Resist the Urge to "Do Something"

Laws passed in the wake of tragedy often make things worse

We all know the basic story of the tragedy in Texas last week. A disturbed young man entered an elementary school and murdered nineteen children before being shot by a Border Patrol officer responding to the call. I am still waiting to learn the full story of how local police responded, or neglected to respond, to the incident, but it does not sound good so far.

Whenever awful tragedies like this occur, we all feel an urge to do something. We want to fix what is broken in our society, make sure that no more innocent people are killed. Leftist gun-grabbers always exploit high profile shootings to demand that we take steps toward banning firearms. Conservatives, not wanting to be portrayed as heartless, often indicate their willingness to compromise with the left, agreeing to support common sense measures.

In the wake of 9/11, when Americans were still in shock over the horrific terrorist attacks, our government passed the USA Patriot Act. Much of the Act had been written prior to 9/11, but the emotional state of our country provided the perfect environment to push it through Congress with bipartisan support. While some provisions of the Act were reasonable reforms to address the intelligence failures that led to the attacks, it also included many pernicious violations of our civil rights, all in the name of stopping terrorism. Anyone who said so at the time was drowned out by a chorus of angry and fearful Americans who demanded our government do something.

The blood was not even dry last week before Democrats were calling for new bans. Perennial loser Beto O’Rourke interrupted Governor Greg Abbott’s press conference to demand lawmakers do something. Joe Biden (allegedly the president) mumbled something about restricting high caliber nine millimeter rounds. Justin Trudeau, the prime minister dictator Premier of Communist Canada, announced a new ban on privately-owned handguns.

Rather than holding the line, Republican leadership immediately surrendered the moral high ground. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senator John Cornyn of Texas announced that they were ready to work toward a bipartisan solution.

With friends like these, who needs enemies?

Source: Facebook

A better friend is outgoing state senator Christy Zito, now working with the Idaho Second Amendment Alliance, who wrote a great editorial for the Idaho Dispatch last week. Unlike the National Rifle Association, which despite being a left wing bogeyman often disappoints pro-gun conservatives with their eagerness to give ground, the ISAA refuses to compromise our rights. The organization says this about itself:

The Idaho Second Amendment Alliance is Idaho’s No-Compromise gun rights organization. We do not believe in trading one right in exchange for others to achieve partial liberty. We fight very hard for 100% firearms freedom for individuals in the great state of Idaho.

Ms. Zito’s editorial reflects this philosophy. No matter what we learn about the actions of local police that day, the primary responsibility for protecting yourself and your family lies with you. Our founders understood that human beings have a natural God-given right to self-defense so they codified that right in the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution. Contrary to leftist claims that guns are only for hunting or sport shooting, the purpose of the 2nd Amendment has always been the defense of life, liberty, and property from murderous criminals and tyrannical governments alike. Zito writes:

When the call for bans on “assault-type guns,” stricter background checks, limiting magazine capacity, or any of the many violations of our freedom begins; we must stand firm; we can’t compromise. A car, baseball bat, knife, pen, or can of Drano in the hands of someone who has decided to end human life is a deadly weapon. The effort to do away with the Second Amendment will not help; gun control laws have never made a difference.

I applaud Ms. Zito and the Idaho Second Amendment Alliance for resisting the urge to compromise in the face of tragedy; to indulge in the emotional desire to do something. We cannot let the actions of depraved murderers delude us into permanently surrendering our natural right to self defense. It was not the gun that chose to kill those nineteen innocent children in Texas, but an evil human being. If a teacher had been carrying, or an armed guard been posted in the school, things might have been different. The solution to the problem of evil is not to disarm those who are good. There is no law that will turn evil people into moral law-abiding citizens, and gun control legislation only removes our ability to defend ourselves from those evil people.

Three years ago I recorded a podcast extolling the virtue of firearms. Everything I said then remains true today:

Human nature is red in tooth and claw, while the gun is civilization. Guns did not put evil into the hearts of the leaders of Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan, but it was American guns that stopped them. Yes, guns are made to kill people, but that is neither good nor evil. Killing in defense of your own life or the lives of your family is not evil, nor is killing the enemy in a just war. The gun is simply a tool to carry out the will of the hand that wields it. It is that hand, attached to a person with a mind, a conscience, and moral agency, that determines if it is to be used for good or for evil. It is not the gun that killed innocent people in El Paso or Dayton that was evil, but the young men who decided to use those guns to commit murder. On the other hand, the gun used by a man in defense of his family, an event that happens nearly every day, is not morally good, but is rather a tool in the hands of a moral man. It is for this reason that the gun has traditionally been a symbol of the inalienable rights of all men and women.

There can be no compromise of our God-given rights, so stand fast.