The number of media-reported shootings in the United States have renewed calls for gun control. The calls for gun control are motivated by good intentions; people are rightfully upset and disgusted with mass shootings. However, ignoring all of the facts that point to more guns equaling less crime and the fundamental lack of common sense in disarming the public, gun control is just another kind of prohibition - and prohibition always fails.
The Temperance Movement too was motivated by good intentions; there
was a general concern for the spiritual and physical health of others
and women were rightfully fed up with being beaten by drunken husbands.
However, things always find their way to those who desire them. When the
government bans marijuana, people who want marijuana can easily obtain
it. If the government bans guns, law-abiding folks will not have guns
but the people who want to shoot others will still have them. Gun
control is just another proposed prohibition that is set for failure -
and a particularly deadly failure, as it takes a defensive tool out of
the hands of law-abiding folks.
The government reacted poorly to 9/11 by creating martial law at airports rather than working to understand why people were blowing
themselves up in foreign lands. Similarly, I think the discussion should
not revolve around how people kill other people but rather *why* people
kill other people.
