On Gun Control

I don’t really know where I stand on guns. I know I don’t want to own one. I know I think the feeling of needing to carry a gun with you in a peaceful suburb of America to feel safe seems ridiculous. I know I don’t like hunting and killing living animals.

But I also have a friend who owns several guns and is very responsible with them, nothing like the crazy gun hoarder you hear about on the internet. He’s shown me how to shoot a pistol and that sport shooting at a range is a fun activity. He also collects an array of guns, including many very old ones that the history buff in me thinks is cool.

I also know that just because I feel perfectly safe walking around unarmed doesn’t mean others do. I can’t really make that call for others. I also enjoy eating meat so feel a bit hypocritical to be against hunting but have no problem eating a delicious, delicious steak that came from a murdered cow that didn’t even get a sporting chance.

So yeah, I don’t really know where I stand on guns themselves. But I do know where I stand on the gun debate. Most of the pro-gun arguments are fucking stupid. Some of the anti-gun arguments are also pretty stupid too but for the most part you never even hear about them because the pro-gun people are just so loud.

So for all the pro-gun people reading this and willing to listen to some feedback from one of those people in the middle who you’d ideally be trying to sway when you make an argument, here are a few thoughts:

The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun 

No, no it’s not. What about those guys who stopped a shooter on a French train by tackling him? What about all those times someone didn’t end up pulling a trigger because someone talked them down? A good guy with a gun may be one way to stop a bad guy with a gun but it’s not the only way.

2nd Amendment of the US Constitution gives me the right to own guns

So? The Constitution also condoned slavery. If your only argument for owning guns is that a two-hundred-year-old document says it’s okay, the justification is weak. Plus, why does everyone forget the “well-regulated militia” part? You can’t use something as a defense and then just ignore part of it.

Gun restrictions have never worked

Another ridiculous blanket statement. There are many, many countries with far more restrictive gun regulation than here in the US that don’t have mass shooting incidents occurring on a regular basis.

If guns are illegal than only criminals will have guns

This is just a stupid argument and it gets used for a lot of things. If something is illegal it’s harder to get. We made bombs illegal. You can’t go and buy a bomb at a store. You have to find the black market or learn to make one yourself. That’s a barrier to entry. Some moron gets mad and wants to blow someone up, they have to jump through hoops to do it. And then they usually give up or get caught. Sure, some will still get bombs but the solution to that isn’t to make it easier for people to get them.

Banning research into gun violence

Why? Why would you ban research?

There are many policies and arguments that anti-gun advocates make. Is a ban on one particular type of weapon going to solve anything? Maybe but probably not. With so many guns already out there would enacting new strong restrictions on guns prove effective? Maybe, maybe not? Won’t know without research.

There are stupid arguments for anything. Anti-gun people have plenty of stupid arguments against guns. But anti-gun people aren’t the problem. The problem is this:

Mass shooting = increase in gun sales = Facebook flooded with pro-gun meme’s

Seriously, WTF people? A madman kills 49 people and your first response is to go buy a bunch of guns and get all uppity about government banning guns? This isn’t even a response to a politician making a policy suggestion. This happens immediately. People die, pro-gun people defend guns. What the hell is wrong with you?

How many people have to die before we accept that this attitude is just disgusting? There are lots of options out there for how to address gun control. But we‘re never going to find a sane solution as long as people keep making these stupid defenses for guns and refuse to honestly talk about it.

Because right now, pro-gun people are only working against themselves. I never cared if other people wanted to own guns until pro-gun people started acting stupid. Walking around a public place with assault rifles on their backs to assert their “rights”. Buying guns as a response to a massacre. Using the same ridiculous arguments.

We get it, you like guns. That’s okay. Toys are fun. But when your toys can kill people maybe they should be a little harder to get.