New Times / Letter To The Editor

Why can't you comprehend this about guns?

Joe Erikat

Another issue of New Times, another diatribe against guns. The trouble with gun control legislation is that it only works on the law-abiding, who prefer to keep and bear arms legally. Laws won’t keep guns out of the hands of those who are willing to violate the law, any more than alcohol prohibition kept people from drinking, or today’s idiotic, futile drug war has kept people from using illegal drugs. A black market will always arise to supply the demand for any contraband item. It’s disappointing that so many well-meaning people seem incapable of comprehending this.

A gun control advocate might argue that it doesn’t hurt to pass gun control laws anyway. But it does, because gun control laws have the effect of selectively disarming only the law-abiding, thereby organizing society into two camps: the armed predators and their disarmed, defenseless prey. Let’s not pass laws that, however well-intentioned, only serve to impede the innocent from defending themselves.