The senseless slaughter of twelve human beings and the wounding of fifty eight in Aurora, Colorado is a stunning tragedy. It is unimaginable what the victims endured when lunatic James Eagan Holmes entered Century 16 movie theater and unchallenged, opened fire on the defenseless.
Within hours of the event the usual suspects mounted their soapboxes with predictable baying about gun control offering it as the panacea for gun violence. New York’s Mayor Bloomberg, always an advocate for banning everything he doesn’t like, pushed again his anti-gun agenda.
The Big Apple’s tiny mayor said, “. . . .there are so many murders with guns every day. It’s just got to stop”. No argument here but – almost 100 people die in car crashes each day in the United States. Bloomberg, not surprisingly, isn’t calling for tougher driving restrictions.
Not wanting to be left out of the debate, The Washington Post determined, “There is no rational basis for allowing ordinary Americans to purchase assault rifles. They’re not necessary for hunting, and they’re not needed for self defense.” Thank you Washington Post for determining what ordinary Americans need.
Over at The New York Times, Gail Collins compared gun-control advocates to suffragettes while CNN talk host Piers Morgan tweeted that “America has got to do something about its gun laws. Now is the time.”
Where is the National Rifle Association in this time of tragedy? They are respectfully staying quiet other than to offer prayers for the victims, their families and the Aurora community. Further comment will be withheld until after all facts are known. The NRA is a class act.
We know where the left stands on gun control but where does America stand? Support for increased legislation has been steadily declining for many years. Gallup figures show support in 1990 was quite high at 78 percent. By 1995 those numbers fell to 62 percent, by 2007 it was down to 51 percent. Just 44 percent of Americans wanted stricter guns laws in 2011.
The constant calls for more restrictions on gun availability and ownership miss the mark. Guns don’t execute plans to execute people.
Canada has very restrictive gun legislation but shootings in Toronto show the futility of passing tougher laws. More than 200 firearm incidents have been recorded this year.
Unbelievably, one of the Aurora dead, narrowly escaped gun violence about six weeks ago in Toronto’s Eaton Center, a huge downtown shopping complex. Jessica Ghawi, 22, was close by but uninjured when bullets killed two in that gunplay. Jessica was not so blessed Thursday night.
Britain is a shining example of the failure of outlawing guns altogether. In 1997 the British government passed some of the toughest firearm restrictions in the free world. The results are less than stellar.
Public record shows by 2001 violent crime more than doubled. Chances of being mugged in London rose to six times those in New York and 53 percent of burglaries occurred while occupants were at home, compared with 13 percent in the U.S., where burglars fear armed homeowners. Gun crime in London is so bad that law enforcement struggles to keep up.
More stringent firearm legislation is not the answer. Guns, in the hands of sane, licensed citizens should not be discouraged. Had a theater patron or employee been armed when James Holmes began to unleash his evil there would have been at least a chance to reduce the carnage and suffering.
Absent that defender, the demon not the gun, was free to kill and maim.
Kaye Richard - When I Write I'm Right 
AMAZING perspective on everything you choose to write about.
ALWAYS look forward to your articles!!!!!
Thank you Ann. I appreciate your support. Very happy you share my positions. Let me know when you disagree. We’ll get a good dialogue going.
. . . . A gun owner is responsible for securing his or her weapon. To me, that means when you’re around it’s under your control and when you’re not around it’s locked up where nobody can get it. . . . . . .Unfortunately, I have to agree that in gun control parlance, “securely stored” probably means “always locked up where nobody can get it, including the owner.”I’m also wondering how many firearms used in crimes are actually burglarized from private homes, stolen from cars, or (the liberals’ favorite scenario) taken from their “overpowered” owners during self-defense situations. Anybody have statistics?
I’m sorry but again, I fail to see the logic in your words. Personally I think all guns should be turned in. In the hands of the wrong person at a wrong moment, they create devastation. I feel safer with gun control here in Canada. The trick is making sure the person is sane. But in certain situations, even the sanest of us, might be provoked to a misdeed, given access to a gun, only to profoundly regret our actions later. The gun issue, is more about trying to feel safe with the ability to kill someone else before they kill you. I don’t see how that accomplishes anything. It’s really only an eye for an eye. You said the NRA being quiet about this issue is a class act. They usually are when these things happen, but not for the reasons you imagine. It’s not a class act to continue to allow free gun use everywhere. If more had been armed in the theatre, more would have been killed. That’s a fact. What with all the panic going on.
It’s people with guns that kill people. Take away the guns, people will still have safety issues, but you take away the means to an impulsive, regretted act.
As for you stat for Toronto, there were 200 incidents with guns in Toronto, Death or injury total was 114 not 200 as you reported. As per Toronto Police Board stats.
In this day and age, we don’t need guns. It is in the United States constitution the right to bear arms. That is why everyone fights so hard to keep the gun. But, really why?? That is the real question!! Is was the 1700’s when the constitution was created.
I know you’ll disagree with me, and perhaps not see my point in all this, but for what it’s worth, I defend your right to voice your opinion. Even if I disagree with it. I hope you will also respect my right to my opinion as well.
Removing guns treats the symptom not the problem. The problem is not guns. It is society and that’s all of us.
Today, we make up our morality to suit individual situations. We each impact society in that regard. No longer are there moral absolutes. Everything is acceptable, nothing is wrong.
The family as we knew it is gone. We no longer value the role traditionally played by the male. It used to take a man to raise a boy. Now that boy frequently has a single mother who is over worked and not home enough when needed. We are chastized if we dare to question the wisdom of Heather having two mommies. Too many times the important male role model is absent from the home.
The kid’s role models (sports and entertainment stars for example) have no moral plumb line. It is a do whatever you want attitude in which our children are being raised. Is it any wonder they’re angry, anti-social, drugged out and willing to express their frustrations through violence? Take away the gun, turn to the knife. Do we then ban steak knives or baseball bats or whatever the next weapon of choice becomes?
Banning guns allows us to feel good about ourselves even though we did nothing of substance. Ignoring the issues that create the violence is what we do. Facing up to the impact our moral choices have on others means having to accept responsibility and who is willing to do that? How many of us will evaluate our lifestyles and question whether we may be contributing to the problem?
The gun is an inanimate object. It can’t do a damn thing until a human being picks it up and handles it hopefully in a sane legal manner. Tougher restrictions only impact legal gun owners who already obey the laws. The criminal just laughs at gun bans. They’ll still get theirs and then come looking to rob you because they know you’re not armed.
I don’t want anti gun proponents determining what I do not need. It is my business what my family needs for protection, when we need it and how much of it we need. Frankly, more guns may bring about less gun violence. I recall a bouncer I knew sharing that things were “quiet recently” at the nightclub where he worked . “Why”, I asked. “Because”, said my bouncer friend, “You never know who’s packing heat.”
To understand guns visit a shooting club. Talk to gun owners. Take a course. Who knows? You may even decide to take on responsibility for your own protection thus avoiding potential victim status.
Ban guns? Wrong move at a time when, unfortunately, more troubled individuals will make tragic decisions. We can’t effectively change society by banning everything. We change society by how we choose to live and influence others. Beyond that – prepare to defend that which is yours. Bad times are coming and platitudes on the evil of guns won’t protect you.