Too many untruths out there about guns
Published 4:21 pm Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Seems that every time there is yet another mass killing, the outrage grows just a little quieter, our shock dampened by the growing frequency.
The horror we feel, and ease of this carnage, seemingly becomes inspirational to the next maniac.
There will be debates and calls for tougher laws – and as history has shown, nothing will happen. Nothing, of course, other than to set the clock in anticipation of the next news report of carnage somewhere. I simply refuse to trivialize carnage as an “incident.”
That comes with the always time-tested simple untruth: “Law abiding, responsible gun owners” shall not be infringed.
Does anyone care that the preamble to the Constitution speaks of “insure domestic Tranquility” (not “assure”/promise, “ensure”/act, but “insure”/protect – the writers were very delicate wordsmiths) and “promote the general welfare”?
Untruth fallacy No 1. Law abiding. These self-appointed saints have merely decided which laws they choose to abide. For example, have these law abiders who also happen to own a firearm ever run a stop sign? Or littered? Or jaywalked? Perhaps taken some liberty with taxes? If any of these examples, any many more, are true, feel free to drop the sainthood of being “law abiding”.
Untruth fallacy No. 2. Responsible. Really? Would a responsible family member buy firearms for a kid known to be mentally deficient, at a minimum known via his prior schooling? How about the Newtown, Conn, mom who bought the firearms for her deranged son that killed 20 children and six teachers? Children easily finding guns at home and mistakenly shooting their siblings. You get the point.
I would offer that the responsibility of ownership – or the mere purchase of firearms – carries with it consequence. That consequence would be that when used in the commission of a crime, the last registered owner (yes, that would require that all firearms be registered) is held as an accomplice through negligence unless the weapon was previously reported as stolen. If you own, and already keep your weapons secure at all times, well, there is no impact on you.
Harsh but simple. As an owner, either properly secure your weapons at all times or risk being held accountable for their use by anyone other than yourself. Solve the problem? No. Help to insure tranquility and promote the general welfare? Sure does fit.
I have intentionally excluded all the competing stats, ideologies, the righteousness – frankly on both sides of the argument. Leave this with the one simple truth. People are now dead as a result of our own cowardice to act on their behalf in prevention – more so than in the cowardice of the assassins.
May God rest the victim’s souls and give the living the courage to insure.
– James Dillon
