My Stand on Gun Control by Randy Rowley
ByPeople frequently ask me what my stance is on such and such gun control bill. To make things easier for me and the inquiriers I put my thoughts down on electronic paper.
All gun control is about controlling legal gun owners who have done nothing wrong and who probably never will do anything wrong. Look at the states and cities with the most gun control – Washington D.C., Detroit, Chicago, New York, etc. and you’ll see that it’s safer to walk down the streets in Afghanistan than it is to do so in certain neighborhoods in one of those cities. The more gun control they impose the worst crime becomes. The states and cities that have the least amount of gun control also have the least amount of crime.
In his book More Guns – Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws by John R. Lott, Jr., Mr. Lott statistically proves that locales with more guns and less control have far less crime than those with fewer guns and more control. Criminals are much less likely to target a random victim in a gun-friendly locale because that victim might be armed and prepared to fight back. Countries that have banned common guns (Australia, Canada, Great Britain, etc.) have seen their crime rates soar after banning those guns.
Look at Chicago, probably the most gun-restricted city in the nation. Yet there were 797 gun murders last year. See https://www.nbcchicago.com/
It’s not about tools, whether they be guns, knives, vehicles, airplanes, fertilizer, or Kool-Aid. For most people, it’s about feeling safe and the fear of themselves or their loved ones dying. Unfortunately, that fear often drives them to support taking drastic actions in order to make themselves feel safe. But for some, it’s not about fear at all – it’s about control. These big-government types never encountered a problem that the government can’t fix. Why have guns for self-defense, when the police are just a phone call away? Laredo should have answered that question. These people support asinine gun control bills – those that attempt to make it such a hassle to do anything with a gun that we’ll just throw up our hands and voluntarily surrender them to the authorities out of fear that we’ll violate one of these ridiculous provisions and become fined or worse.
Some very bad bills have passed and been enacted. Colorado, for example, passed a bill that would make it where a citizen could be charged with the same crime that another citizen commits who legally purchased a gun from him. So, in Colorado, if I sold a gun to you and you go rob a bank both you and I would be charged with robbing the bank. This is the stupidest thing that I have ever heard and I’ve heard a lot of stupid things. Imagine if they expand that to include cars, knives, baseball bats, hammers, or any other thing – I sell you a car and you run a red light so we’re both ticketed! Fortunately, the Colorado law was struck down.
When our founders drafted the Bill of Rights the average citizen owned the exact same weapons as soldiers in the army did. There were no restrictions on ownership and that right was not to be violated. Period. Here are some quotes from them on what they consider it to be about:
“A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined…” George Washington, First Annual Address, to both House of Congress, January 8, 1790.
“No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.” Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Constitution, Draft 1, 1776.
“The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They 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 to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.” Thomas Jefferson, Commonplace Book (quoting 18th-century criminologist Cesare Beccaria), 1774-1776.
“The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.” Samuel Adams, Massachusetts Ratifying Convention, 1788.
In Switzerland, every able-bodied man must serve in the military for a minimum of 300 days. When they are discharged they get to keep their assault rifle and are expected to retain it, maintain it, and use it in defense of their country, if the need arises. Therefore, no one, including the Nazis messed or messes with Switzerland. And the following quote is often attributed to Admiral Yamamoto of the Japanese Navy during WW II and the mastermind of the Pearl Harbor attack, as he knew that many U.S. citizens owned guns, “You cannot invade the mainland United States – there would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.”
My answers to atrocities like Sandy Hook (besides criminals establishing a personal relationship with Jesus) include:
- Make the punishment for crimes swift, sure, and severe. And I’m not just talking about gun crimes – drunk drivers, for example, should be charged with attempted murder (I see no difference between a drunk who endangers a random bunch of people with a 3,000 lb. steel machine and a drunk who empties a magazine from his AR randomly in his neighborhood). Sure, we would have to build more prisons, but it will give the existing prisoners something to do. Eventually, people would stop drinking and driving, or committing other crimes, as the crime wouldn’t be worth the penalty if one were caught.
- Reopen the mental asylums that were closed in the 70s. A whole lot of people, including a lot of people who are homeless need to be court committed to them. This will require a lot of funding. The closing of mental asylums led to our mental health crisis. Many mass murderers have/had an untreated mental illness. See https://www.npr.org/2017/11/
30/567477160/how-the-loss-of- u-s-psychiatric-hospitals-led- to-a-mental-health-crisis. - Reinstitute corporal punishment, the pledge, and prayer in public schools. Mass shootings rarely happened when those were the norms. A lack of discipline led to a culture of disrespect, including violence. Ask any teacher in public school and see https://nypost.com/2017/12/23/
obamas-lax-discipline- policies-made-schools- dangerous/. Saying the pledge has been shown for decades to instill a sense of patriotism. Not saying the pledge demonstrates rebellion and disrespect. See http://www.teach-nology.com/tutorials/teaching/thepledge. html. There is a correlation between the banning of Bible reading and prayer and the decline of public schools. See -
Make divorce more difficult to achieve if there are minors in the home. Most mass murderers came from broken homes with no father in the picture, Broken homes frequently lead to troubled children and adults. See
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Eliminate gun-free zones. 94% of mass shootings occur in gun-free zones. See
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We need to have an environment like Israel’s with several people visibly carrying guns. By and large, mass murderers are cowards who would not carry out their plans for fear of death if they saw lots of people carrying guns. Although some are seeking death. If so, solution #2 will eliminate them from society, hopefully. Israel has had few mass shootings due to the routine presence of armed soldiers and police and armed guards in its schools. See
