Quick Question

For any one problem we face in our world there are a variety of solutions that are suggested. One very real problem in our society is crime, more specifically violent crime. As I stated in my post entitled The Second Amendment: Ensuring Freedom  it is not beyond my realm of understanding when people connect violent crime with firearms. Someone shooting another person doesn't leave us much of an alternative. Either it was firearm related or it wasn't...end of story. The solution to said problem, from gun control advocates and the media, is usually that we should get firearms out of the hands of criminal. Now, I'd like to say for the record that I agree wholeheartedly with that notion. If we could find a way to give the honest citizen an upper hand on the criminals then that would be GREAT! Now for the question, how do you suggest we disarm the criminals without disarming the honest law abiding citizenry? Yes ma'am, you had your hand raised. Do you have an idea?

"I sure do. What if we had strict regulations defining what types of firearms are legal for the average citizen?"

Well, that is an interesting idea. In fact, it is an idea that our legislators had several years ago and we do have strict regulations regarding types of firearms that citizens are allowed to own. For instance, unless we are actively in the military we are not allowed to have fully automatic firearms. Even in the military those are kept under lock and key unless they are needed. Furthermore, we only recently came out from under a restriction on the capacity of magazine that we could have for our firearms, and of course this can vary from state to state. Does anyone else have an idea. Yes sir, go ahead.

"What if we just outlawed all firearms that are not used for hunting. You know, like hunting rifles and shotguns."

Okay, sir, that is another plausible idea. Let me answer your question by asking you one. Are hunting rifles any less dangerous than any other kind of weapon?

"No, of course not. Okay, then how about we outlaw handguns and stop allowing paranoid gun nuts to carry concealed."

Fair enough. I suppose if we did some research we would find that the majority of crimes are committed with handguns. So it seems reasonable to go ahead and outlaw those. What about the Second Amendment?

"Awwww, you know that was meant to protect our ability to have a national guard. Duh."

So you're saying that we should leave the gun handling to trained professionals. By the way, even the National Guard doesn't get to take their weapons home with them. Just like the regular military they are kept under lock and key. Furthermore, unless they are going to the range most Guard armories don't even have ammunition. Okay, let me ask you this; is there always a law enforcement officer around when you need one? Are they able to stop 100% of the violent crime because they are ever present? Does a police officer live in your house and follow you around wherever you go?

"Well no. I don't guess they can."

Would you like to live in a police state?

"No." 

Alright, now its my turn to ask some questions. What makes a criminal a criminal? Is it that they have guns?

"No, a person is a criminal if they break the law."

Very good, breaking the law is, and should be, what defines someone as a criminal. Now, if someone is willing to break the law by robbing a store, breaking into your house, raping a woman, or dealing drugs don't you think they would be willing to break the law and get a gun? Furthermore, if gun ownership does not define criminality don't you think they could find some other weapon to use for their purposes. Let me say it this way, are guns the only dangerous things? Did the hijackers of 9/11 have guns? Did they use guns, or even bombs to carry out their criminal acts? Maybe we should outlaw airplanes.

"That's ridiculous! What are you getting at anyway? Are you saying everyone should have a gun? This isn't the wild west RV. That would be an uncivilized and chaotic society."

Would it be? Let's just think about that for a moment. I know that if I have in my mind that I'm going to go pull a gun in Walmart in order to get what I want but I realize that a high percentage of the other patrons are armed, I know my chances of getting out of their uninjured or alive are mighty slim. I absolutely agree that known criminals should have an exceedingly hard time getting firearms because we have a pretty good idea what their going to do with them. The fact of the matter is that if someone wants a gun they are going to get one whether or not it is through the legal channels.

"Fine then, let's just collect all the guns and toss them into the ocean. Then no one will have any."

Well, that's one solution but there are several problems with it. First of all, that's going to cost a lot of money. Secondly, how are you going to know you got them all. If someone purchased a gun illegally then there isn't going to be any paper trail to let the authorities know they have it. Then, once 90% of the guns are gone they will know that the chances of success for their criminal activity have just gone through the roof. You can mark my words, if you tried something like that violent gun crime would skyrocket. You will have just let the wolves in with the sheep and removed the shepherd's staff and sling. Finally, why are you going to punish the millions of law abiding gun owners and sportsmen that use their firearms for perfectly legal and just things like hunting, self defense, sport shooting and collecting?

"RV, asking some people to give up their freedom for the protection of society is perfectly fine with me."

I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. Did you say "Heil Hitler"?

RV