Monday Matters #7

http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2011/01/steve-chapman-gun-control-still-wont-work

Steve Chapman presents a few facts that have been ignored by most other gun control columnists, such as the plan to ban all magazines holding more than ten rounds, with the rationale that a shooter can be stopped if he has to reload sooner. However, shooters can work around that law by buying old magazines, buything them illegally, or just stocking up on several weapons instead of one. Another attempt at gun control was the proposal to make it illegal to carry a firearm near a government representative, but Chapman dismisses that as completely foolish since people may be within such 'range' and have no harmful intentions.
The clear problem, he states, is that people considered to be unofficially mentally ill or show strange behavior around others are still allowed to buy guns simply because such information doesn't show up on their background check. The one truly useful 'gun control' action would be for responsible relatives of the person or for people who work with him or her to report such activity and recommend them to get a check-up so that such information can appear on their record.
After noting some of the popular facts, such as that gun control laws only raise the amount of criminal activity and violent crime rates, he ends with a statement that sharply denounces the opposition: that they "are in no mood to learn."

This picture, made by someone who is clearly pro-gun control actually presents one of the less common points used by people from his or her side. Most of the time, their chief argument is that gun control helps prevent crime by taking guns away from criminals, but this cartoon depicts how government is involved as well, and that if people can possess guns as they please, not only will the crime rate increase but there will be anarchy as well. It also denounces the gun control opponents as those who prefer anarchy and crime to order and government--displaying the man frowning equally at taxes, government, and regulations--associating them with Somalians, a group US has been having a lot of trouble with in the past years. The one flaw that exists is that this strictly denounces the other side in order to promote their own cause instead of trying to get some opponents of gun control to switch to the pro side.

Monday Matters #5

http://oldfraser.lexi.net/publications/critical_issues/1995/gun/

The bottom line is that gun control is not crime control. There have been no evident links established around the world, Canada, or the US specifically that state that banning firearms or making laws regarding them stricter actually makes the crime and suicide rates go down. In fact, such laws only apply to the law-abiding, and criminals for the most part use illegally smuggled firearms to begin with, making these laws hurt only the lawful owners of firearms that use them for self defense. Also, laws that make more and more firearms illegal to own and make people subject to search and confiscation infringe upon people's rights and privacy, which would make more and more people simply disobey the law and not register the weapons they own that are made illegal. The best course of action to take is to educate people about firearms and using them, not impose stricter punishments, which will not help the situation and will not save lives.

Monday Matters #4

http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0210e.asp
"Can Gun Control Reduce Crime?", Benedict D. LaRosa, Oct 2002

Many gun control advocates still use the various shootings in schools or armed assaults across the nation as evidence to support the theory that stricter gun control laws will actually prevent crime involving firearms and lower murder rates in the country. However, they seem to be forgetting that criminals engage in enough illegal activities already, so they won't be stopped from obtaining guns by this law--the only people that will be stopped are the law-abiding citizens that user firearms as defense against attackers, rapists, and so on. There are several statistics showing that states that had enforced gun control laws had since seens their violent crime and murder rates rise by a notable factor, while states that have almost no gun control laws have some of the lowest murder rates in the US. More often than not do people use guns to stop a criminal than with criminal intent, and it is those people that will have their self-defense weapons taken away, not the criminals, with stricter gun control laws.