Posted on 04/11/2009 11:14:30 AM PDT by marktwain
April 9, 2009) There is a funny story about a woman who rowed her husband’s boat out for a little solitude. While she was enjoying the fresh air and sunshine a Park Ranger pulled up alongside and asked to see her fishing license. When she told him she didn’t have one he said that he was going to write her a ticket because, even though she was just sitting in the boat reading, there was fishing equipment in the boat. The woman replied that she wanted to charge the Ranger with rape then because, even though he was just sitting in his boat talking, he had all of the necessary equipment.
Unfortunately, in the real world, the woman’s quick wit would probably not get her out of the ticket and might cost her more charges, but there is a truth in this story that deserves careful consideration. There is a dramatic difference between having tools and having intent. While this truth should apply to fishing gear or guns in parks, it is also one of the fundamental flaws in the thinking of hoplophobes and their attacks on individual rights – that having tools and using tools is the same thing.
I recall a story of a hoplophobic politician or reporter who, looking at the firing line at Camp Perry saw hundreds of “potential assassins” rather than hundreds of dedicated sportsmen, patriots, and potential defenders of the nation. That distorted perception demonstrates a level of fundamental human distrust which is simply astounding. How can a person who is so mistrustful of his fellow man ever get behind the wheel of a car or even leave his home?
But this is the mindset that we in the rights movement are up against. These people believe that having the equipment is the same as being equipped, leaving out the most important factors; motivation and inclination. Virtually everyone in the world has the equipment to be “violent killers,” but only a small fraction of the world’s population are equipped with the desire and inclination to truly be violent killers. (And then there is the question of those who equip themselves to be violent killers to protect civilized society, but that’s a whole other can of worms.)
What the hoplophobes refuse to see or understand is that criminal behavior – whether with a gun, knife, car, or bare hands – is always first and foremost about the behavior. The tool is a side issue. Behavior is the problem and any “solution” that fails to address behavior is no solution at all. While there is some truth to the old saw, “the clothes make the man,” likewise having the accoutrements of criminal behavior at hand can help to facilitate that behavior – but only in people predisposed to the behavior and only to a very limited degree. Dress an honor student in gang-banger duds and give him a gun and he’s not likely to start ripping off liquor stores. Conversely, dress a street punk in Ralph Lauren and he’s still not someone you want your daughter dating.
Most importantly, even if it were possible to keep guns away from people who are predisposed to criminal violence (which is not really possible, but let’s play “even if…”) the lack of a firearm is not going to deter those people from engaging in their criminal violence. There is no credible, statistical evidence that violent crime, including murder, has ever been significantly reduced by restrictions on firearms. Crime involving firearms might go down some, depending on how draconian the gun control laws are and how actively they are enforced, but actual numbers of murders, assaults, rapes, and robberies tend to go up rather than down in the wake of stricter gun laws. That’s why the anti-gun agitators are always careful to focus their attention on “gun crime” rather than just crime.
People with an irrational fear of weapons, particularly firearms, think that it is the weapon that causes the crime. If they were able to think rationally they would realize that it is criminals who cause crime and criminals, by definition, violate laws such as laws against acquisition and possession of weapons just as they do laws against rape, robbery, and murder.
Something that rights supporters must understand is that hoplophobes can not be “cured” with reason any more than people with an irrational fear of spiders or snakes can be convinced that such vermin are “friendly.” That’s what irrational means.
Therefore efforts to reform hoplophobes are wasted. Instead we must focus our energies on exposing the irrationality and distortions put forward by these people so that the rational public can see the truth.
Gun laws don’t work.
Restricting the rights of responsible citizens does nothing to reduce crime or protect society.
Focusing on tools diverts resources away from effective strategies for reducing crime and suicide.
Permission to reprint or post this article in its entirety for non-commercial purposes is hereby granted provided this credit is included. Text is available at www.FirearmsCoalition.org. To receive The Firearms Coalition’s bi-monthly newsletter, The Hard Corps Report, write to PO Box 3313, Manassas, VA 20108. ©Copyright 2009 Neal Knox Associates
Did the ranger then charge her with prostitution, lol? Circular logic is such a blast sometimes.
Good article, but WAY too wordy.
To be effective, cut it in half. At least.
“Conversely, dress a street punk in Ralph Lauren and he’s still not someone you want your daughter dating.”
Chris Brown anyone?
Mitt Romney
"These guns are not made for recreation or self-defense," he was quoted as saying. "They are instruments of destruction with the sole purpose of hunting down and killing people."
For Romney maybe ~ no doubt he’s at that level on the executive ladder that he thinks of people as ciphers.
This article impels me to point to an unsuspecting public of the LEGAL sale of countless POTENTIALLY deadly weapons. These weapons are sold without ANY limits and without the need for ANY identification of any kind. Any individual reading this, should be aware that these deadly impliments are being sold, most likely within a couple of miles of where you sit.
Across the entire country, hardware stores and home improvement centers are selling, to all comers, hammers, awls, icepicks, saws, knives, screwdrivers, ropes, cords, pipes, jack handles, axes, and countless other pieces of equipment that with the INTENT can be used to commit unthinkable crimes of violence.
Don’t you think it is long past time when the people should DEMAND the removal of such items from the reach of an uncontrolled public?
Romney is no more conservative than Giuliani (and for the city he ran, he was about as conservative as that city could stomach...these limo-liberals held their noses and voted for him because their landsmen were being killed by the brothers that David ‘The Dink’ Dinkins was protecting).
Both are RINOs pure and simple.
Re: Romney
I just cleaned 3 of my firearms
and am heading out to the range in a few moments.
I am going to practice some “Gun Control”.
These simpletons cannot regulate their own lives,
so they think we can’t regulate ours.
An interesting concept that I wish someone with the wherewithal would examine, is the odd idea that many of the people who oppose guns are not so upset by the bullets those guns might fire, but by a phobia of the unexpected, loud report, the noise that guns might produce. They are deeply frightened by a fear of loud, unexpected noises.
The phobia is called Ligyrophobia.
There is an old joke about a poor golfer tricked into a game with a very good golfer. When asked what handicap the good golfer would play under, the poor golfer offered to exchange any handicap for “two paper bags”. Puzzled, the good golfer agreed.
As they went to tee off, the poor golfer went first, with a reasonably good drive. Grinning, the good golfer knew he could easily beat it, but just when he was about to tee off, *bang!* went one of the paper bags, popped right behind him. His drive went sideways and his ball went into the parking lot.
“What the heck did you do that for?”, screamed the good golfer at the poor golfer.
“Oh, that was just my first paper bag. I’ll use the other one later”, replied the poor golfer.
After that, it was the worst game the good golfer had ever played, the anticipation of the second paper bag destroying his concentration, with the poor golfer winning handily.
Now compare this joke with how a Ligyrophobiac might feel. Whenever there is a gun around, or a gun might be around. Their palms are sweaty, they feel in a panic, and they want to leave the area, all because they are terrified of being startled by a loud, unexpected noise.
Think of the irony if a lot of the passionate gun controllers were just ordinary phobics. Not with a fear of guns, which is called “Hoplophobia”, by the way, but just terrified of the noise they might produce.
“Think of the irony if a lot of the passionate gun controllers were just ordinary phobics. Not with a fear of guns, which is called “Hoplophobia”, by the way, but just terrified of the noise they might produce.”
One thing I used years ago to challenge the mindset of a person who was surprised I, a woman, had a gun and was in the NRA: I asked her, well let’s say you are home with your kids, husband’s gone and a guy breaks in the house intending to harm your children and you. Do you want to have a gun, or do you want to dial 911? Do you want to be at the mercy of a thug and see your 2 daughters harmed or do you want the means to protect your family? She had nothing to say that I can remember. Liberals don’t get it. They just don’t. They don’t get that the police cannot be everywhere, and they are not to be expected to be your personal protector. That is impossible. And with leaner budgets and fewer officers, and more crime due to the economy etc, it is only wise to protect yourself. Yeah, preaching to the choir here. I know. Everyone have a blessed and happy Easter tomorrow!
I really hope you simply copied a comment from that article, and that it is not yours.
A guy on the lane next to me was firing what I think was a .45 semi. I was replacing a target and I felt the paper vibrating from every round he was firing. Granted, I didn’t have the best earplugs, probably no more than a 25dB attenuation. Would have been better off with foamies and good ear muffs. But yes, the incredibly loud sound of that, plus the target vibrating scared the heck out of me.
I’m taking my wife to the range on Tuesday. I have a 45 ACP and my wife has a 22 Revolver.
I’ll try to shoot quietly.
;-)
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