Typical Question on Gun Control

Dear CAC:

After the latest horrendous mass shooting, isn't it time we limit the availability of guns?

Signed,
Typical

_________________

Dear Typical:

I realize that horrendous things are horrendous, but removing an item which has the possibility to cause damage won't stop the root cause.  The root cause of horrendous things are human emotions.

If you limit availability to guns, human emotion, that is, hurt feelings, frustration, anger, jealousy, and hatred, will find another avenue to cause harm.  Did you know more murders are committed each year by knife than by gun?  And more murders by hammer than by gun? 

You are at this moment on the other end of the spectrum, reacting to human emotion with human emotion.  Perhaps you feel compassion?  There are living beings who can benefit from this emotion.  Why not sponsor a child in Africa, or become a Big Brother/Big Sister, or do some charity work down at the orphanage or shelter?  Perhaps you feel angry?  Work on that.

Mostly, however, there is a feeling of helplessness after witnessing a horrendous act, and often this motivates someone emotionally to "do something."  Unfortunately, those fleeting intense feelings often do more harm than good.  Limiting access to guns does nothing to remove the tens of millions of guns on the street.  Limiting access to bullets creates a giant black market which history proves cannot be stopped.  Simply put, your emotions are not strong enough to prevent human desires from coming about.  People will get guns and bullets.  You can't un-invent the gun or the bullet.

The right of a person to bear arms cannot be ignored either.  You might think this right to be for sport or hunting but it is not.  It is for self-defense, first against horrendous invididuals, then against horrendous bodies, even up to horrendous government bodies.

Another thing to consider is to widen your focus.  The horrendous act you witnessed is repeated many times per day in many towns, states, and countries throughout the world.  Acts of savagery, crime, corruption, false imprisonment, execution, and depravity such as you cannot imagine are always happening.  If you are truly motivated to be a power for good, get involved with something constructive.  Disarming the American public is not constructive.  Destroying ISIS, and other enemies of America, is constructive.  The gun is not the enemy.

Thanks for writing in, and Godspeed.