Guns

It was predictable that in the immediate aftermath of the horrifying event at Newtown people who have long wished for stricter gun control laws capitalized on the event to argue that now was the time to make that happen. And, I have to say that I agree with them.

Now, to anticipate some objections. First of all, I know that it was a severely deranged young man who killed all of those people and people just kill people. I get it. There were murders before guns, murders would still happen if guns were outlawed. But the fact is, a 20 year old kid had access to an AR15, which pretty much no one ever needs to have. I know, I know, zombie apocalypse, Red Dawn style Soviet invasion, nuclear war, governmental collapse and all of those extremely likely scenarios when individuals would benefit from assault weapons seem right around the corner, but let's be honest, when the founders wrote the second amendment, did they have an AR15 with quick reload in mind? Besides, my dystopian vision of the future, not to mention the real direction of our culture, is more Brave New World than 1984.

People are evil. I agree. I'm a Calvinist for goodness sakes. But shouldn't we work to mitigate evil where at all possible? Perhaps a short accounting style question: is there more net good from allowing individuals to buy assault weapons or net bad? Dudes having fun on a Saturday afternoon versus kids dying in a school. Let's put that on the moral scales. 

A second objection, the real issue here is with identifying mental disease and being able to get people the treatment that they need. I agree. Let's do that, too. This isn't a zero sum game, where we can only do one thing. Why can't we restrict guns and give teachers better training in dealing with depressed and otherwise troubled students? I read a blog post by a university professor who has attended mandatory faculty-wide training in disaster response but has never received any training in dealing with troubled students. What is more likely to happen: massive tragedy on campus or having depressed students in your class?

A third objection: tragedies are not good times to make far-reaching policy decisions. I totally agree again (as I cough under my breath, "Iraq"). But I'm not saying that we should ban guns altogether, but that we should make it a bit harder to buy them. One suggestion I have heard is to treat gun ownership like vehicle ownership and driver's licensing: have training, take a test, register with the state. Close the gun show loophole that allows guns to be purchased without background checks. I don't understand why restrictions would be a bad thing. I am generally in favor of the free market, but guess what, it sucks here. The free market cares about one thing only: making money. Moral calculations have to be made by human minds, not invisible hands.

I own a gun and plan on getting into hunting next year which will necessitate the purchase of another. Would I be offended if I had to register my new 308 with the state? Are you kidding me? I can't believe I don't have to. When my brother gave me a shotgun for my wedding (there is a joke there somewhere) I looked up the laws about registering and realized that I didn't have to register my gun. How crazy is that? If he had given me a scooter, you're damn right the government would know about it, but registering guns encroaches on freedom. I have yet to read the conservative case against license plates.

When people used to complain about the Patriot Act and the wide use of surveillance it granted the government I joked that that's only a bad thing if you have something to hide. The government can listen in on all of my phone conversations if they want to, but they would be mostly bored. I don't care if they know I think turning The Hobbit into three movies is an abomination and that I drive back to Colorado for Christmas on Friday. My point is, the Patriot Act was a problem if you already had something to hide. I didn't, so it didn't make me nervous. On the contrary, it made me feel quite sorry at the idea of some poor governmental operative tasked with sorting through my text messages. Gun restriction works in the same way: the good gunowners have nothing to fear and the bad ones will be stopped at the door. (Note: It is a tad ironic that the same party who pushed through the Patriot Act and defends it as a necessary policy, finds it completely within the pale for the government to have extreme liberty in surveillance of communication but no liberty at all in telling us how many high powered guns we can own. We are all selective in our big government beliefs.) (Another note: yes, I have heard of the black market and know that bad people can buy guns through illegal means. However, none of the people who have carried out the recent mass killings procured these weapons through the black market. Secondly, so what? What is the point here? You would rather the blood money for the gun sales to maniacal killers go through a legitimate dealer with a booth at a gun show than a black market dealer with the trunk of a Chrysler?)

At some point we have to ask ourselves what we are trading in exchange for our freedom. And is it worth it. Is a world with ever more guns the world we want our kids to grow up in? (Read Alan Jacobs's excellent post on the idea of arming teachers, which, like most everything he says, I agree with wholeheartedly.) I am not a gun guy, but I have no aversion to them. I own one and will probably own a few others here in the next few years. But I don't and won't own them because I am afraid. In any crazy post-apocalyptic scenario, I just hope I am already dead. I don't want to fight other people for oil or troop across the South killing zombies. If someone breaks into my house to steal they can have it. If they break in to hurt my family I will be glad to have a gun, but the chances of that happening are infinitesimally small.

I believe in the Second Amendment (I also think we are likelier to see the First overturned before we are the Second). But a right to bear arms is not an absolute right. It is not a first principle right, like the right to life and liberty. And when it starts to infringe on those first principle rights, it needs to be reconsidered.