Common Sense Gun Control In Response To Mass Shootings

That's what the left always says they want. Because who could be against "common sense", right?

They say they want an "assault weapons ban" yet Connecticut already has one (and good luck getting them to define "assault weapon"). They say they want "waiting periods" yet Connecticut already has those, too. They say they want to ban high-capacity magazines, even though the low-capacity ones take only seconds to change.

Background checks? We already have those nationwide. But we must "close the gun show loophole", by which I think they mean requiring background checks for all private sales between individuals because just applying them to private sales that take place at gun shows would be stupid.

Oh, wait, it's gun laws we're talking about here.

The crime that provoked all this babbling occurred in a state that's ranked by the Brady Campaign as having the 5th-strongest gun laws in the US. Most of the "common sense" proposals you're hearing in the media amount to a call to apply Connecticut's gun laws to the entire nation so the crime that happened there can never happen again.

Wait. What?

In reality, the left just wants what it has always wanted: a complete ban on guns. Deep down, they know their "common sense" gun laws are ineffectual, but they also know there's no way the public will eat the whole meal in one sitting. So they're doing what they always have ... proposing to incrementally strip away gun rights and use each failure of their own proposals as a call for even tighter restrictions on people's fundamental right to self-defense.

And even if they were to reach their promised land of a complete ban, they'd soon learn that they can't de-invent the technology that it takes to make a relatively simple machine. Next on the list would be waiting periods and permits to buy lathes and CNC milling machines, I guess.

After 9/11/01, there were two responses that actually made sense and would prevent a repeat of the incident: strengthening airliner cockpit doors and requiring the door to remain locked during flight. However, all the changes in the security line, from federalizing screeners to making you surrender your nail clippers and take off your shoes are just security theatre designed to make you feel safer at the high price of stripping away some of your liberties.

Gun control laws are no different, and the policies that proved ineffective in Connecticut are security theatre too. If we're truly interested in preventing these types of incidents in the future, here's where we should focus our efforts:

With just one single exception, the attack on congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson in 2011, every public shooting since at least 1950 in the U.S. in which more than three people have been killed has taken place where citizens are not allowed to carry guns.

You want common sense gun control? Eliminate gun-free zones and allow people to freely exercise their fundamental right to defend themselves, their families and their communities.

posted by Andy at 11:13 AM

| Access Comments