Futility of more gun laws

May 10, 1999

When playing “the blame game,” all’s fair. Liberal/Socialist
politicians, pundits and people who just don’t understand reality and
how things work are all scrambling to blame, among other things,
guns for the tragedy at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.
Like NATO’s propaganda war against the Serbs, Leftists still rely on the
Hitlerian Principle of public debate: “Repeat a lie often enough and
sooner or later people will believe it.”

That’s also why, in the ensuing time period since the first horrific
images of Columbine (and other school shootings) flashed across our
television and computer screens, much debate — but not much logic and
common sense — has been applied to the exercise of “finding answers” to
the tragedy. And that’s why millions of Americans still believe the only
“real solution” to America’s epidemic of violence is — that’s right —
more gun laws. Forget changing attitudes. Forget teaching
ourselves love and respect. Forget encouraging people to shun the bad
influences of entertainment and media. Forget asking people to “just say
no” to the trash and filth we ourselves have promulgated over the past
35 years.

No, those solutions are either “too hard,” “too impractical,”
“not based on reality,” or some other excuse.

Well, the people who say these things are either incapable of
thinking for themselves or are taking the easy way out. Either way,
people who say these things have already, in essence, said they don’t
really want to do anything to help clean up the moral quagmire
American culture has become. If they did want to help, they’d quit
making these excuses and start making promises. They’d stop playing “the
blame game.”

Alan Korwin of Bloomfield Press, a celebrated author and researcher
on guns and guns laws, has perfectly illustrated the idiocy of thinking
that “more gun laws will stop all this violence.” Last week he emailed
me a run down of all the laws the Columbine “Trench Coat Mafia” broke
when they attacked and killed fellow students and teachers. The list is
instructive — laws themselves don’t make people behave nicely. Here is
the list:

Premeditated murder
Murder
Attempted murder
Aggravated assault
Assault with a deadly weapon
Assault and battery
Assault
Threatening and intimidating
Conspiracy to commit felony
Conspiracy to commit misdemeanor
Aiding and abetting
Providing firearm to minor
Providing handgun to minor
Possession of firearm by minor
Possession of handgun by minor
Possession of firearm by minor without federally required permission
slip from parent or guardian
Use of firearm or bomb to commit murder that is federally prosecutable
Possession of NFA weapon (sawed off shotgun)
Manufacture of NFA weapon
Brandishing a gun
Brandishing a bomb
Possession of bomb making materials
Possession of explosives
Possession of explosives by minor
Possession of explosives with malicious intent
Making of explosives
Placing of explosives
Use of explosives
Concealed carry without permit
Gun on school grounds
Another gun on school grounds
Yet another gun on school grounds
Possession of ammunition on school grounds
Obtaining guns and ammo through bogus means
Discharging firearm in city limits
Discharging firearm on school grounds with reckless disregard for
another person’s safety
Disturbing the peace
Committing a hate crime
Multiple counts of all of the above
Multiple torts (harm suffered that is subject to civil lawsuits;
Colorado prohibits lawyers from soliciting clients within 30 days of an
injury, but out-of-state lawyers were reportedly calling relatives for
potential clients within a week of the event.)

Now, if the Trench Coat idiots were not deterred by all these laws,
or by school metal detectors at school entrances and an armed
guard inside the school itself, what reasonable person can honestly say
more laws “will finally end this cycle of violence?”

Of the laws mentioned above, Korwin noted, “You also have aggravating
circumstances and anything a reasonable Colorado prosecutor could no
doubt add to this list. For instance, Colorado law includes two to six
years for the parents if they allowed the boys to possess a firearm,
knowing of substantial felony risk.” In the Columbine case, the pizza
store owner who employed one of the killers knew he was making bombs
but, allegedly, his parents didn’t. Go figure.

Therefore, Korwin concluded, “In the rush to enact more laws, we
perhaps overlook the fact that everything criminal about this heinous
attack is already totally illegal. … Having studied this for a decade
now, it seems to me that no law can stop a murderer. Only another person
can do that.” Perhaps we overlook it? Korwin is being polite.

But who’s listening to such rational thought anyway?

The politicians aren’t. In fact, because they think with their polls
instead of their heads, volumes of new gun laws are already being
proposed. President Clinton, along with a host of co-conspirators in
Congress and in statehouses across the country, is doing his best to
benefit politically from the attack. He wants more restrictive sales of
guns at gun shows, so-called trigger locks (which would essentially
render a gun useless when you need it to confront a burglar in your
home), technologies that read fingerprints via the trigger, more
“background checks” and more outright bans. Korwin’s right: none
of these additional measures would have prevented Columbine.

Neither, by the way, would outright bans on all guns. Our continuing
drug problem comes to mind, as well as continued prostitution, speeding,
murder (by means other than guns), tax fraud, bank robbery,
embezzlement, et al.

Drugs, for example, have been totally banned for decades. Alcohol
was, too, for a while — but the laws didn’t stop bootleggers from
making it.

Anybody really believe banning all guns would suddenly make
them disappear from America?

And don’t say, “Look, if we can save just one life … then
it’s worth it!” That’s ignorant; if that’s how we will define prudence
in our law, then we have to ban cars, fattening foods, baseball bats,
rope, and … well, you get the idea. All of those things kill too.

In our rush to blame something it seems as though virtually
everyone is prepared to ignore the most obvious cause in Korwin’s
statement: “Only a person can stop himself or herself from committing
murder.”

For that, we don’t need more laws. We need more God, more respect for
ourselves and each other, and less emphasis on violence in our lives. We
see it every day no matter where we go — the news, games, the
entertainment industry. Parents who want to shield their kids from this
insanity have a tough time finding a sanctuary, even in their own homes.

But hey, those of you who still think God and religion have
nothing to do with the issue of violence and respect in our society —
that more laws without a reformation of attitudes will “fix” this
problem — I say you’re right.

That’s the problem. We’re not only not paying attention to our
laws, we’re not giving His much thought either.

But I’m patient and hopeful. Americans by the millions are beginning
to come around to these truths, and eventually we’ll start electing
people who share our beliefs.