Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Tucson Shooting starts another "feel good, do nothing" gun control debate.

While I feel bad for the victims of Jared Loughner's Saturday shooting spree, I deplore it's use as a political weight to hang around the necks of law-abiding gun owners.

Representative Peter King (New York, R) is proposing a law to create a "gun free zone" around certain elected officials. This would have the effect of creating a roving GFZ* of 1000 feet around representatives, senators, and so on. Never mind that this law would NOT have deterred Jared Loughner. Never mind that this law would not have deterred Lee Harvey Oswald, Leon Frank Czolgosz, Charles Guiteau, or John Wilkes Booth.

Why, you ask? Simple, only law-abiding citizens obey laws. Criminals, including the assassins I named above would NOT obey any such law. Hell, it's against the law brandish a firearm in public, in most places, it's also against the law to discharge a firearm inside city limits. Loughner broke at least 2 laws before he killed anyone.

All these laws do is make the left "feel good," like they're doing "something" to fight crime, when in reality all they're doing is helping to disarm the law-abiding, and create more potential victims.

The really disappointing thing for me, this law is put forth by a Republican, and until a day two ago, someone I thought was a conservative. I guess I should have known better, he's just another politician, already campaigning for re-election.


*=Gun Free Zone

 Current Mood: Disappointed in our law makers
 Current Music: Macho Man - The Village People
My Carry Pistol: Ruger Police Service Six .357 Magnum

2 comments:

Broken Andy said...

If you are expecting all Republicans to to protect gun rights, prepare to be disappointed. Gun rights are to Republicans as Gay rights are to Democrats -- a wedge issue wielded about to squeeze the other party.

Big Gay Al said...

Oh, I know that gun rights can and will be tossed out with the bath water. I was just hoping they'd wait until the bath was finished first. :)