George Washington University professor Amitai Etzoni brought some much-needed sense to the gun control conversation with a recent op-ed over at the Huffington Post.
In response to the almost daily mass shootings in the United States — which could be expected to rise now that they are also promoted by ISIS — good progressive persons are calling for some measure of gun control. They may well know, in their heart of hearts, that even if these measures are enacted, they will do little to reduce gun violence.
Finally, a “good progressive person” who realizes that all of these so-called gun control measures mean nothing. That they will only succeed in making it harder for the average law-abiding American to get a gun. These measures may make it harder for gun dealers to stay in business, and they may make it harder for us to protect our families, but they won’t do a thing to stop mass shootings.
Oh wait, he’s not telling progressives to give up the fight. He’s telling them that they need to quit playing around and go straight for the jugular.
Advocates of gun control frequently cite the much lower levels of gun violence in other developed nations — such as Canada and the UK — in support of the measures they promote. However, these very low levels of gun violence have not been achieved by gun control but — by domestic disarmament.
They haven’t been achieved by either. They were never there to begin with, so it’s ridiculous to assume that gun laws have anything to do with it. There are pertinent differences between our country and those other ones, and any liberal is being disingenuous if they don’t acknowledge those differences.
Nonetheless, that’s what Etzoni wants: total domestic disarmament. He calls for a ban on ammunition, laws that would hold gun manufacturers liable for violence, and a Supreme Court loaded with justices who will read the Second Amendment the way he likes it.
We have to be careful here, because many gun defenders accidentally make it easier for people like Etzoni to get a foothold in the national consciousness. We’re so eager to show why this or that gun control measure wouldn’t work that we leave the door open for insane proposals like “total domestic disarmament.” We can hope that this country would never go for such an extraordinary thing, but you never know. Stranger things have happened when the populace is afraid.
We need to make the majority of Americans understand that gun violence is dropping. The media makes it seem like things are getting worse by the day, but in truth we haven’t had streets this safe since the 1990s. When more people realize that a lot of this is just media-driven hysteria, they won’t be as susceptible to the freedom-killing arguments of the extreme left.
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