The reason gun control, and more of it, has not and will not work is because those crying for more gun control are forgetting one thing…
You can’t control a criminal.
The people that will break the law are doing it for one of two reasons, the first is they have a complete disregard for the law and will do what they want when they want because the government will not tell them what they can do. Second, they aren’t even aware of what law they are breaking in the first place until they are being told what law they broke. In either situation no amount of gun control laws or harsher penalties are going to prevent the actions of criminals. Many people believe that to control the population and to create a safe environment you need to have a lot of laws, however what they are forgetting is that no number of laws, rules, or regulations have the physical ability to stop someone from doing whatever it is they want to do.
For a law to work a person has to first be afraid of the consequences of breaking that law, as we find with criminals and thugs alike today they are not afraid of breaking the law because they are not afraid of the penalty for doing so. In modern society for a thug, gang banger, or your average criminal to go to jail it’s almost like a badge of honor, the person goes to jail and then comes out with more respect from their peers than they had when they were incarcerated. It’s like when you were a child and your parents telling you to be home before midnight or you will be grounded. They weren’t there to actually make sure you were home on time and if you didn’t care much about being grounded and you wanted to stay out as late as you wanted, well, then you probably stayed out as late as you wanted.
There’s this misunderstanding in today’s society that criminals respect the laws, respect the “no guns” posted signs, and respect the laws governing how, where, and when they can carry. John Stossel did a segment on ABC’s 20/20 called “Myth: Gun Control Reduces Crime,” in part of the video they interviewed prison inmates and when asked about gun laws one of the inmates replied “I’m not worried about the government saying I can’t carry a gun, I’m gonna carry a gun anyway.” When members of society have that mindset no law on the books or that man can create can regulate what they will do.
Michigan is currently attempting to pass HB 5225 along with HB 5498 and 5499, which would eliminate Michigan’s decades old registration and purchase permit system and penalties for having an unregistered pistol. Some opponents of these bills believe that if you eliminate the registration and purchase permit system any old thug or gang banger will be able to buy a gun and that’s just not true. Some people want this to be in place, some people feel the law on buying a firearm should be stricter, but then you have to ask yourself who is it going to be more strict upon?
Criminals do not register their firearms nor do they buy them from gun shops, people don’t realize that the law doesn’t stretch into those back alley sales where the thug buys the firearm with the serial number scratched off. The same thug that isn’t legally allowed to own a gun in the first place. So, in that sense how then can more, stricter, gun laws actually stop crime? The only people affected by any laws are the law abiding, who by definition, follow the laws. They are the ones that disarm before going into a school, they are the ones that do not carry into a restaurant that is posted “no guns” they are the ones that go the legal route to obtain a license to carry a concealed weapon before tucking that gun under their shirt. By enacting more gun laws the only people that are being hurt and effected by them are those that choose to follow them, in no way will there ever be a law created that will control the will of man. And therein lies the problem, we cannot control the actions of our citizens, so why then do we try so hard to?
Many people fear that by allowing more law abiding (being the key word) citizens to carry firearms for personal protection that it will create a hostile world to live in, people will be accidentally shot by everyone with a gun and there will be vigilante justice running rampant in the streets. What they fail to realize is that citizens who own and carry guns are among the most law abiding because in the end they have the most to lose: the ability to protect themselves and their families.
The average citizen spends many hours at the range each year, practicing with their firearm so if they have to use it they can use it proficiently and safely. They spend time at home reviewing gun safety and receiving additional training on the safe use of a firearm. They are also spending time becoming familiar with firearm laws, the very same laws that allow them to carry but restrict their ability to defend themselves. The difference between the law abiding citizen and the criminal is a very clear one, the law abiding citizen will responsibly carry their firearm in only those places where the law says they are allowed and they will only use their firearm when their life is in severe danger. The criminal will carry his gun, the one the law says he isn’t allowed to own or carry, anywhere he pleases regardless of what laws say he can’t.
As a society we need to stop trying so desperately to control the criminals, instead we need to let those that are law abiding have the ability to defend themselves with no restrictions and no limitations. The ability to protect yourself is guaranteed, not granted, in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. The right to bear arms has over the years been turned into a privilege. The Supreme Court stated in Murdock v. Pennsylvania, 319 US 105: "No State shall convert a liberty into a privilege, license it, and charge a fee therefore." When will the time come when citizens no longer have to ask the government for permission to do these things that are secured as a God given right in the Constitution?
The next time you hear someone say we need more gun control laws ask them this, “how does disarming the law abiding protect the law abiding?”
A criminal will carry a gun if he wants to carry a gun, a law abiding citizen will carry a gun if the government says he can.
Some thoughts of mine I decided to write down and share.
