods.
I became pro-gun, and pro-rights. That is where we differ, and why we’ll never see eye-to-eye. Its also why there are so very few of them.
Keep pushing on, fighters for human rights. We will succeed. We will only fail if we chose to do nothing.
