In the light of both the massacre at a bar in California and the murder of a Maryland man who was deemed mentally unfit to own a firearm by order of the state’s red flag laws, the gun control issue demands rational discourse in order to preserve the natural rights and the safety of innocent people.
Both of the partisan answers have led to unfortunate death.
Hey, progressives, gun control does not work
Countless examples of gun control’s failures can be brought forth, such as the California shooter utilizing an illegal magazine that held rounds in excess of the legal capacity in California. Or the fact that he murdered people, which is obviously illegal. Or other nations that maintain strong gun laws have maintained an alarming rate of violent crimes through the use of other inanimate objects.
Prohibition does not work. It simply creates the existence of a black market which induces an even deadlier outcome.
Next to these very few examples among the multitude, frankly, you have no grounds to remove one’s natural right to self-defense. By advocating that the government use force to remove the defensive properties of peaceful individuals, you become the aggressor. You are the violent entity.
This emotional response to a very touchy issue will not have the outcome you seek. Chances are, the very opposite will happen instead.
Simply put, devout gun owners are not giving their firearms to the entity that has a consistent tendency to violate the rights of its citizenry. The idea that one demands a civilian ban on firearms while simultaneously protesting government policies and accusing them of being Nazis is nothing short of cognitive dissonance.
Hey, conservatives, the problem is not simply mental illness
To insinuate that mental illness is the sole issue creates an extremely dangerous slippery slope to tyranny. By advocating that the government decree the mentally unfit may not have guns, it is simply not logical to assume they will not abuse their authority if you believe their intentions are already malignant.
If they were to pass this legislation, I am certain they would determine what qualifies the scope of being mentally unfit. In today’s clinical standards, 1/5ths Americans are “mentally ill.” What if they deem having a mild case of anxiety or ADHD as being mentally unfit? How about ODD? Oppositional defiant disorder. Anyone who questions authority would be seen as unfit!
What if they deem all veterans have PTSD and shall be barred from owning weapons upon return from service? That maneuver single-handedly removes our most skilled civilians from being serviceable in the event of an uprising against an authoritarian government.
How about the abusive husband who reports to the authorities that his wife is mentally ill? Removing her ability to lethally defend herself from him if necessary?
Next, to the mental illness claim, conservatives intend to claim this country does not have a gun violence problem. But a mass shooting at a school or public gathering every other week proves that there is. It is dishonest to say we do not have one, and a semi-automatic Daniel Defense can take out more people than an assailant with a knife. It’s simply the truth.
However, to their point, the tool is not to blame. A quick glance at Europe’s introduction of vehicular attacks and nail bombs prove there are other factors at play. The demand to simply ban the weapon not only is an emotional response that has empirically shown to do very little to decrease violence, but it also does not address the problem! What’s the actual problem? We don’t know, because we refuse to properly diagnose it. Instead, very black and white retorts are exclaimed.
Instead of concentrating on the perpetrators, we have knee-jerk reactions and instantly revert back to redundant partisan arguments. The criminal is no longer responsible for his action. Instead, a collectivist outrage ensues and the guilty is no longer held accountable.
There is no discussion on how to address the fatherless home issue. No conversation about addressing and properly diagnosing erratic behavior, and how to approach these people. No discourse on how we as a society can teach our children to respect the sanctity of life. These are a multitude of potential factors.
The tired partisan talking points are getting us nowhere. If we want the bloodshed to cease, we must have a logical discussion and approach the very root of the issue, not simply the repercussions that unfold.
This article represents the views of the author exclusively, and not that of Being Libertarian LLC.
Logan Davies
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