Under The Gun

New York City's gun control laws are amongst the strictest in the country. So naturally when a shooting occurs with in the city limits, lack of gun control is blame. Or is it? Could the government ever effectively outlaw all guns throughout the country? Of course not. We get told when it comes to people who are here illegally that the logistics involved with rounding them up would be impossible. Because a person who doesn't want to be found, often won't be in a country this large. So wouldn't the same logic be applied to gun laws.

Politicians on both sides tend to avoid this issue. For one thing, the logistics issue I just mentioned means the process is about as possible as sprouting wings and taking flight. But that doesn't stop the demagogues from suggesting it. The real danger though is knowing the government can never round up guns that people don't want rounded up, what are the people who are unarmed do in the face of a determined gunman? Wait a few minutes for the police? Well we have seen the answer over and over again and the results are heartbreaking.

If a Carpenter builds a home riddled with problems, does replacing his hammer make him a better tradesmen? No, he lacks a fundamental tool. If you take away a  gun from a murderer, it may make him a less efficient murderer, but he/she is still a murderer. This person has made up their mind and they are going to kill. taking their gun away might change the probability of success, or even volume, but it will never stop murder all together. The only thing Michael Bloomberg or any other gun grabber can do is outlaw human nature. Now we are delving into some SciFi realm of mind restructuring or a Minority Report scenario. Either way, the means do not exist, and unless all people are subjected to this process, then the results won't change.

Murder is as old a practice as the Homosapien itself. It is an unfortunate reality in this crazy world we live but none the less it remains reality. If you outlaw guns, people will use a knife or a bat or a stick or a rock or even their bare hands. And what would you do then, ban hands? Just as the impossible thumb helped the human evolve to tool using sentient beings separating itself from the wild, so does the impulse to protect the lives of people you may not even know. So I understand the visceral reaction after these horrific mass shootings, but evil does exist, and the best we could ever do is take up the responsibility of our own safety and those around us.

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