Guns As A Vice

B. quoted this material in arguing against gun control

"Meditations on gun control:

I have never understood how it was possible for a thinking, rational being to support gun control.

Whole bunch of folks who ought to know better are using the excuse of the murders at Virginia Tech to call for the banning of guns. Some folks calling for only some guns to be banned, others going whole hog and wanting everything banned.

Let me ask y'all a question.

You want to ban guns. In 1919, the Volstead Act and the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution were passed banning alcohol -- much like you want to ban guns now, they banned booze then.

Hmpf.

How'd that work out?

Would you call Prohibition a success?

What makes you think the banning of guns would be any different?

You want to ban the possession of guns. Well, the possession of cocaine is banned. How's that ban on cocaine working? Has the cocaine problem gotten better or worse?

What makes you think the banning of guns will be any different? Honestly?

You want to ban the manufacture and transportation of guns. You know, the manufacture and transportation of methamphetamine is banned.

Do I have to ask?

What makes you think the banning of guns will have a different result?

Ban guns. Give them an allure. Tell people they can't own guns, and turn guns into Forbidden Fruit; give guns that irresistible Edgy Outlaw Aura. Make guns the Ultimate Bad Boy accessory.

In the deep, dark recesses of your mind you think we have a gun problem now?

Weed, coke, crack, ice, meth, acid, PCP, XTC, oxy, smack -- it's all banned. And there you sit, forked tongue firmly behind your teeth, piously telling everyone that things will get better once you ban guns.

Pfagh.

Ban guns. Go ahead. If an illiterate Afghani blacksmith with hand tools, a charcoal fire, and a donkey can turn out a full-auto copy of an AK-47 in a week, how long do you think it will take Joe Texan with a metal shop in his garage to do the same?

Because, you know, the methamphetamine ban has worked so well.

Of course, I'm sure that no other government would dabble in illegal arms, just like no government ever cut themselves in for a share of the profits from the (banned) heroin trade, or the (banned) cocaine trade.

*snort*

You can take this one to the bank: just as soon as you get your idiotic gun ban passed, the second thing I am going to do (right after throwing my badge on the Sheriff's desk) is use my First Amendment right and post complete specifications for Sten guns, Ingrams, KG-99's and every other stamped sheet metal firearm on the Internet.

Then, I'll go back and post the complete specs for every firearm in my library on the Internet -- First Amendment Freedom of Speech and all that.

I'm wondering: how long do you think it'll take for the number of gun-bootlegging millionaires to match the number of booze-bootlegging fortunes created by Prohibition?

Yo, Teddy Kennedy, you being the expert on family fortunes created by Prohibition, you want to weigh in?

I wonder how long it will take for the number of gun traficante millionaires to match the number of cocaine traficante millionaires?

And I wonder how long it will take -- after you pass your silly-arsed gun ban -- for my children to be able to buy a Sten gun on any street corner for 20 dollars -- just like they can buy crack, meth, smack or whatever on any street corner for 20 dollars. They're all banned, right?

Go. Take your plates and go sit at the kiddies table. When you bloody well grow up and can think logically -- instead of emoting and fee-ee-eeling your way through problems -- then you can eat at the Grown-Ups table.

Don't forget your binkies, you complete and utter oiks.

LawDog"

These are interesting arguments, and I don't buy them at all.

I think it's interesting that gun ownership is compared to vices. Not the most sterling recommendation. I also find it interesting that the Second Amendment is interpreted by some as overriding my interest in Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit of Happiness. I want to live a life free from coercion and threats, and if that desire can't be squared with the Second Amendment (as it certainly wasn't in Aurora), then the Second Amendment will just have to go.