It is naive to believe that bad people will obey gun control laws

At churches throughout Caldwell today parishoners were asked to pray for new and stricter gun control laws. I did not join in. Not because I am pro-violence; but because I am a realist.

Here's their spiel:

Except… Cities and states with the most onerous gun control regulations also have the highest rates of gun violence. Surely my brothers and sisters in our religious community could look this up. Chicago. Detroit. Camden. Newark. It's virtually impossible for a citizen in one of those cities to lawfully purchase a gun. Yet a day when 4 people are brutally gunned down in the streets? Those cities call that "Tuesday."

Alas, the perpetrators of gun violence do not lawfully acquire their firearms. So why is it that when a criminal commits a violent act the first reaction of supposedly reasonable people is to restrict my rights?

Furthermore, in states where the Second Amendment is respected, gun violence is significantly lower. As Robert Heinlein said, an armed society is a polite society. Think about it. If gun shows really are magnets for psychopaths and serial killers, how does anyone get out of one alive?

Today's anti-Second-Amendment proclamation is signed by 18 good and decent men and women of God. And to a one I believe they are sincere. But I have to ask, where were they when Kermit Gosnell was murdering babies by the truckload? Where is their statement condemning the practioners of abortion? Compared to the 55 million slaughtered in the charnel houses of Planned Parenthood, the victims of gun violence are a drop in the bucket.

Save the children? Stop abortion. Yet the proponents of gun control wouldn't dream of restricting the invented "right" to abortion. It's only my enumerated right to keep and bear arms which attracts their opprobrium.

Or, as I saw once on Facebook, if guns kill people and cause crime, mine must be defective.

For that matter, when it comes to "a society prone to suicide" you folks might want to regulate trains. Because it seems like every week I read about some tortured soul who walks in front of one.

My point is this. Violence happens. It's not dependent on access to guns. In fact there are numerous situations where gun owners have prevented violence. Yes, really. The gun itself is not evil. It's just an object. Evil takes many forms. As a priest once told me, brother Devil is always there, ready to pounce on our weakness.

Consider — the Boston bombers were not legally authorized to purchase firearms. The existing laws worked. Yet somehow they acquired guns, and bombs. Which of these proposed new gun control measures would have stopped them? And will our churches now call for regulation of pressure cookers too? How about backpacks?

It takes more than slogans to stop evil.

Remember, the Disciples carried swords. It is not a sin to defend your family or your friends. There is such a thing as Just War. And unilateral disarmament is a sure-fire route to extinction.

UPDATE 22 Apr 2013 10:14:
Linked by Gator Doug. Thanks!

Posted at 21:43 by Chris Wysocki   [/religion]   Comments | Perm Link |
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