Monday, February 19, 2018
A possible gun regulation compromise?
Leftists regularly argue while having no apparent knowledge of the relevant facts. And the current outcry for gun control after the Florida shooting is a prime excample of that. They act as if nobody had ever tried gun control before.
Yet gun regulation varies greatly across the fruited plain -- so the data to assess the proposal is readily available. And the fact is that in places like Chicago guns are very heavily regulated. Yet Chicago, Detroit etc are also the places where gun deaths are at their highest.
So the existing facts on the ground tell us that gun control does more harm than good. Criminals are greatly encouraged when the rest of the population has little or no protection so shoot with every expectation of impunity.
But a conservative writer has come up with a suggestion that may have some merit. It may not however pass constitutional muster:
Instead of debating gun regulations that would apply to every gun owner, we could consider limits that are imposed on youth and removed with age. After all, the fullness of adult citizenship is not bestowed at once: Driving precedes voting precedes drinking, and the right to stand for certain offices is granted only in your thirties.
Perhaps the self-arming of citizens could be similarly staggered. Let 18-year-olds own hunting rifles. Make revolvers available at 21. Semiautomatic pistols, at 25. And semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15 could be sold to 30-year-olds but no one younger.
This proposal would be vulnerable to some of the same practical critiques as other gun control proposals. But it is more specifically targeted to the plague of school shootings, whose perpetrators are almost always young men.
And it offers a kind of moral bridge between the civic vision of Second Amendment advocates and the insights of their critics — by treating bearing arms as a right but also a responsibility, the full exercise of which might only come with maturity and age.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/17/opinion/sunday/no-country-for-young-men-with-ar-15s.html
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5 comments:
So much time, money and effort spent on trying to control a right the Constitution says "shall not be infringed."
Not going to help. The unstated presupposition is that we can somehow prevent a younger person from coming into possession of an age-restricted object. E.g., we can prevent teens under 18 from obtaining tobacco or prevent those under 21 from obtaining alcohol. How effective have these laws been?
The fact of the matter is that guns are available on the black-market. Moreover, guns are available in kids homes. I had access to guns and ammunition as a toddler. By the time a kid is 13 - 16 he is usually regarded as responsible enough to take guns out of his home on his own initiative.
In VT, they are very strict. No children under 16 can carry handguns. Once they are 16 they can carry either openly or concealed. No permit required; no permit available. Those under 16 are restricted to long-guns. Presumably, toddlers can't manage long guns very effectively. Absolutely no guns in school; unless it's for school-sanctioned activity. (How many VT school shootings can you find recorded on the internet?)
The problem in the Florida shooting is the shooter stole the gun it was in a locked case he was not supposed to have a key for. Most criminals only have access to stolen guns. What will be the weapon of choice once all the guns are removed? Maybe home made bombs? regular baking flour is explosive. Plenty of cleaning fluids when combined are explosive or deadly. wait for the need to register all of the rock in your yard. able was killed with the jaw bone of an ass. If someone wants to kill you they can find a weapon that will get the job done.
A bit leery of compromising with them, but I'm open to the age requirements.
Fact laws only limit honest responsible people. Is there such a ting as a drunk driver? driving drunk is a crime. double standard, judge wrecks a state vehicle one half hour after court closed for the day His punishment pay for the car and six months probation. How long does it take to get drunk enough to wreck a car? was he drinking in court? and he is still on the bench. collect all the guns and the number of deaths by Rock will skyrocket. If someone wants to kill you no law is going to stop them.
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