It may be a sign of the times that news of a new school shooting in Littleton, Colorado, seems to be making no splash at all on the blogosphere. No one was killed, fortunately, but still, you’d think some blogger would mention it. I haven’t even seen any rightie bloggers try to claim the shooter was a liberal.
Anyway, guns are in the news. Ian Urbina reports for the New York Times that states are tossing out what’s left of firearm regulations in anticipation of the Great Obama Gun Grab that’s supposed to begin any minute now.
President Obama has never indicated he intends to try to confiscate firearms, and last year he signed bills that allows firearms to be carried in national parks and on Amtrak trains. But that just shows how diabolically clever he is. As soon as gun owners relax their guard, agents from ACORN will show up at their doors to confiscate their firearms.
Some states have passed laws saying that firearms manufactured, purchased and used entirely within their states are not subject to any federal regulation. Which is to say, if you think the U.S. Congress is a waste of protoplasm, you probably don’t want to look at your state legislature real hard.
I read this week that the Indiana legislature is debating a bill that would deny employers the right to ban firearms from their property. Gun owners want to be able to store their guns in their cars while parked in the company parking lot.
Employers complain that the bill interferes with their property rights. The National Rifle Association says that the right to self-defense trumps property rights. I guess if there’s a hold-up in your workplace, you could tell the bandit to wait until you fetch the rifle from your car.
It’s crazy out there, people.
Just in case this post attracts some firearm, um, enthusiasts, let me say that I do not oppose personal firearm ownership per se. I have never owned a gun, but if I lived in a remote mountain cabin in Montana, I might keep a loaded shotgun on the wall. I don’t even oppose hunting, even though I am a Buddhist. I wouldn’t go hunting myself, but I wouldn’t stop other people from hunting as long as they know what they’re doing and follow state laws and hunting safety rules and, most of all, stay sober.
I also think there’s some truth in the slogan “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” As Michael Moore pointed out in Bowling for Columbine, there are other nations, notably Canada, in which lots of people own guns and which don’t have anywhere near the level of gun violence you find in America.
The cause of gun violence is not guns alone, but a combination of guns plus people who are (a) paranoid, (b) angry, (c) paranoid and angry, (d) criminal, (e) psychotic, or (e) all of the above. Unfortunately, that list describes a large portion of the American public.
And, unfortunately, the people who are most hysterical about keeping their right to bear arms are the same people you’d least likely trust to use a firearm responsibly. (See list in previous paragraph.) The NY Times article pretty much backs me up on that.
The current stampede to reverse state firearms regulations is part of an ongoing trend. Although it hasn’t been updated since 2006, this animated graphic shows changes in right-to-carry laws nationwide. This is supposed to make us safer from criminals carrying guns, a claim demolished pretty well on this website.
And Steve M. has data showing how Virginia’s gun laws impact crime in New York City. New York City? Virginia is the primary supplier of guns used in crimes in NYC. Years ago criminals could drive down to Virginia, legally purchase a carload of firearms, and drive them back to NYC. In 1993, Virginia passed a law restricting citizens to one firearm purchase a month, which contributed to a dramatic drop in violent crime in NYC.
Well, guess what, folks? Virginia just voted to repeal the law. Because, you know, purchasing one gun per month isn’t good enough to keep law-abiding citizens self-protected.