The Failure of Gun Control

                    The Failures of Gun Control

 Anybody that has taken a look at the issue of gun control in an objective manner understands that it isn’t an effective tool for reducing crime. They understand that if there is a gun roundup or buy back only the law abiding will go along with it. Since the bad guys need guns for their living it stands to reason that they won’t give them up? The law prohibits convicted felons form owning guns but that is just a feel good piece of legislation. It like the Volstead Act which prohibited alcohol but no one obeyed it. In fact it produced crime families that made millions from it. So if the facts are out there for anyone to examine why then is so many people pushing for more gun laws. Apparently they don’t feel that 20,000 laws are enough. Anyone buying a gun today from a store or gunshow has to go through the Brady check. The dealer is required to fill out a 4473 form and call it in to make sure that the purchaser has a right to own a weapon. This is true regardless weather it a handgun or long gun. While it’s usually a simple process I am not sure how effective it is. The gun banners are in a tizzy because some private sales are not run through the Brady check. To them that is a major source of weapons used in crimes. Like all of their other arguments that one is utter nonsense. Prohibited people will find a way to obtain a firearm if they want one bad enough. They will steal it if possible. I have read a few cases where they have broken into a cop’s car and stole the weapons in it. Well there are a couple of reasons for the push. Some people just don’t like guns which is fine. The problem is that since they don’t like them then they feel that no one should be allowed to posses them. Many times they have a lot of time on their hands so they start a campaign to ban or restrict them.  I would be the first to say if you don’t want a gun don’t buy one. Simple enough! In fact I have invited radical anti-gunners to put a sign in front of their house declaring that this is a gun free home. For obvious reasons no one has taken me up on that. Perhaps they want to keep the crooks in doubt as to gun ownership reaping the benefits without actually owning one. Personally I feel that it’s your duty to protect your family from a violent attack.

 Ok let’s look abroad. Mexico should be a gun banners’ paradise. They have some of the strictest gun laws in the world meaning that most of their citizens are disarmed. However there are thousands of shootings in Mexico. But you say that they aren’t allowed firearms so how can there be so many shootings? Yes that brings up some interesting points. Why are there so many shootings in the gun banners paradise? In a word drugs! There are a few drug lords there that control the billion dollar trade. Ok so where do they get their guns if there are no gun stores in Mexico? Of course the first to get blamed is the US. According to the gun banners most of them are shipped to Mexico by dealers here. While there are a few done that way that is essentially nonsense. A few dealers do sell guns illegally and they should be prosecuted. However how about all the Mexican soldiers who desert and take their weapons with them? They can make a lot more working for a drug cartel then serving in the army. The drug lords have billions of dollars at their disposal so they can import weapons from such places as China. Money talks! Those are the places that they get their weapons from as opposed to US dealers. I do however blame the US for one aspect of the problem. Many of our citizens have a bottomless appetite for illicit drugs which fuels the trade. If our citizens quit buying drugs then the problem would fizzle out in a short period of time. Another problem is the Mexican government was run like a criminal enterprise for many years. Anyone at any level could and in some instances can still be bribed to look the other way while drugs were being made or sold. Money is a powerful incentive to do the wrong things. Now that have a president that apparently wants to clean up things and the cartels don’t like it. Their livelihood is being threatened so they will and have resorted to murder to get their way. If bribery doesn’t work then shoot them is their motto. They have even shot up clinics that help people get off of their drugs. Until Mexico gets serious about the problem, which would bring back the death penalty and stiffer sentences, they can look forward to this problem for many years to come. People in the US and Canada have to stop buying their drugs. So there you have it. The guns are not the problem but drugs, money and corruption on both sides of the border.

 Another gun banners’ paradise is Great Britain. They have banned handguns totally about 10 years ago. Long guns are also strictly regulated and have been for many years. And yet crime is skyrocketing there including gun crimes. How can that be if they are banned?  I guess it goes back to the fact that criminals don’t care how many gun laws you pass the will ignore them all. In fact you are not allowed to defend yourself if attacked in England. It is indeed an OCEA for criminals. Like anywhere else the crooks will get a gun one way or another if they want one bad enough. Countries such as China will gladly export them in spite of the fact that their citizens are not allowed to own firearms. To show that they are serious about their crime problem England is now going after knives. I guess they haven’t figured out that people commit crimes not objects. Oh well maybe some day they will wake up but I don’t have much hope on that one. When you hear that England is going to release dangerous terrorists because that doesn’t want to offend anyone then you know that the situation is hopeless over there. Also they released the Lockerby bomber who killed 270 people on compassionate grounds. If there is anyplace on the face of the earth that has mass insanity it’s Great Britain. 

 Some years ago Australia banned a lot of weapons such as pump shotguns and semi auto weapons. Handguns of many types were also banned and destroyed. Guess what!  Crime has risen there on a dramatic level. Hmmmmm! Another failure of gun control! Canada which has some strict regulations regarding guns also has enjoyed a rise in violent crime. Like the others handguns are strictly regulated and in fact you are not allowed to hunt with one in Canada. If you go to Canada you are better off leaving it at home. They have a lot of gang shootings in the larger cities. What do most of the mayors want? More gun laws of course. If a few doesn’t work try more of them. Does anyone think that maybe drugs are a problem there? Like any bad ideas it just exasperates the problem rather then solve it. Gun control wherever it practiced doesn’t reduce but makes crime worse. However they keep trying. Most of the European countries have strict gun laws but they don’t reduce crime but put unnecessary burdens of law abiding shooters. I guess it’s easier to go after an imamate object then tackle the real problems. 

 There are those who would like to see guns disappear entirely. Then we would have a perfect world where no one would rob, steal or murder anymore. Now that would be heaven wouldn’t it? Ok let’s take a look that. Guns have been know for around 700 years so if we take that logic that would be when crime and murder first started.  Sounds ridicules?  That’s because it is. If you read and believe in the Bible it is full of violence including war and murders. The first recorded murder was Cain killing Abel. With a gun? Nope he used a rock.  If you read the histories of all the countries both past and present violence plays a major part. Man has been good at killing for thousands of years. And for most of that time guns didn’t exist.       

 So if we can definitely establish the gun laws do nothing to reduce crime and we can then why have the laws. Even the Center for Disease Control admits that gun laws haven’t reduced crime and they are anti gun. Check out Professor John Lott’s book More Guns Less Crime as another great source for the failure of gun laws to reduce crime. The FBI and Justice Dept stats also are good places to check out. None of the above are shills for the NRA so don’t even go there. With all of that info out there why do we persist in a failed policy? Easy!

 Countries such as Great Britain have weak and cowardly leaders that won’t address the real issues but consistently blame inanimate objects for their soaring crime rates. After they eliminate knives I wonder if they are going to go after pipes, rocks, rope and other common objects. What are they going to do when they ban everything and crime still is rising? Maybe the population will grow tired of such nonsense and elect real leaders who have some backbone. That would be a good start. Then some of the other countries including the US might follow suit.

 The other reason is to control the population. It’s easier to put a boot heel on someone’s neck when they are disarmed. Some of the experts agree gun control works. Ask Hitler and Stalin it worked for them. Every murdering thug that managed to take over a country disarmed the populace. Try buying a gun in North Korea or China. Mexico is another good example of a corrupt government disarming their citizens perhaps for fear that an armed populace would over throw them and install a decent government. Gun laws are nothing new but have been around for hundreds of years and the purpose has always been the same. Control the people! During the days of castles and surfs the Barons usually prohibited the serfs from owning many arms. Do you think that they were concerned about the crime in a village? If you believe that I have a bridge to sell you. If you read history any laws that disarmed the people were for one purpose and it wasn’t a crime problem. They never mentioned crime as the reason to pick up the swords and spears because it wasn’t the purpose. Hey! If I took over a country by force the first thing I would do is to have my soldiers pick up all of the weapons, by force if necessary. That’s just good policy from a dictator’s point of view.  Just because I trample all over them I don’t want them to get mad and revolt against me.     

 Hopefully this will give intelligent people something to think about. Crime is a real problem that needs to be tackled in a realistic way not with platitudes.