Firstly, let me state loud and clear that I think the Sandy Hook school massacre – and anything like it – is inexplicable, tragic and sick. My heart, and the hearts of the country, go out to everyone affected by it.
That having been said, let’s explore wise old Ben’s profound statement that titles this missive. How many times as children did we hear someone give the “Oh, yeah? Whatcha gonna do to stop me” playground taunt? And how many times through our lives have we heard the statement that “locks only keep honest people honest?”
I realize that trying to talk fact, reason and logic with a liberal is about as productive as trying to eat soup with a fork. And, it’s been obvious since Day One that if God loves to hug a good liar, he’d squeeze Barack Obama to death.Despite his tearful podium response and later memorial service politicizing the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre tragedy by promising to enact his revered assault weapons ban (which will be just a start of the all-out assault on the Second Amendment), it wouldn’t be hard to imagine the almost gleeful reaction in the Obama Administration when they heard this news knowing how well they thought it would help gain support for enacting stricter federal gun control laws.
And despite all the usual liberal bloviating about more laws – particular more gun control laws – needed to solve the problem, let’s take a look at some facts and history and it’s obvious that no matter how many laws or speeches Obama (or anyone else) can make, you can’t make a cat bark.
Firstly, let’s start with the Second Amendment itself. It is in the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution and considered so important to the Founding Fathers that they ranked it second only to the rights of free speech and religious expression.The Second Amendment “protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms.”* ”They wanted the citizens to be able to protect themselves from an oppressive government, not just to provide food and personal protection.”
I firmly believe that the 2nd amendment – particularly the part protecting the citizenry’s right to keep and bear arms – is the cornerstone propping up the entire rest of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Because once the citizenry has been disarmed, a tyrannical government can at will strip that same citizenry of its right of free speech, right of peaceful assembly, its freedom of religion and so on and say to them, “Oh yeah? Whatcha gonna do to stop me?”
“Locks only keep honest people honest.” Criminals will steal weapons if they have to and have done so many times. Check the crime statistics and you’ll see that many stolen weapons from gun shops, military bases and private citizens alike have later found their ways into violent crimes. Last week’s Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter stole the legally-owned firearms owned by his own mother after killing her.**
Not only that, but how many laws already on the books mind you, are broken when these homicidal psychopaths go on such a shooting spree? Let’s see; there’s a gazillion laws against murder and attempted murder (the most obvious laws broken in these situations), since a weapon was used there’s aggravated assault and battery and armed criminal trespass just to mention a few. So, the fact those laws exist have done nothing to prevent such horrific crimes from occurring. So why do we think that outlawing guns will dissuade any such crimes from occurring then?
And when it comes to laws and effectivity, the Federal and state governments of this nation are incapable of preventing widespread violence and gang membership amongst the inmates of their prison systems for crying out loud. So, how on earth do some people think that these same ineffective governments are going to prevent violent crime by taking guns away from law-abiding citizens?
For that matter, the Feds haven't managed to effectively seal the nation's borders and stop the rampant flow of drugs and illegal aliens both into this country. So how the hell can it be believed that yet another law will stop gun violence?
As Timothy McVey proved in Oklahoma City in 1995, a firearm isn’t necessary to kill and injure hundreds.*** So, what’s next? Banning fertilizer and rental trucks?
Additionally, back in 1927 a farmer and part-time handyman at a Michigan primary school killed 45 people, 38 of them children, when he blew up the Bath School. He then killed himself and two first responders and wounded 58 others at the scene.**********
Or, what of the problems of terrorist suicide bombers in the Middle East using truck bombs or wrapping themselves in explosives? How can you prevent that? No, obviously firearms are by far not the only mass murder threat we face in the world today.
Washington, D.C. has the strictest gun control laws in the entire United States. Yet it was known in the 1990s as “the murder capital.”****
Additionally, back in 1927 a farmer and part-time handyman at a Michigan primary school killed 45 people, 38 of them children, when he blew up the Bath School. He then killed himself and two first responders and wounded 58 others at the scene.**********
Or, what of the problems of terrorist suicide bombers in the Middle East using truck bombs or wrapping themselves in explosives? How can you prevent that? No, obviously firearms are by far not the only mass murder threat we face in the world today.
Washington, D.C. has the strictest gun control laws in the entire United States. Yet it was known in the 1990s as “the murder capital.”****
Their current gun control registration and restriction laws cover “all firearms, air pressure weapons, and some "exotic arms" as the act defines them. To own a gun in Norway one must document a use for the gun” (usually hunting and sports shooting).” In other words, this law covers everything from shotguns to military type weapons, flare guns, and easily manufactured replicas that can be converted to working firearms. And it includes a total ban on ownership of automatic weapons by civilians. “By far, the most crimes are committed with stolen weapons, not legally obtained ones. Most illegally-used guns are stolen from larger military storage facilities, although some may be acquired when stolen from private owners.”****
And yet such strict laws didn’t prevent Norwegian Anders Breivik from killing 77 people -- many of them teenagers -- in a bombing and shooting rampage at both a youth summer camp and in Oslo, the country’s capital.*****
Another similar example is the Toronto, Canada shopping mall murders? Five people died in a shopping mall there. Both of these situations occurring in nations with some of the strictest gun control laws in the world yet these laws didn’t do squat at preventing such a horrific tragedy once the killer had made the decision to go anti-social and commit his crimes.
Let’s also take a look at the example of our neighbor to the south – Mexico. While in theory, “Mexico’s constitution has its own version of our Second Amendment…few private citizens own firearms. Mexico Federal laws have severely restricted the ability to own and carry weapons to soldiers, police, trained bodyguards, and a few others who can make it through the miles-long gauntlet of the application process. If a Mexican citizen can survive the background checks, the mountains of paperwork, the half-dozen required personal recommendations, and the expense, they are limited to buying guns with low stopping power.”******
Let’s also take a look at the example of our neighbor to the south – Mexico. While in theory, “Mexico’s constitution has its own version of our Second Amendment…few private citizens own firearms. Mexico Federal laws have severely restricted the ability to own and carry weapons to soldiers, police, trained bodyguards, and a few others who can make it through the miles-long gauntlet of the application process. If a Mexican citizen can survive the background checks, the mountains of paperwork, the half-dozen required personal recommendations, and the expense, they are limited to buying guns with low stopping power.”******
And let’s take a look at Nazi Germany. While firearms ownership by private German citizens wasn’t fully outlawed by the Nazis, “Jews [German citizens or otherwise] were forbidden from the manufacturing or ownership of firearms and ammunition” by the 1938 German Weapons Act.****** When law-abiding German citizens of Jewish descent were protesting as they were rounded up and shipped off to the death camps, how could they respond to the Nazi taunt, “Oh yeah; Whatcha gonna do to stop us?”
Answer: by then, there wasn’t anything that could be done by such disarmed victims of tyranny.
Imagine if the Minutemen of Lexington and Concord had’ve not had equal arms to stand up to the well-armed, well-trained British army? Such a mismatch would’ve epitomized the old saying that the power of a gun is absolute against a man without one.
Interestingly enough, “the findings of two criminologists - Prof. Don Kates and Prof. Gary Mauser - in their exhaustive study of American and European gun laws and violence rates, are telling:
“Nations with stringent anti-gun laws generally have substantially higher murder rates than those that do not. The study found that the nine European nations with the lowest rates of gun ownership (5,000 or fewer guns per 100,000 population) have a combined murder rate three times higher than that of the nine nations with the highest rates of gun ownership (at least 15,000 guns per 100,000 population).
“For example, Norway has the highest rate of gun ownership in Western Europe, yet possesses the lowest murder rate. In contrast, Holland's murder rate is nearly the worst, despite having the lowest gun ownership rate in Western Europe. Sweden and Denmark are two more examples of nations with high murder rates but few guns. As the study's authors write in the report:
“If the mantra ‘more guns equal more death and fewer guns equal less death’ were true, broad cross-national comparisons should show that nations with higher gun ownership per capita consistently have more death. Nations with higher gun ownership rates, however, do not have higher murder or suicide rates than those with lower gun ownership. Indeed many high gun ownership nations have much lower murder rates. (p. 661)”********
Bottom line; in reality, gun control laws do nothing to reduce crime. But, in reality, gun control isn’t about guns or crime. Rather, it’s all about the control. The control of the masses at the expense of their individual liberties. And those who would willingly surrender their liberties to the façade of improving their security deserve, as Benjamin Franklin pointed out, neither liberty nor security. Because, like locks, laws only keep honest people who want to obey them law-abiding.
Once that line has been crossed and the decision to go anti-social has been made, no amount of laws is going to stop such a massacre. When the social contract has been chucked in the toilet, there can't possibly be enough cops to protect the public.
Therefore, simple deductive reasoning shows the only reasonable response to such violent crime to not be further laws, but rather to enable each individual person more ability to which to provide for their own defense.
But, of course, with liberals, gun control really isn't about firearms or reducing crime. Rather, it's all about the control - gaining more and more control over the citizenry at the expense of its individual liberties.
Therefore, simple deductive reasoning shows the only reasonable response to such violent crime to not be further laws, but rather to enable each individual person more ability to which to provide for their own defense.
But, of course, with liberals, gun control really isn't about firearms or reducing crime. Rather, it's all about the control - gaining more and more control over the citizenry at the expense of its individual liberties.
* Actual wording as ratified: “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” The amendment was adopted on December 15, 1791, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights.” Wikipedia (17 Dec 2012) Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution 17 December, 2012
**Slattery, D., Karoliszyn, H. and Miller, J. (15 Dec, 2012) Grisly details emerge in Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting as Newtown, Conn. mourns 26 slain by gunman Adam Lanza Retrieved from http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/hunt-motive-sandy-hook-elementary-shooting-article-1.1220914
***McVeigh’s truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Bldg in OKC killed 168 and wounded 800 including 19 children all under age 6 and destroyed the 8 story building. Wikipedia, (17 Dec 2012) Timothy McVeigh, Retrieved fromhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_McVeigh 17 December, 2012.
****Wikipedia (17 Dec 2012) Crime in Washington, D.C. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Washington,_D.C. 17 December, 2012
*****Wikipedia (2 Aug 2012) Gun Politics in Norway Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_Norway 17 December 2012
******Ferran, L. (24 Aug 2012) Mass Murderer Smirks at 21-Year Prison Sentence Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/norway-shooter-anders-breivik-smiles-21-year-prison/story?id=17072142#.UM9ZdawcNpg ******* Longmire, S. (23 Aug 2012) Mexico Proves Strict Gun Laws Won’t Prevent Massacres Retrieved from http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/mexico-proves-strict-gun-laws-won%E2%80%99t-prevent-massacres/ 17 December, 2012.
********Wikipedia (4 Dec 2012) Gun Politics in Germany Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_Germany 17 December, 2012.
*********The American Civil Rights Union, (Unk.) Harvard Study: Gun Control is Counterproductive Retrieved from theacru.org/acru/harvard_study_gun_control_is_counterproductive/ 17 December, 2012.
********** Evon, D. (17 Dece, 2012) The Inquisitor, 1927 School Bombing Was Deadliest In American History Retrieved fromhttp://www.inquisitr.com/442729/1927-school-bombing-was-deadliest-in-american-history/#vzh6457FuLFmWzSr.99 17 December, 2012
********** Evon, D. (17 Dece, 2012) The Inquisitor, 1927 School Bombing Was Deadliest In American History Retrieved fromhttp://www.inquisitr.com/442729/1927-school-bombing-was-deadliest-in-american-history/#vzh6457FuLFmWzSr.99 17 December, 2012
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