Monday, August 19, 2013

"A modest gun-safety proposal"

From Sheldon Richman at Reason:

I think the “gun-safety” crowd — they seem not to like the term “gun control” anymore — need to think bigger. Enough with the roundabout measures. Let’s get to the heart of the problem: the intention to commit crimes with a gun. 
Congress should pass a law forthwith requiring every gun buyer to declare whether or not he intends to commit a crime with the gun. If a would-be buyer says yes, he would be denied a gun and his declaration should be publicized far and wide so that no one else will sell him a gun. The government could even set up a website with the names of all would-be buyers who declared their intention to commit a crime with a gun. This would ensure that even black-market dealers would refuse to sell guns to these people. Knowledge is power. And if a gun dealer sells a gun to a self-declared criminal, he would be charged as an accessory. That would deter even black-market dealers. 
But what if a would-be buyer lies about his intentions? Let’s have stiff penalties for lying on the declaration form. I’m sure that anyone planning to commit murder or armed robbery would be stopped by the threat of jail time for lying about that intention. 
This, of course, doesn’t address the full problem. What about the Adam Lanzas who take their parents’ guns? Since they don’t present themselves to a gun seller, how would they be required to declare their intentions? 
Here’s the solution: All gun owners should be required to keep their guns under lock and key at the local police station. Whenever they, or members of their families, want to use a gun — say, in self-defense against an armed home invader — they would have to sign a declaration of intent. Guns would be issued only to those who declared they have no criminal designs. 
This seems a far more effective way to keep guns out of the wrong hands than mere background checks and weapons bans. Since that’s what the “gun-safety” lobby says it wants, let’s see if they go for this modest proposal. It would target only the criminally minded, not the law-abiding among us, so the lobby should have no problem with these measures. Gun-safety advocates certainly cannot claim these requirements would not work, because then they would have to admit that the proposals they favor also would not work. 
If we can’t count on gun buyers to declare honestly if they have criminal intentions, how can we count on them not to buy guns in background-check-free zones?
Heh.

The irrationality of gun-control schemes is breath-taking. Obviously people who intend to do harm with guns won't get their guns via means that will subject them to checks. It ain't rocket science.

The simple explanation for this gun-control idiocy is that liberals are jerks, which is obviously true.

But there's a method here, too. Liberals are the cause of most gun crime in America, in the important sense that nearly all gun crime is committed in cities governed wholly by liberals. If liberals know how to stop gun crime, the liberals governing Chicago and Detroit and Houston and New Orleans and Washington DC are sure keeping their effective policies a big secret.

By blaming gun crime on law-abiding Americans-- conservatives of the NRA persuasion-- the Democrat gangsters who govern our big city shooting galleries can keep the conversation away from the real cause of gun crime: liberal government of big cities. 

5 comments:

  1. Nearly all US gun crime is committed by Christians. Therefore Jesus is the real cause of gun crime.

    See how that works, dumbass?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Adm. G Boggs, Glenbeckistan NavyAugust 19, 2013 at 8:41 AM

    The World's Greatest Gun Salesman (not even counting his small-arms trafficking racket), Barack Obama, is doing all he can to help mayors make sure that guns become more common on the street. Major cities with historically leftist governments are being crushed under the cost of union contracts and work rules. Municipal governments and citizens are responding by hiring private security firms to patrol the streets:

    "Municipal services are on the lean because of financial and economic problems," said Robert Stokes, an associate professor at Drexel University who has studied private security in public places. "These neighborhoods feel like they have no other choice."
    -- Philly.com (Philadelphia Inquirer)

    A short list of cities includes:
    Philadelphia
    Boston
    Baltimore
    Oakland
    Chicago

    Things have gotten so bad in Oakland that the city is hiring private security firms with "redevelopment" money to patrol vital commercial districts (nice way to end-run the unions, eh?).

    No, leftists aren't opposed to guns. Leftists LOVE guns. But only when the guns are in the hands of leftist goons and can be used to pacify, intimidate, punish, and, if necessary, terrorize the citizenry. For example...

    Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.
    --- Little Red Book (Quotations from Chairman Mao)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's barely 9 am and admiral scores an own goal. Major General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan, the man with the gun in the photo, was no leftist. He was the chief of National Police in South Vietnam.

      Hoo

      Delete
    2. Adm. G Boggs, Glenbeckistan NavyAugust 19, 2013 at 9:41 AM

      Speaking of Oakland...

      Here's a little video of what's going on in that Left Coast Progressive Paradise:

      California Dreamin' (take 2)

      I loved this statement, from Oakland City Councilman, Noel Gallo:

      We need to take these gun off their hands, and the only way to do it, you gotta stop, you know, question and search people and remove their guns...

      No mention of arrest, trial, and possibly incarceration for breaking gun laws.

      And to put the Progressive cherry on top, a Progressive Federal judge in NYC, Shira Scheindlin, just ruled last week that "stop-and-frisk" was "racially discriminatory".

      But wait! There's more! Trayvon Martin's mom was a guest on NBC's "Meet the Press" yesterday (is MtP having budget problems????), and she's against "stop and frisk", too.

      It's obvious that the solution to gun violence in Amerikkka is to take the guns away from the bitter clingers in Bolthole, MS and to keep a close eye on military veterans, church-going people, and anyone who carries a copy of the US Constitution.

      Delete
    3. Adm. G Boggs, Glenbeckistan NavyAugust 19, 2013 at 10:01 AM

      Well done, Hoots!

      This one makes my point even better.

      Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.
      --- Little Red Book (Quotations from Chairman Mao)

      Thanks for the fact-check!

      Delete