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Gun Control, Self-Control
By Scott Harrup | June 27, 2008
The Supreme Court overturned the District of Columbia ban on handguns yesterday, and people from every stripe of Second Amendment persuasion have something to say about the measure. “Advocates for gun rights praised the ruling and said the decision provides them with a clear opening to issue a variety of legal challenges to existing restrictions on the ownership of firearms,” notes Daniel Politi for Slate.com. “But gun-control advocates also said they were at least heartened by the fact that the court didn’t dismiss all restrictions on firearms as unconstitutional.”
My visceral reaction is enthusiastically positive to any measure giving law-abiding citizens greater personal protection, but some cautionary thoughts come to mind as well.
On the visceral side, I think back to an incident from my childhood. A loved one was home alone when an intruder attacked her with a large knife. She defended herself with a .22 and killed the intruder. Without that gun, she probably would be dead instead of merely walking around with a scar across her shoulder. That case was front and center for me years later when I wrote my first research paper in college and chose gun control as my subject.
But there’s the cautionary side as well. You don’t have to look far to find news reports of everyday citizens without a criminal record who injure or kill someone in a fit of rage using a legally purchased firearm. Or of children who find a parent’s gun and harm themselves or a playmate. Or of young people with easy access to weapons who murder classmates at school.
So, while yesterday’s Supreme Court decision makes perfect sense to me, it also raises related questions. What kind of citizens within a society can really be trusted with lethal force? How do you identify such citizens? How do you raise children to become such citizens?
I’d like to know what you think.
Topics: News |
