Inconvenient Truths About Guns and Gun Control

Politicians and journalists often portray fiction as fact. It is easy to be opinionated, but hard to be informed. This came to mind as I listened to Virginia Democrats tell us we d be safer if we were disarmed. What is the truth about gun-control laws? What politicians say a law will do might have nothing to do with what the law actually does. Lives are at stake when gun-control laws fail. Saying that the next gun-control law is necessary to stop violent crime admits that the 23 thousand firearms regulations already on the books didn t work as advertised. It is a rare politician who admits how limited the government really is when it comes to public safety.

Fortunately, we ve lived with firearms for several hundred years. We know some things that work. Here are a few inconvenient truths I ve found after a few decades of study.

via www.ammoland.com

In my neighborhood of semi-demi-hemi-custom (tract) homes, I would guess well over half of residents own a firearm and they never have to use them. I still have my trusty .40 XD tucked away in my electronic wall safe — I just need to rack the slide and it’s ready to shoot. I’ve never had to shoot it in the last 20 years, except at the range. But it’s there in the unlikely event I have to use it.

It’s no exaggeration to say that personal firearms keep our somewhat remote neighborhood safe. If the SD Sheriff’s department responded to an emergency is less than 15 minutes, it would be a miracle. The last time I called 911, maybe 15 years ago, I was put on hold for 5 minutes at least. Good luck with that if somebody is invading your home. Of course, we have a labrador, a pit bull and a bichon. Any invader would have to deal with the bichon.

Gun control efforts should be directed at criminals. This Virginia law and laws like it just seem to be an instance of targeted culture war. Northam could probably care less if his law saves any lives. But he has to love how angry it makes people who have to take care of themselves. It’s not gun control, it’s people control.

Gun control should be imposed, if all at all, over much smaller geographic area than states, like restaurants. Still, recent events suggest schools and churches are the last places that should be gun-free zones, at least without metal detectors and armed police manning them at the door, which is sort of a buzzkill.