“Guns don’t kill people knives kill people”

Normally I try and avoid wading into a “fact-based” argument in support of gun-rights because the right to keep and bear arms is perhaps the most essential inalienable right because it allows for the protection of liberty, property and life. That cannot be said of any other right. However, I will wade into the anti-gun ideological swamp for today’s post. The argument that gun-control could prevent violent crime, especially mass murder by mentally unstable violent offenders is illogical, not based in science and anyone advocating it is not intellectually honest. Case and point:

A few days ago America woke up to the horrific story a stabbing spree in New York City. The killer managed to murder 4 people in a few short hours while also injuring many others. His weapon of choice was a typical Kitchen knife and a car. AP reported: ‘Maksim Gelman, 23, was armed with a bloodied kitchen knife when he was taken into police custody at about 9 a.m. Saturday after a nightlong manhunt from Brooklyn into Manhattan.’ Gelman murdered his step-father, mother and girlfriend as well as a bystander during his rampage.



This case stunned many. Clearly, Gelman is not in possession of a sound mind yet it is interesting that none of the tired logic used following mass shootings was applied too this case. No one asked: "how did we allow a crazy person to get a knife" or "why weren't his parents forced to keep their knives locked up".

One might say, that this is an anomaly “well most mass murders occur with guns”. While this might be true (not sure about the data on that) a lot of mass stabbings have occurred leading to deaths of upwards of 7 people as occurred in Tokyo in 2008 (picture below) In fact, stabbing deaths are on the rise in nations where firearms are inaccessible, such as the UK, and the numbers of individuals killed is actually quite shocking and on par with most mass-shootings. For instance, in Bristol a man successfully stabbed 10 individuals. In the United States where guns are more accessible than most countries in the developed world stabbings can account for nearly as much violent crime as shootings.

Yet, we rarely hear calls for "banning knives" in the U.S....at least yet.

The example of the United Kingdom's idiotic and misguided crackdown on handguns shows where America would be if Coercivists, Liberals and Statists had their way. Since the UK has banned handguns gun related crime and knife crime have BOTH INCREASED. Today, due to the rise in Knife crime British legislators are actually calling for mandatory arrests on "anyone carrying a knife". Literally, they are proposing jailing anyone caught carrying a "knife". Banning hand guns didn't make them safer and now they are practically calling for banning knives!? Teh Telegraph reported:There has to be a presumption that anyone caught carrying a knife should expect a custodial sentence. There must be real deterrents to carrying and using knives." (Gelman used a Kitchen knife in his New York rampage.)

The fact is banning weapons DOES NOT make us safer at least not if we want to be free.

Furthermore, in true exploitative fashion, the ideological anti-gun contingent in the U.S. has called for banning high-capacity magazines for handguns following the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in another mass murder perpetuated by a deranged individual. For instance, Kelly Obrien, the fiancee of a congressional staffer killed along with five others in the shooting that severely injured U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was put in front of a microphone earlier in the month to call for bans on high-capacity magazines. Obrien said: "Extended magazine clips are currently an easily accessible weapon for troubled individuals to use in mass murder."

I mean no disrespect to this woman who has suffered a horrible loss but the argument that banning high capacity magazines would somehow reduce the ability of crazy individuals to commit pre-meditated mass murder is based on demagoguery, an ignorance about firearms and NOT facts. Despite firing 31 shots Loughner only killed 5 people. The recent rampage in New York killed 4, the tokyo knife rampage killed 7 and on and on. Yet how exactly are high-capacity magazines the catalyst for Laughner's ability to kill 5 people?

Authorities said Jared L. Loughner, who is charged in last month's shootings in Tucson, used a high-capacity magazine to fire 31 shots in 15 seconds from a pistol he purchased legally.

Perhaps even more offensive is the fact that these proposed laws; whether banning people from even carrying knives, as in the UK, or this absurd bill banning high capacity magazines, are presented to the public as being "reasonable" or "common sense" when clearly they are absurd reactionary laws written in wake of tragedy. They achieve no tangible effect short of finding new ways to incarcerate law abiding citizens and allowing criminals who scoff at our laws to have the peace of mind to know that their potential victims are unarmed.

The reality is that we can't legislate away crime. Banning something doesn't make it and the problems associated with it simply disappear. We ban guns, dumb criminals use knives, we ban knives and they use their clubs, we ban clubs and they use rocks and on and on and on. Smart criminals simply use all of the above since they don't care to abide by laws anyway and have the means to acquire illegal weapons.

Finally, I'll end with final fact, something most coercivist statist liberals either ignore or do know know.

In December 2004 the National Academy of Sciences released a report following an extensive study of gun control in the United States. The panel had been commissioned by the Clinton Administration, presumably in the hopes that they would uncover how gun control championed by Clinton had reduced violent crime. However, the panel of largely liberal academics were grudgingly forced to conclude that there was no empirical evidence that gun control reduced crime. "Forced" being the operative word since the data was so overwhelmingly against their anti-gun bias that they largely ignored the mountain of empirical evidence that showed that cities where citizens carried concealed weapons legally had lower rates of gun-violence, especially gun violence carried out against citizens (robbery etc. vs. criminal on criminal violence).

In conclusion, guns don't kill people--criminals kill people and good people with guns can defend themselves against criminals.