Friday, January 18, 2013

Law abiding types have nothing to worry about?


The issue in the cartoon is gun control, so what's that about? If, for now, we leave aside the extrapolations that folks make, especially conservatives and libertarians, gun control refers to government action that is intended to reduce the possibility of the loss of innocent life as the result of the discharge of a firearm and to enhance the ability of law enforcement to determine the identity of an attacker who uses a gun in an assault. There is nothing wrong with this. In fact, if government doesn't do this, it is failing to carry out its only legitimate purpose, which is to protect people's property rights.
No person with sufficient intelligence to hold an opinion worth consideration would suggest that government should have no involvement in the manufacture, distribution, and possession of weaponry. This is true at all levels – national, state, and local.