We all know how Facebook works. Any time there’s a significant event, all kinds of memes and posts get generated. Many of them have no factual basis but they sure do garner a great deal of attention. If there is any kind of political or agenda topic that can be attached to the event, that gets blown out of proportion for attention to. One of my “favorites,” and one that spawned an interesting conversation the other night, serves as the genesis of this blog entry.
BE ADVISED: Here are a few things you need to keep in mind as you… IF you decide to read the rest of this blog: First, the meme that started it all compared legislation of abortion to legislation of gun control. The presented belief was that, currently, abortions are more regulated than gun control; specifically, that the female uterus has more laws passed about it than guns do. Second, I’m a pro-gun person. I am a life member of the NRA, an NRA certified law enforcement firearms instructor, a pro-Constitutionalist, and I have little sympathy or time for the intentionally ignorant who leverage anything and everything to promote their own victimized feelings. With that warning statement issued, if you’re still with me, read on.
The meme in question had a picture of a uterus with the words “More Controlled” above it, and below it a picture of a gun with the words “Than This” below it. As I have said before, I find the comparison truly ridiculous. My response was: “Let’s examine this carefully. If this is true then you have to leave your uterus at home or in your car every time you go into a school? Into a federal building? On a plane? Is there, or has there been, a legislated limit on the number of children you can produce? (capacity limits) Did you have to get a background investigation before you were permitted to possess your uterus? Have you been required to have any safety training before you were allowed to take your uterus home?” As I said, I think it’s ridiculous to compare the two to begin with, but if you want to go there, then let’s go there.
The friend who had posted the meme, I’ll refer to her as “Mrs. MW” (Mrs. MidWest), of course has a host of friends who all agree with her anti-gun, pro-choice outlook. They immediately jumped into the conversation and one of the first was a person who wanted to compare the gun-buying experience with the getting-an-abortion experience. It seems that friend felt it was pretty unfair that women going to get an abortion had to (sometimes) walk through lines of people calling them murderers, baby-killers and accusing them of having blood on their hands. That same person seemed upset by the need for parental consent if an underage female wanted an abortion and decried the 48-hour “cooling off” period before an abortion could be gotten. The implied belief was that guns kill far more people than abortions do and that the gun-buying experience SHOULD be far more traumatizing than the getting-an-abortion experience.
For the record, I am PERSONALLY pro-life – and as I explained to Mrs. MW in a follow on conversation, should I ever find myself pregnant, I will not choose to have an abortion. That said, I also consider my personal belief only applicable to me. That’s why it’s personal. I believe every woman in the world should have the right to choose what she does with her body and any fetus she conceives. If she can live with the reality of ending the life she created, that’s her choice; not mine; not anyone else’s. And I will stand in defense of her right to choose. I don’t have to agree with her choice to defend her right to make it.
But let’s look at a couple of the other statements made by her friend. I like the one about “parental consent.” That an underage girl has to have parental consent to get an abortion seems to be a big deal to this individual. Hmmm… did you know that my children, when they were underage (under eighteen), couldn’t buy a gun even WITH my consent? Parental consent for gun purchases isn’t even an option. My children have had their 2nd Amendment right to keep and bear arms legislated away without due process and without cause. I know… I know… a CHILD shouldn’t be allowed to own a gun, right? They have no sense of judgment; they have no life’s experience; they just don’t know enough about life in general to own a tool of such capability… that’s how that argument goes, right?
It might surprise you to know that I agree… kind of. A CHILD doesn’t know enough to be allowed to own and handle a weapon without supervision. Safely and skillfully handling a firearm requires training and experience. So for those people out there that are upset that an underage woman can’t get an abortion without parental consent, I agree with you. It’s horrendous. Instead, let’s legislate making parents supervise their underage children having sex and hold the parents responsible educating their children about it, and for any and all sexual activities that their CHILD (anyone under 18, remember?) commits. Are we all on the same page now? That starts to sound a bit unrealistic, doesn’t it?
Now, about that 48-hour cooling off period that seems such a big deal. Apparently the anti-gunners don’t realize that to buy a handgun there’s a ten day waiting period already. Two days is too much to wait? How about ten? In this case, the anti-gun legislation or gun-control legislation is FIVE TIMES more restrictive than the abortion laws (in some places). Yep, let’s match that. Reduce the federally mandated “cooling off” period to two days for all handgun purchases. If you truly feel that 48 hours is too long to wait, I’m cool with reducing it to zero for a handgun purchase. Oh, and on that same topic, the ten-day waiting period applies to EVERY handgun purchase; not just the first one. I’m a military veteran and a police officer of over 30 years. Various jurisdictions have seen fit to ISSUE me handguns, rifles and shotguns. But if I want to go BUY a handgun, I have to wait ten days to take possession of it. You know, so that I can cool off… because while I’m angry, if I’m going to use a gun to commit a crime, I won’t do it with any of the ones in my possession; I’m going to wait and use that one special one I just bought, right? This is patently ridiculous.
Finally, in my online conversation with friends of Mrs. MW, there seemed to be a general belief that the problem is that there are NO federal gun laws. They seem to feel that we need FEDERAL gun laws with stiff penalties and (this was my favorite) NO DUE PROCESS. They seem to feel that if you’re simply ACCUSED of committing a firearm related crime, you should be imprisoned for decades without a trial. Such is the very reason our Constitution and Bill of Rights was written in the first place: to protect CITIZENS from the prospect of TYRANNY; to insure the liberties we all innately have. And some folks want to willingly do away with their liberties so they can enjoy the illusion that it will reduce violent crime? I shake my head at the stupidity…
THAT comment led into a conversation about civil liberties in general and the protection of our civil rights. As I said to Mrs. MW: I don’t have to agree with your opinion to defend your First Amendment Right to free speech. In fact, I’ll defend your right to speak your mind even if what you’re saying is that I shouldn’t be able to. (It amazes me how anti-gun people seem to miss the irony in that outlook.)
BUT… and here’s the kicker: If the people who are coming to shut you up and deny you the exercise of your First Amendment Rights are coming to do so armed with guns, guess what? Yep. I need a gun to defend you. Mrs. MW made no secret of the fact that she would turn and run and take a bullet in the back before she’d stand her ground and fight for her right to free speech. There’s another whole conversation that can be had about whether or not you deserve your rights if you’re not willing to fight for them, but I’ll leave that alone for now. I know Mrs. MW. I know she likes to think she’s a pacifist and couldn’t do another human being harm. I know she likes to THINK she’d run away no matter what. I promise you, Mrs. MW: If someone presented a threat to one of your children or to your husband, you’d become an uncaged lion willing to tear some criminal bastard’s windpipe out. You’d be in denial the whole time and you’d be ashamed afterward and you might lose some sleep over it. But you’d do it and you’d do it without hesitation.
We all have that which will motivate us to a willingness to do harm in defense of ourselves or others. Those of us who have been in professions where we have to embrace the possibility of violence in defense of ourselves or others have learned not to lose much sleep over it. We’ve learned that the only way to overcome violent evil people is with violent good people. We’ve learned that no matter what tools you legislate and how effectively (or not) the legislation is, evil people will find a way to do good people harm. Timothy McVeigh and the terrorists who hijacked planes on September 11, 2001 are perfect examples. None of them had guns. The only ones who weren’t successful in their goal were those on Flight 93 who found themselves facing GOOD people willing to fight back; GOOD people willing to do acts of violence to defend others and defeat evil.
THAT is what this all boils down to, folks: whether you like guns or not; whether you agree with the Second Amendment or not; whether you consider yourself a pacifist or not... it doesn’t matter. Evil will always find a way to do harm and good will always HAVE to find a way to overcome it. Evil exists in the heart of some men (using that word to encompass all of humankind). Good exists in different quantities in the hearts of others. While the concept of disarming evil is a great concept, that’s all it is: a concept. It’s not possible because you can’t efficiently and quickly identify the evil in someone’s heart. Usually it’s not identified until after the heinous crimes have been committed by them.
What you CAN do is have faith in the good in the hearts of other men and not deny them the most efficient methods of responding to evil. Give up on gun control. It wastes valuable time, energy and resources. It accomplishes NOTHING (as proven by the zero impact of the Clinton “Assault Weapons Ban” of the ‘90s). All across our nation we’ve seen gun laws being reduced or eradicated and all across our country personal crime rates are dropping. In those places with the fewest gun regulations, the personal crime rates are statistically lowest. Don’t take my word for it and think I’m just an NRA pawn. Go look up the FBI Crime Data Statistics for causes of death in America and look at the actual numbers. Look at the number of abortions each year as compared to the number of firearms homicides each year and tell me again how abortion is more regulated than firearms.
If you want to have a conversation with me about gun control, then let’s make the conversation about education, not legislation. Let’s stop vilifying a tool and start focusing on the real problem: the human soul. Stop defending someone based on their religion, gender, sexual preference, etc. Let’s judge people based on their BEHAVIOR and stop worrying about whether or not it’s politically correct to do so. Finally, let’s stop calling for more useless laws and start enforcing all the ones that already exist.
Stay safe…
