Cure for America II

I'm a big fan of common-sense solutions for what seem to be really devisive issues. Take, for example, gun control.

Right up front I have to say that I am not a hunter, nor did I grow up with a gun in my house. However, I do consider myself somewhat of a libertarian, and I don't think of guns as evil; I believe they are made to kill, but I also believe they serve a purpose for hunting and home defense. With that in mind, I'm all for the ban on all handguns and automatic weapons.

That might sound like a purely Leftist statement to someone who is a member of the NRA and thinks this country would be better off if everyone carried a firearm, but I think it's just a pragmatic solution to a terrible problem. In this country, people die from shootings every day (and if I weren't so lazy, I'd probably do a google search and get some statistics), and in fact, most small cities have more gun-related deaths in a couple of months than the UK has in a year. It IS a problem, and if the victims were rich white kids instead of poor blacks, then I'm sure there'd be more of an outcry (ok, now I am sounding like a Lefty).

Anyway, if we want to keep weapons for hunting and defense, then there's no need for handguns (which are inaccurate) or automatic weapons (designed to kill many people very quickly). Shotguns and rifles can do just fine for both, since rifles are more accurate, and neither activity requires a gun that must be concealed. Handguns are basically designed to be concealable and shot in very close quarters at fairly close distances - designed, in fact, to be perfect for crime.

In fact, if we take those same qualities to an extreme, we can see why handguns are bad. Imagine if a gunmaker came out with a gun that was about the size of a wallet (very concealable), was very inaccurate after four feet (absolutely NO good for hunting), and was powerful enough to blow a hole through plexiglass. Most people (especially police!) would probably want to ban that gun because it was absolutely perfect for crime - like robbing banks - without serving any other practical purpose. Yet, normal handguns have those very same qualities, just not as powerful. Do we have to wait until the technology improves to the point where that imaginary gun is possible?

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OK, after writing all that I realize that I'm probably not stating my case in the most articulate manner, and I have more points to make about the practical difficulties of banning guns. However, I'm a bit tired and distracted, so I'm going to stop here...