Is America Missing the Mark on Gun Control?

Failing to address the underlying causes for gun violence is like plastering band-aids over bullet wounds. It’s time we bit the bullet and found a solution.

In what can only be described as a typical display of irreverence, regressive leftists have come out en masse to push their agenda in the face of a nation mourning. Good sense and propriety to the wind, Participation Trophy Generation has politicised a tragedy by staging a nationwide protest on gun law reform, the suspiciously swift organisation of which has more than a few people looking to protest-architect extraordinaire George Soros and his wily band of crisis thespians.

Spoiled blue-haired snowflakes aside, there is a legitimate issue in need of disassembling – and it isn’t my ArmaLite AR-18. Fortunately for freedom-lovers, and to the dismay of a handful of triggered libtards, Florida lawmakers have voted down a bill to ban assault weapons – presumably the worst news since these kids’ parents denied them hormone replacement treatment.

Worst news since their parents told them to get summer jobs https://t.co/Vg3mXYvb4c

— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) February 20, 2018

On the topic of mental illness, every contributing factor for mass shootings under the sun is, as per hippie standards, conveniently ignored in order to better shift the crosshairs onto the entirely innocuous and inanimate gun. We skirt around the uniquely American problem of mental illness, for example, failing to take into consideration how mass shootings aren’t a problem in countries with perfectly psychologically sound populations. So isn’t it time we bit the bullet and got to the heart of the matter, instead of taking cheap shots for PC points?
It’s all too easy for the simpleminded citizen to target the most obvious agent of mass destruction; there’s no silver bullet for stopping these things from happening altogether. But not addressing the underlying causes for gun violence is like plastering band-aids over bullet wounds.
Guns don’t kill people. People kill people. In the same way that pens don’t write, people write. Give a man a stone slab and a chisel and he’ll write just the same. Granted, it would take him a hot minute longer. And he’d probably write less. And the writing itself wouldn’t be reproduced with the efficiency of a printing press. But that’s beside the point. In the absence of guns, a madman will resort to a knife, a hammer, a katana, and any other manner of household items he’s got lying around.

And forgive me my ignorance, but isn’t the very definition of a criminal one who flouts the law of the land? Strict murder laws don’t stop people from murdering; what makes us think that strict gun laws are going to stop criminals from using guns? Yes, it may make them harder to obtain. Yes, strict background checks would probably weed out the volatile and vindictive. But it would also mean pushing ammo aficionados into a shady, underground, black market network. What next will we criminalise the sale of? Hard drugs? Sex? Explosives? Has anyone even seen The Purge?

‘Strict murder laws don’t stop people from murdering; what makes us think that strict gun laws are going to stop criminals from using guns?’

Our culture has a fetish for violence. It’s ubiquitous, from video games, to Hollywood movies. And I’m not talking about trophy hunting, which is a treasured national pastime and a legitimate sport that exalts the sharpshooting skill of a precision rifle against the unoffending, unsuspecting nature of a majestic, but utterly useless, beast. Given that the entertainment we consume, as Americans, is not distributed anywhere else in the world, is it mere happenstance that our predilection for mass murder correlates with the prevalence of violent media in our society?
Sure, the Inquisition was bad enough without the help of Quentin Tarantino. And yes, the Bible has a couple mentions of stoning and disembowelment, which, taken out of context, can seem a bit questionable. But is it anything close to Grand Theft Auto? Hell, one James Wan movie and I’m ready to set my boss on a labyrinthine, booby-trapped, torture-filled expedition to his Final Destination.

Characteristic of collectivist socialists hell bent on whittling away our individual liberties, gun control advocates have utter contempt for the Constitution and seek to modify and append Amendments to its Amendments it at every turn. If a document that’s served us well since 1787 ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The founding fathers knew what they were doing when they sought to guard future generations from the tyranny of the state with their musket-manned militias, but today’s gun cockblockers seem to lack any similar foresight. What they plan to do without AK-47s if our nation is invaded and our government felled and our nuclear capable, tank-and-fighter-jet operating military booted into hiding by a superior aggressor is beyond me.

‘The founding fathers knew what they were doing when they sought to guard future generations from the tyranny of the state with their musket-manned militias, but today’s gun cockblockers seem to lack any similar foresight’

They also don’t take into consideration the steep, slippery slope. Come for our military grade assault rifles and what next? Our bread knives? Sometimes the concept of the social contract is entirely lost on these Kalashnikov-hating killjoys. Sacrifices must be made for the greater good in a society. So if a few measly mass shootings mean the right to bear arms stays safely ensconced in our legal framework, so be it. It’s why we go through security checks before getting on a plane – the greater good.

Glossing over the fundamental right of a man to protect his own seems in line with the general trajectory of the Left in abolishing the family. Though the Great Equalizer is indeed a feminist concept par excellence, the-self defence of women, children, the elderly, and other feeble and helpless subsections of our population seems secondary to the goal of melting our firearms and transforming them into a Planned Parenthood clinic.

WHAT WE SAID: We need common sense gun laws.
WHAT YOU HEARD: Take away all the guns, melt them & make a statue of an NFL player kneeling.

— Solomon Georgio (@solomongeorgio) October 2, 2017

Again, what these people plan to do in the case of a home invasion is outside the limits of my imagination. They’ll say, in an attempt to wrest the ball back into their court, that a reasonable compromise might be achieved that doesn’t involve infringing on the right of a household to own a handgun for this express purpose, but that machine guns are hardly necessary to that end.
To that I say: How will they wield off marauding gangs of robbers, each one armed to the teeth? What if my first five guns don’t fire? The only thing that’ll stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun, as evidenced in the several instances in which this very thing transpired and tragedy was averted. Over and over again, gun-toting civilians have successfully thwarted mass shootings. The presence of firearms is a direct deterrent and is proven to prevent homicide.

‘The only thing that’ll stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun, as evidenced in the several instances in which this very thing transpired and tragedy was averted’

America distinguishes itself in many ways from the rest of the world. So why should it have to follow submissively in the steps of all other civilised countries that have legislated stricter gun laws?
Israel and Switzerland seem to be doing just fine, and their gun laws are among the most lax in the world. Laws against violent crime have not succeeded in eradicating all violent crime. Laws lowering blood alcohol level for drivers have not succeeded in deterring all drunk drivers. So if we cannot completely defeat all forms of violence, what is the point? You may say that is defeatist, but it is only a natural conclusion to an exercise in logic. And it is a conclusion supported by innumerable great figures of the past, including Reagan, who was a proud NRA member, and who was a staunch defender of the right of citizens to have free access to firearms, no holds barred.
It is clear, however, that somewhere along the line we have erred as a country. And it is equally clear that the spike in violence bears a connection to the extent to which we have strayed from our founding principles. Reforming society in a meaningful and long-standing way can only mean one thing.
We must allow God back into schools.