I will state up front that I am a proud member of the National Rifle Association. The NRA supports responsible gun ownership, gun safety, shooting competition, and, yes, defends both the 2nd Amendment and gun owners’ rights from anti-gun legislation.
Do I agree with their stances on every issue? No, but their stance on gun control laws is far more rooted in fact and reality than the anti-gun lobbyists who rely on emotion and little else. It is a complex issue that is clouded by ignorance by extremes on both sides.
First, the 2nd Amendment was written into the constitution for a reason. The United States was a country born of freedom from oppression, both religious and civil. When we became a nation we didn’t have a monarchy; we revolted against one. We never had a king or queen. We evolved though a “pioneer mentality.”
I won’t go through all the details of the past, good and bad, but I will point out that in the present we enjoy a lot of freedoms and ownership that Europe does not, and I am not talking about guns. I am speaking about homes, businesses, and automobiles, to name a few, so please, don’t even try to compare our laws to theirs; it’s absurd. Most of the people in this country could never afford a house or get a driver’s license over there, let alone own a gun.
Secondly, you have fringe elements on both sides who have no grasp of reality, fueled by paranoia and ignorance. The tin foil hat wearers who hate any kind of government involvement in licensing and data collection, protest even routine military exercises like “Jade Helm” because they fear some kind of conspiracy and takeover. Then you have the people who fear anything related to gun ownership and would be more than satisfied with bans or confiscations, including police showing up, Gestapo-style, on law-abiding citizens’ doorsteps to take their firearms or arrest them.
Let’s look at the facts. Gun violence statistics that include suicides and accidental shootings are bogus and do not reflect crime. If you look at actual crimes committed with guns, particularly homicides and robberies, you will notice that about 90% are committed by individuals using illegally obtained guns, which none of the precious little gun bans or restrictions will have any effect on at all.
The problem is that the anti-gun folks jump all over the so-called “mass-shootings.” Despite what you might think, these are rare, considering that the USA is a country with over 300 million people and millions of them are gun owners. In fact, the mass shooting in Norway took more lives than all the shootings in Virginia Tech, Aurora, Sandy Hook, etc. combined. I would also point out that every single one of these incidents occurred in a designated gun-free zone, guaranteeing the attacker no armed resistance.
So we want “sensible gun laws,” the key word being “sensible.” We already have both in Illinois. We have proper gun ownership licensing, and concealed-carry permits. We also have ridiculous laws that ban “assault style” rifles and high-capacity magazines that have absolutely no impact whatsoever in reducing crime, but somehow placate the gun-haters. The fact is that all the years of handgun bans that were rightfully struck down by the Supreme Court had zero effect in preventing crime. The fact is that all that gun violence you read about in the papers here in Chicago is being committed by criminals with illegally obtained weapons and none of your proposed bans or restrictions will stop it. We can’t stop illegal drugs, illegal immigrants, or illegal weapons, which includes automatic weapons, but we want to punish legal and responsible gun owners with stupid and ineffective legislature?
Lastly, the anti-gun folks will say, “Why do you need a gun?” or “We have police,” and “The right to bear arms is the National Guard.” Nope. The National Guard is controlled by the state and subject to federal control when needed. It is not a militia.
Who needs guns? Well, I would say that the Korean shop owners in Watts during the 1999 riots, who successfully defended their businesses while the rest of the neighborhood burned, did. The business owners in Ferguson, Missouri who stood guard in front of their property sure did, and pity the folks in Baltimore, Maryland when an idiot mayor told the police to stand down and allow rioters “to have their space and vent.”
The bottom line is that gun control has a failing record in the U.S. and has never worked. Ever. The assault weapon ban in 1994 was allowed to lapse for the same reason. It did nothing. A final note: Since Australia instituted their infamous weapons confiscation, er “buy back,” crime is up over 6 percent, homicides are up over 6 percent, and armed robberies are up over 40 percent. Want to fix violence in America? Work on fixing the root causes and quit wasting efforts on a wasted issue.
Emerson Bolen is a U.S. Army Special Forces veteran who has been around guns most of his adult life, still shoots and teaches, and supports responsible gun ownership and safety. He lives in River Forest.