By C. Roberts
A May 2022 The Hill article entitled Here Is A List of 27 School Shootings That Have Taken Place This Year underscores the fear many have regarding gun ownership. But why is protecting one’s person, family, property, etc. in the face of evil threatening and not prudent? After all, isn’t peace most ensured when strength is most projected — or, as Reagan put it, “peace [comes] through strength”? In other words, doesn’t common sense inform us that criminals exploit vulnerability?
The arguments for gun control are familiar to most. The anti-gun stance is that no guns means no mass shootings at schools less violent crime generally. In support of this position, the figure of fewer deaths by guns in nations where guns have been banned is often cited, while violent deaths by other means are typically ignored. Alternatively, the pro-gun position draws attention to 1) declining violent crimes in America for nearly three decades (Antifa/BLM riots, state D.A. criminal leniency, federal prison purges, etc. are altering this trend); 2) armed citizens for criminal deterrence; and 3) on-the-scene armed citizens preventing crime and apprehending criminals before police arrive. Think of the recent Indiana mall “good Samaritan.” In this article, we’ll explore the anti-gun side.
To underscore the U.S.’s unhealthy obsession with violence, anti-gun activists are aghast to learn that more guns exist in America (400M) than Americans (330M) — as if large numbers of inanimate objects somehow animate them. It would be akin to shuddering over the number of chainsaws in hardware stores for fear that one might somehow self-start and kill someone. What anti-gun activists don’t shout from their rooftops is that as the number of modern sporting rifles (MSRs) sold in America has increased over the past quarter-century — to include high-capacity-magazine, automatic high-powered rifles, etc., which they argue pose the greatest threat — the number of violent crimes has declined.
