Johnny, Get Your Fisking

Here's one from King's College, a call for more "common sense" gun control from enlightened academia.

Johnny, Get Your Gun
Drew McLaughlin - Staff Writer for The Crown Online.

Of all the 2 nd amendment advocates seeking the White House, Rudy Giuliani by far is the most peculiar. After all, Mr. Giuliani had long been a supporter of laws which restricted the sale of assault weapons and handguns, such as the Brady Bill, as the mayor of New York City

That's why he won't be getting my vote, or the vote of most anyone who values the constitution in its present form.

Governor Huckabee champions himself as a "zealous defender of 2 nd amendment rights, and the rights of citizens to defend themselves." When the federal ban on assault weapons expired in 2004, Mr. Huckabee said, "May it rest in peace."

Probably because the law did nothing to control the illegal possession of guns, had no measurable impact on crime, and simply made certain guns illegal because of how they looked.

This is the same man that when asked on Hardball how he would deal with the escalating violence in major cities, such as Philadelphia (which currently has the highest murder rate in the country), he responded that the solution was not more gun restriction, but less.

We see how well gun restriction works in Philly, don't we? Not to mention, DC, LA, England, Australia, etc.

Mr. Huckabee contends that an armed citizenry would decrease violent crimes because criminals are less inclined to victimize if they fear violent reprisals.

Well, most of the 39 states that allow people to carry guns haven't yet erupted into wild west shootouts. The streets haven't yet run red with blood.

It's the mutually assured destruction scenario on a much smaller scale; however, there is a reason that its acronym is M.A.D.

Ummm, because acronyms usually match the words they represent?

Mr. Huckabee would like a return to the days when every American walked around with a handgun strapped to one's hip, and as we all know that did wonders for law and order in the Old West.

I knew there'd be an "old west" reference in there! Can't lay the strawman at my feet now, can ya?

While the right to bear arms is a personal freedom granted by the Founding Fathers, I would argue that the Founding Fathers also had the foresight to install within the Constitution a mechanism to amend the document in order to ensure that the document remained current on the off chance that the needs and rights of 1787 are not the same as 2007.

Needs and rights - these are not the same thing. The Constitution doesn't provide for our needs, no matter how much some folks would like it to. I know where we're going now, but I'll wait.

I fully realize that in many parts of this country, hunting is considered a rite of passage as American as baseball, and the second amendment guarantees that the right to own a hunting rifle shall not be infringed, but can't we all get together on the assault rifle?

Ah, but the "assault weapons" ban of 1994 did not include any actual assault rifles. There's a big difference, one which I'm sure you are unaware of.

In today's world, with a professional police force in every town and city across America , is there a need for citizen militia?

Ask the folks who survived Katrina. Ask the shop owners who stood guard atop their stores during the LA riots. And find out what a militia is, fer cryin' out loud.

Now, I am not naive enough to think that stricter gun control laws will eradicate violent crime in this country, but it certainly would decrease them.

Like it has in the cities and countries I listed above? Gun control only works on those who obey the laws, criminals do not. That's why we call them criminals.

On the flipside, check out cities like Kennesaw, GA, who had a drastic reduction in crime (as well as a significant rise in population) after mandating a gun in every house.

Would anyone argue that a mandated federal background check on all purchases of handguns could have prevented the Virginia Tech massacre?

Not many would. That's why the NRA supports the latest effort to strengthen the background check system. We may be called "gun nuts", but we're not crazy, just enthusiastic.

Would any of the proposed gun restriction measures, when conducted properly and efficiently, help prevent handguns and assault weapons from falling into the hands of criminals? I believe it is a place to start.

I assume you're talking about HR 2640. If you are, then fine. I like that law, but not as a place to start. It's a place to stop. Most other gun control ideas are sheer lunacy when looked at from a common sense point of view.

Violent crime in the United States has reached epidemic proportions. I don't know the solution, but I do believe that an armed citizenry would only exacerbate the situation, not improve it.

See again, 39 states, no wild west shootouts, yadda yadda. I really hate repeating myself.

To do nothing would be just as criminal. As the primary season winds down, and November 2008 is not far off, gun control needs to be apart of the national debate, as important as universal healthcare, the war in Iraq, and Social Security.

Shame, Drew for not invoking the "Streets run red with blood" scare phrase. That's okay, you hit a lot of the usual stuff anyway.

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