You see this a lot from vacuous editorial writers that basically state, “Something Must Be Done!” No details, no policy prescriptions, just that we clearly have to do something, America, because before this editorial, pretty clearly we’ve done nothing.
It is time to do something. The hard fact is that too many guns land in the hands of people who shouldn’t have them. Each case is different, we know. Each one can somehow be explained away: He got the gun illegally; he stole it from his father; the weapon is legal but the shooter is crazy, and on and on.
Wait, wait… I have an idea… Maybe we should make it illegal for certain kinds of people to own guns, like felons and crazy people. We could also make stealing guns a serious crime. Hell, let’s just go whole hog here and suggest stiff federal sentences of up to 10 years for committing gun crimes. Juveniles should likewise be banned from possessing guns, and it should be a federal crime for them to take guns to school, with stiff penalties. You know what else might help? Background checks for people buying guns from a retail dealer. All that should clear this problem right up!
Been there. Done that.
Don’t forget, we should make it illegal to Rob or kill someone with a gun! That would cover spree shooters as well.
This is step 1: “Something Must Be Done!”
Step 2: “This Is Something!”
Step 3: “Therefore, This Must Be Done!”
There’s a reason I highlighted the CPSC action against Buckyballs earlier – that stems from the same mindest of “if it’s unsafe it must be eradicated!” There is no middle ground for a crusader.
But Sebastian, how will we ever get such “common sense” laws passed, when the NRA opposes such measures at every step of the way?
Oh, wait, my bad. I’m thinking of the anarcho-capitalists, who want everything legal, because life wasn’t all that bad back when all these things were tried.
Oops. I meant “back before all these things were tried.”
There is nothing wrong with saying something should be done. That is the way progress is made. The problem is that the results of that statement in newspaper editorials is always more laws. It is never fixing the serious problems we have in enforcement and prosecution for the laws we already have.
If a criminal is committing a long line of felonies just to get the gun to commit the shooting, why the hell haven’t we already caught him and put him away? That in many cases we have. But firearms offenses are not sexy crimes to prosecute.
Here’s a thought: Let’s Trash all those “Somethings” that HAVE been done and DON’T work with “Somethings” that DO Work. You know, things like getting a CHP w/o Jumping through Loopholes; taking down “No Guns Allowed” signs and allowing the Armed Citizen the “Freedom of Choice” to either OC or CC, you know, things like that.