A Gun Control Thought Exercise

​A Gun Control Thought Exercise

I want to take you through the process of finding out what happens when gun control measures are passed and what those consequences are. We have to start with an understanding of human nature and what that means to the gun control argument.

To start off, human nature is generally self serving in that everyone will always look out for number one: themselves. If you don’t believe it, then you are not really paying attention and/or delusional. Yes, there are many people that willingly sacrifice themselves for others, but that is due to learning to looking beyond themselves, whether it’s through religion, philosophy, or any number of self-enlightening lifestyles. I would submit that selflessness is the exception, not the rule. If you look at what is happening around the world, you would have to agree with that. 

Then, we need to understand that there will always be a part of any society (anywhere from 1-3%) that will not follow the established laws no matter what. Whether it’s just stealing things they know they can, without getting caught, to drugs, to murder. Those people are NOT going to listen to anyone or follow your laws. So, we need to understand that those people will always be there. They are in every community and city. Some of them do not value life, and if you (or anyone else) stand in their way to something they want, they will go through you to get it, without a second thought. The weapon they use is only a matter of convenience. If you can’t understand that there are people like that in the world and in your community, then just stop reading now, and go back to sticking your head in the sand. The quicker you understand that there are people like that around, will help you see the reality of this exercise.

Now we need to look at the most “logical” gun control measures and walk through our thought exercise to see what the outcome will be. As long as you understand human nature, and the predators in society, there will be very little variation in what will happen. First, we will start off with the ban on all “assault weapons.” Since the term “assault weapon” is a term that was made up by people that don’t know what they are talking about, I will help out. It more or less defines rifles that are semi-automatic, are fed from a magazine, have a pistol grip, and maybe a few other innocuous features. Oh, and it looks scary! Assault is defined as a physical attack, which an inanimate object is unable to do. But, to continue, it looks like the rifle that the military uses, but it is not. We will not get into any more details about what they are.

So, we start this thought exercise by banning all assault weapons. OK, it was passed and signed by the President today. Now what? Well, it is estimated that there are at least 3.5 million “assault type rifles” in the U.S. There is no way to know for sure with current information available. Out of those 3.5 million rifles, how many people will turn them in? 5%? 10% 50% Let’s say for this exercise that 25% of people turn them in. Many who own those types of rifles are generally not willing to give them up, so that is, I believe, a rather high estimate, but we will go with it. That leaves about 2.6 million guns out there. How will we collect them? Well, we will have to get the police and the government to go find them and round them up. Right? There is no other way to get them. So how many gun owners will fight to keep them? Good, you say? We don’t want those type of people, so if they die, that’s a good thing. OK, well, let’s estimate that the government killed a third of all those gun owners. That is about 875,000 people killed. Still happy about killing people? You really shouldn’t be, but let’s continue.

Now that you have confiscated all those terrible, evil weapons, let’s sit back and watch gun violence disappear. Wait! Nothing is happening! That’s because rifles only account for a small percentage of homicides. According to the FBI, in 2016 all rifles, not just “assault weapons” accounted for 374 homicides. For that same year, hands, feet and fists accounted for 656 homicides. That is almost double the amount of deaths from evil rifles. In our thought exercise now, we may or may not notice a small uptick in violent crimes committed by criminals now that they are the only ones that can have semi-auto rifles. It isn’t much though to be sure. So, what do we do now? 

Well, the largest number of homicides are committed with handguns, so we need to ban those. Right? How else do you stop all those murders? OK, now, all handguns are banned! The bill was just signed into law. Yay! Now we can sit back and watch the gun violence crime rate drop! Wait! We first have to confiscate all those weapons from everyone. There is no accurate number known of handguns in the U.S. It is estimated that there are over 393 million guns in the U.S. That is more than one per every person. According to the Washington Post there are about 50 million households that own guns.Let’s assume that they all have a handgun. So how do we confiscate them? Well, some will voluntarily turn them in. Lets say about 50% of them turn them in voluntarily. That leaves 25 million people that don’t. Using the same statistics from above, let’s say that the government has to forcefully remove those weapons and one third of them are killed. That’s about 8.3 million people. Still happy about killing those people? You shouldn’t be. You can now be considered among the elite of the world’s mass murderers. Over 9 million people killed (or even imprisoned) for owning a gun. It’s OK you say. We don’t want those types of people around killing others with their guns. OK, well let’s sit back and watch the gun crime drop like a rock now that those evil guns are gone. Wait! What’s going on? Nothing is changing. There are still a lot of gun deaths! That isn’t supposed to happen! There is even a rise in violent crime now that the law abiding citizens can’t defend themselves. Now criminals can freely kill and maim knowing that no one will stop them. Now the separated wife is easily killed by her estranged husband. Now the ex-girlfriend is easily raped and killed by her ex-boyfriend, because she has no way of defending herself. The female jogger can never go for a run, because she can be attacked with impunity. Criminals can walk into any store, and rob, kill and main whoever they want. Who is going to stop the criminal? The average police response time for major cities for serious crimes is anywhere from about 3.5 minutes to about 13 minutes. A lot can happen in that amount of time.

Now that we’ve chosen to remove firearms people are defenseless against attacks. Home invasions increase, as do robberies and carjackings, etc. What is going on? We’ve forgotten about human nature! If you think that removing firearms will stop crime, then you are quite delusional. There will always be murderers and rapists. Always! Removing guns from the law abiding do not make the criminals rethink their ways. It only serves to make things worse. A quote from Cesare Beccaria in 1764 says “Laws that forbid the carrying of arms ... disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed one.” Again, we need to understand that human nature dictates that some will always break the law. Always!

Now that we’ve gone through this thought exercise, what are the results? Well, crime is up. Yes, there are fewer gun homicides, but there are actually more homicides committed. There is more violent crime because the criminal will not turn in his gun. Do you think that someone who is willing to murder another would not do it just because there is a lesser law to turn in his gun? If you think yes, then you are delusional. He can kill with his fists, a bat, a golf club, a knife, a rock. Do we ban those also? England’s leaders and doctors are asking for a ban on knives over 3 inches without “good reason.” Really? How are people so blind to human nature? People will find a way to murder someone no matter the laws. So, now we are worse off than before.

Congratulations! Some of you didn’t realize that you just created a police state where only the police and government own the guns. Now, freedom of speech is subjected to the whims of the elite. Now, the government can take whatever it wants from you. Now, the government can do whatever it wants because the government by the people, for the people, is gone. But, pay no attention to all of that. Just continue to watch your TV shows, and eat your junk food. Everything is fine. If you are happy with the outcome, then you are really part of the problem. Gun owners aren’t the problem. Those that are happy to take freedoms away from others is where the root of the problem is at. Gun owners are the ones who are willing to protect their families and others from the criminals, and mass murders. Which side are you on? With freedom, there are risks; but without freedom there is only despair, and a government boot stomping you in the face. Which will you choose?

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