What Common-Sense Gun Control Looks Like Morris (21) Will (8) Bergdahl Trial Ast Thursday, As Americans Were Rampage in Columbine, Colorado
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
At Issue this week... Gun Control by Erick Erickson October 21, 2015 2016 Election Barone (15) What common-sense gun control looks like Morris (21) Will (8) Bergdahl Trial ast Thursday, as Americans were rampage in Columbine, Colorado. In fact, In the United States, there is roughly McCaughey (30) still coming to grips with the the guns restricted under the ban were not one gun per person. The American cities Book Review tragic rampage in Oregon, Presi- used in Columbine. with the worst gun violence, Washington Williams (13) dentL Obama addressed the American peo- In the latest rampage, the assault weap- and Chicago, also happen to have some of Carson, Ben Massie (11) ple. An hour before the president spoke, ons ban would also have been no good. the most restrictive gun laws in the coun- Clinton, Hillary news outlets were confirming that the Next, the left pivoted to background try, in contrast to Kennesaw, Georgia, Barone (3) shooter in Oregon had targeted his victims checks. Between the novel and creative which requires every homeowner in the Lambro (12) Thomas (23) based on their religion. talking points peddled by the left these city to own a gun. According to the web- Conservatives Multiple eyewitnesses and relatives of days, the idea is that it is easier to buy a site neighborhoodscout.com, Kennesaw Murchison (22) the victims all said the shooter asked the gun than to adopt a dog or even buy beer. sees 1.31 violent crimes per 1,000 people Crime victims to state their religion. Those who The people peddling these annually. Chicago sees nine and Washing- Charen (27) Dear Mark said “Christian” were shot in the head. ton sees 13. Levy (19) Others were shot in the legs or other parts The truth is that the United States and Democrats of their body. The president — in 1,299 Erick its attitude toward gun culture are unique. Towery (9) words — never once discussed religious Erickson Instead of mimicking Australia and Great Disorders tolerance or even condemned the shoot- Britain with their gun confiscation pro- Hollis (26) (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate Fantasy Football ing. It is worth noting, at a minimum, that grams, our leaders should think different- Schlafly (13) had the shooter or victims been Muslim, ly. The best gun control in this country is Foreign Policy the president would have talked about re- talking points have clearly never tried to an armed, honest citizenry who can shoot Greenberg (29) Government ligious tolerance. buy a gun. Additionally, some of the guns straight. Instead of gun free zones, we Cushman (22) used in Oregon were purchased legally in should allow law abiding, concealed carry Gun Control SAYING “THIS IS something we a state with restrictive gun control laws, permit holders to go where they wish with Erickson (1) Harsanyi (9) should politicize,” the president proceeded and background checks were performed. their guns. Krauthammer (2) to call for more gun laws, though he could Shapiro (4) not name any that would have prevented LAST MONTH in Virginia, Gov. Ter- LUCKILY FOR gun owners, the more Sowell (3, 15) the shooting. Instead, he cited “friends of ry McAuliffe raced to televisions every- Democrats agitate for restrictive gun laws, Household Incomes Jeffrey (20) ours, allies of ours — Great Britain, Aus- where to demand background checks for the worse the Democrats do in polling. House Republicans tralia, countries like ours.” guns after a deranged gunman killed a re- Beta male gun control policies may be Buchanan (16) But what do those countries’ gun laws porter and her cameraman live on televi- winners on editorial pages, but are losers Kudlow (17) look like? The president and the left wing sion. The gunman had purchased his gun in our national electoral system. Lambro (14) Lowry (17) media horde of editorialists and activists legally and had a background check at the Saunders (18) citing Great Britain and Australia give us time of purchase. October 9, 2015 Thomas (18) our hint — gun confiscation. Both coun- Iran tries have very tight bans on guns and Greenberg (30) IRS have confiscated their citizens’ guns. Aus- Will (21) tralia raised a tax and used that money to Leftist Tactics buy back guns in Australia. Several stud- Farah (28) ies suggest that the Australian gun laws Mass Shootings Buchanan (6) did reduce gun related suicides, but only Coulter (7) weakly at best improved the homicide Tyrrell (6) rate. Media Bias Bozell (10, 28) In citing other countries, the president Limbaugh (10) and the left also fail to reflect on our con- Lowry (24) stitution. We do have a Second Amend- Prager (27) ment, which the Supreme Court has ruled Middle East Greenberg (23) gives an individual the right to keep and Natural Rights bear arms. A political army that demands Napolitano (5) unfettered access to abortions because the Obamacare Supreme Court says they are legal has no Malkin (4) Portugal qualms about ignoring the court when the Bay (20) army disagrees. Race Concurrent to these — thus far — subtle Elder (25) calls for gun confiscation are calls for new Limbaugh (24) Russia laws. The left is pushing for a renewed as- Chavez (31) sault weapons ban, which is more accu- Sanctuary City rately called a “spooky weapons” ban; the Saunders (29) ban just targeted guns that looked spooky. Trivia Bits Paquet (14) The original ban did nothing to stop the 2 Conservative Chronicle GUN CONTROL: October 8, 2015 Another massacre, another charade here’s the cycle of poverty. and his mother obtained every one of country, with its traditions, public sen- severely psychiatrically ill — you see There’s the cycle of violence. their guns legally. timent and, most importantly, Second them sleeping on grates — live and die And then there’s the cycle of The reason the debate is so mud- Amendment, them’s fightin’ words. wretchedly abandoned. gunT talk. It starts with a mass shoot- dled, indeed surreal — notice, by Obama didn’t say them. Nor did he The problem is that these mass-mur- ing. Gun-control advocates blame the the way, how “gun control” has been seriously address the other approach der cases are fairly unusual. Take Rose- deaths on gun-control opponents, who cleverly rechristened “commonsense that could make a difference: more ag- burg. That young man had no criminal argue, in turn, that none of the pro- gun-safety laws,” as if we’re talking gressive psychiatric intervention. These history, no psychiatric diagnosis be- posed restrictions would have had any about accident proofing — is that both massa- cres are almost invari- yond Asperger’s, no involvement in effect on the incident in question. The sides know that ably perpetrated by public disturbances. How do you find, debate goes nowhere. The media move the only measure severely disturbed, let alone lock up, someone like that? on. that might actu- Charles isolated, often delu- There are 320 million Americans. Until the next incident, when the ally prevent mass Krauthammer sional young men. Schizophrenia affects about one percent cycle begins again. killings has abso- Yet even here, of the population. That’s about three lutely no chance (c) 2015, Washington Post Writers Group our reach is limit- million people. Only a tiny fraction are SO WITH THE Roseburg massa- of ever being en- ed. In some cases, ever violent — and predicting which cre in Oregon. Within hours, President acted. yes, involuntary commitment would ones will be is almost impossible. Obama takes to the microphones to fu- Mere “commonsense” regulation, have made a difference. Jared Lough- Loner, socially isolated, often im- riously denounce the NRA and its ilk like the assault weapons ban of 1994 ner, the Tucson shooter, was so unsta- mersed in a fantasy world of violent for resisting “commonsense gun-safety that was allowed to lapse 10 years ble, so menacing, that fellow students video games. There are myriad such laws.” His harangue is totally sincere, later, does little more than make us at his community college feared, said young men out there, but with differ- totally knee-jerk and totally pointless. feel good. A Justice Department study one, that he would “come into class ent ages of onset, in different stages of At the time he delivers it, he — and we found “no discernible reduction in the with an automatic weapon.” Under our derangement. Only a handful will ever — know practically nothing about the lethality and injuriousness of gun vio- crazy laws, however, he had to kill be- harm anyone. What to do? Forcibly ap- shooter, nothing about the weapons, lence.” fore he could be locked up. prehend them, treat them, put them on nothing about how they were obtained. As for the only remotely plausible perpetual preventive parole? By the Nor does Obama propose any leg- solution, Obama dare not speak its SIMILARLY, THE Navy Yard tens of thousands? islation. He knows none would pass. name. He made an oblique reference shooter had been found by police a few Committing the Jared Loughners But the deeper truth is that it would to Australia, never mentioning that its weeks earlier in a hotel room, psychot- would have an effect. But even they are have made no difference. Does any- gun-control innovation was confisca- ic and paranoid. They advised him to the exception among the shooters. Yet one really believe that the (alleged) tion, by means of a mandatory buy- get psychiatric help. Advised. Predict- “commonsense” gun control would do gun-show loophole had anything to do back. There’s a reason he didn’t bring ably, he fell through the mental health even less. Unless you’re willing to go with Roseburg? Universal background up confiscation (apart from the debate cracks.