Danger? Call Sarah
By Michael R. Bowen (05/06/03)
Pending in the House is Representative John Hostettler's H.R. 990, a proposal to make concealed weapon permits reciprocal among all states which issue them. A permit holder in New Hampshire could, under the proposed law, also carry his pistol in Florida, Georgia, or Maine. Of course, the predictable cast of characters will mobilize against this.
The so-called Violence Policy Center will declare that the law would export gun violence from one state to another. The Brady Campaign will warn that there are already too many handguns on the streets without increasing their mobility. Hillary Clinton, Charles Schumer, and Dianne Feinstein will suffer a collective and very public case of the vapors.
I was going to point out that there isn't any gun violence to export, because concealed weapon permit holders having a vanishingly low frequency of gun crime. But then I remembered that criminal use of guns isn't what Brady is about. All their efforts are directed not at criminals, but at those who obey the law: manufacturers selling a legal product under strict regulation, and private citizens who are not criminals but who wish to be armed. That's why, as someone noted recently, the only civilians allowed—I use "allowed" advisedly—to carry arms in Washington, D.C. are the criminals.
I was going to note that all permit holders have applied to local law enforcement, undergone a background check, gotten training in safe gun handling, and undergone an examination—the last things a crook would do. But I remembered that the only people Sarah Brady thinks are fit to be trusted with arms are those wearing a badge or battle dress. Except that when policemen and soldiers aren't needed by the Left as paragons of responsible gun ownership, they are treated just like other gun owners: every cop is a brutal race-profiler, and every soldier is a My Lai waiting to happen.
Then I was going to say that the police can't be everywhere. I forgot that when they are everywhere, the Left calls them Brownshirts. Lined up along the route of an anti-globalization march, they are Jack Booted Thugs. Frowning at flag-burners is the same as Kristallnacht. But when the Feds roast alive the children of a kooky Christian sect, they are dispassionate enforcers of noble laws.
Well, then, there's always the American virtue of self-reliance. But I forgot that a culture of responsibility for one's actions would spell bankruptcy for trial lawyers, and hence the de-funding of the Democratic Party.
So I guess it's all a delusion. Even though the woman knows which man is trying to rape her, even though you know it's not your son coming home late, because he doesn't generally smash the kitchen window to get in, even though you know exactly who is pointing the knife at you and demanding your cash, a police officer arriving 10 minutes later (and knowing neither of you) will know exactly who to shoot, whom to protect, and who is likely to shoot at him.
Yep, I can see their point now. Police can be trusted, except when they are the usual trigger-happy racists. Soldiers can be trusted, except that they'll automatically shoot and rape any civilians they encounter. And civilians can't be trusted, under any circumstances, to defend themselves. So when the front door is kicked in, I guess you just call Sarah Brady.
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