Andy Parker, the father of the news reporter killed by her colleague yesterday told CNN and other networks, “Look, I’m for the Second Amendment, but there has to be a way to force politicians who are cowards and in the pocket of the NRA to come to grips and have sensible laws so that crazy people can’t get guns.”
What’s a “sensible” gun law, short of a ban? We already require people to have a license to own a gun. If you’re a convicted felon (including a violent felon), this fact is known before you’re ever able to get your hands on a gun.
How much further can we go, other than an actual gun ban?
You cannot say, “I believe in the Second Amendment,” while at the same time claim, “We’ve got to have stronger gun laws” — especially when there’s not much stronger the laws can be, other than to outlaw guns altogether. In practice, this will inevitably mean: No guns (or few guns) for peaceful, law-abiding people; and still plenty of guns for criminals.
A lot of us have this false idea that because such shooters are clearly unstable, they go out on a whim, buy a gun and then shoot the gun moments later. But that’s not what Bryce Williams did. By his own acknowledgement (in a “manifesto” he sent out prior to shooting himself), he bought the gun back in June, in response to the Charleston SC shootings inspired by racism. This gave him more than two months to stew, plot, go back and forth, until he ultimately made his fateful (and fatal) decision.
Does anyone seriously think that more stringent gun laws — whatever those might look like — or outright gun bans will prevent people like Bryce Williams from doing what he did? To think that, you’d have to assume that there would be no black or underground market for guns, if guns became mostly illegal.
To assume that there would be no black market for guns would be like assuming there would be no black market for, say, heroin, cocaine, or marijuana, if those things were illegal. Oops, excuse me. Those things are all illegal, and have been for decades. Federal and local governments put more money, lives and energy into stopping the use of illegal drugs than they do on fighting foreign enemies, like terrorists. How well is that working out?
As for politicians being in the “pocket” of the NRA, let’s get something straight. The NRA, or any such group, is trying to bribe the government to keep enforcing the Second Amendment. It’s pathetic: Not on the NRA’s part, but on the part of our government that it has to be bribed and pleaded with to please not take this last basic freedom away from us.
If you’re against the Second Amendment and think it should be repealed, then just come out and say so. But you can’t blame it on the spending of money to try and keep that Amendment in place. Blame it on those trying to take the individual right away; they’re the reason the NRA has “pockets” in the first place.
The answer is not fewer guns for peaceful people. The answer is more guns and weapons for peaceful people, including reporters doing their jobs. It’s a sad state of affairs, to be sure. But deluding yourself that you can make guns go away through the wish of a legislator’s pen is beyond absurd. We can outlaw guns tomorrow. The peaceful and law-abiding will turn over their weapons. Criminals like Bryce Williams will always find a way.
This man’s excuse might be grief over the loss of his daughter. If you agree with him — what’s yours?
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