Wednesday, March 23, 2005

The Road to Hell...

...is, as my Mother noted, paved with good intentions. As John Lott writes in today's National Review Online, good intentions don't necessarily make good laws:
There is a broader lesson to learn from these attacks. All three attacks took place in areas where gun possession by those who did the attack as well as civilians generally was already banned — so-called "gun-free safe zones." Suppose you or your family are being stalked by a criminal who intends on harming you. Would you feel safer putting a sign in front of your home saying "This Home is a Gun-Free Zone"?

It is pretty obvious why we don't put these signs up. As with many other gun laws, law-abiding citizens, not would-be criminals, would obey the sign. Instead of creating a safe zone for victims, it leaves victims defenseless and creates a safe zone for those intent on causing harm.
The single most important point we as shooters need to make is that there is a gun law that works — shall-issue concealed carry. Every "gun-free zone" is, in fact, a "killing zone," a place where citizens are required to be defenseless.
at

1 comment:

  1. Publicola2:22 PM

    Shall issue concealed carry isn't the answer - or at least the best answer. Vermont & Alaska are the only states so far that have it right (no thanks to the NRA). Instead of making a law that requires begging for permission & paying a bribe to exercise what should be a Right a better solution would be to not restrict that Right in the first place.

    But even that alone isn't the answer. In many places carry is "legal but discouraged" as is self defense. To make an effective solution we have to change that so that self defense as well as carry are encouraged activities. During the shootings at Columbine it would have been legal for a teacher w/ a permit to carry in a school. (I won't get into the new "shall issue" ccw law that our rino in charge demanded have a victim disarmament zone in the schools) It was discouraged though - perhaps not even known to be legal.

    So if we stop infringing upon a Right (requiring a permit or outright forbidding it) & encourage carry as well as self defense while making it clear that it's up to a person (not the government) to protect ones' self then we might make some progress towards eliminating some of the more heinous crimes.

    ReplyDelete