Tuesday, July 19th 2005
3, 2, 1… Guns are Evil!
With every tragedy, there are always those who rush in to make a political point. It’s like clockwork. This week’s shooting death at Berkeley is no different. Becky O’Malley of the Berkeley Daily Planet wishes for stricter gun control in today’s editorial.
Her main point is that “Guns make murder too easy”:
Only guns can kill swiftly, anonymously, at a distance. And here, now, guns are easily purchased, ready to wreak havoc in a single unguarded moment. The impulse which could give rise to a slap or a punch is quickly fatal—no time for reflection, no time to pull back as you could with a knife.
I’m not going to tackle her argument. You guys can debate in the comments if you want. For starters, here’s a debate from Reason that I read a few months ago. But the main reason why I bring this editorial up is because of her concluding paragraph:
When they find the young man who was seen to have fired the shot which killed our Berkeley child at the corner of Dwight and College on Sunday morning—and they will find him—chances are that he also will prove to be someone’s beloved boy, born into high hopes and expectations, brought down because a gun in his hand turned him into a quick and easy killer. Without that gun he might have paused and changed his mind, and Meleia Willis-Starbuck would still be alive. Instead, today Berkeley mourns her.
What we have here is an example of blaming an inanimate object instead of the criminal. There’s that old saying: “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” O’Malley would have a saying more along the lines of: “Guns make people kill people.” That’s basically what she’s saying in her conclusion. What a beloved boy that killer was; he would have gone places if it weren’t for that evil gun… Yeah right. If we really want to cut down on crime, let’s start by focusing on the criminals rather than on an object or social conditions. And let’s not use tragedies to push an agenda… or at least wait a couple of weeks at least.
Raaaarrrr! Guns bad!
I was sleeping last night, and this gun snuck into my room, crawled into my hand, and then I was suddenly overcome with the urge to go shooting people. We have to ban these things before it’s too late!
(To law enforcement: Joke!!!)
Comment by Beetle — 7/19/2005 @ 4:06 pm
I have a few suggestions for the city of Berkley, these
things should move Berkley closer to the utopian Shang grha la that Becky O’Mally so desperately craves :
1) Ban Matches and Bik Lighters !! after all, they cause arson..
2) Ban Booze !! After all, Booze turns good people into alchoholics..
3) Ban Cheesburgers !! After all, They make people fat..
4) Ban Doctors !! After all, they kill 10 times as many people as guns do…
Comment by Skeet — 7/25/2005 @ 12:19 am
I don’t think she’s not saying “guns make people kill people,” obviously that’s not true, but how about “guns allow people to kill people”; all of the examples in Skeet’s comment above shoudln’t be banned becuase they have legitimate purposes: matches light cigarettes, you can drink beer and eat cheeseburgers if you want, but what is the purpose of a gun? i personally don’t see the attraction, but I guess if you get a kick at of shooting a gun at a target range or going hunting, fine, but why do we need guns otherwise? their sole purpose is to kill. if you feel like you need to defend yourself, buy a taser or mace or learn karate or some other non-lethal method. guns don’t cause murders, but they enable it. if a gun weren’t available to the suspect in this case, his anger or thoughtlessness or even bad intentions would have not resulted in a needless death
Comment by kcdem — 7/25/2005 @ 11:20 pm
Tasers and mace have no purpose but to harm. What makes them cool, but guns not? They’re not as effective? That’s actually a minus when it comes to self-defense.
Comment by Beetle — 7/25/2005 @ 11:44 pm
tasers and mace aren’t lethal as guns can be much more often. someone temporarily not in control of themselves couldn’t kill with a taser…
…no guns means no gun deaths, maybe it’s not practical to get rid of guns, but surely some limits, like the assault weapons ban and other restrictions are legimate, right?
Comment by kcdem — 7/26/2005 @ 4:51 pm
I recognize that you can’t generally kill with a taser or mace. Indeed, that’s the primary problem with advocating them as replacements: They just aren’t as effective at eliminating threats. They are, however, intended solely to harm people, which I mentioned since intention was your big deal in your previous post.
“The assault weapons ban” was lame. However, an actual assault weapons ban may be reasonable, but the reason for that is that an assault weapon is generally not going to be more effective than a handgun in defending yourself against your average criminal-type, not that they’re mean and scary.
Comment by Beetle — 7/26/2005 @ 7:32 pm