Stop Politicizing the Massacres

During his recent Newton speech, the President promised to "use all the power of his office"--and then some, I'll wager--to "protect our children." A lofty goal, but why are his words not reassuring, but, rather, cause for genuine concern?

With Rahm Emanuel's "never let a crisis go to waste" in mind, my justifiable concern is that Progressives don't merely seek "gun control"; they seek "people control", which is precisely why their gun control arguments are so often mystifying, twisted, disingenuous, illogical, grossly ineffective, and dangerously farcical.

Without trampling the Constitution, there are eminently practical solutions to better safeguarding our children which do not involve disarming law-abiding citizens. For example, schools are currently “gun-free zones”, an inane invention of the Left, which essentially renders schools "free fire zones" for armed evildoers.  Like in Israeli border areas, one or two armed and trained staffers in each school would dramatically reduce or virtually eliminate the slaughter of innocents. Deterrence with the threat of deadly counterforce works!

If we follow what passes for liberal "logic", to reduce the preventable slaughter in our country across the board, then trains, airplanes, motor vehicles, knives, playgrounds, bows and arrows, stones, cribs and tire irons, among other lethal objects, should also be dramatically curtailed or altogether outlawed. Oh. And let's not forget doctors whose malpractice is responsible for nine times more deaths than gun homicides! Duh.

In any case, let’s insist that an honest, bipartisan, professional, objective and sober cause-and-effect appraisal follows this horrible Newtown tragedy--not more ideologically-motivated palaver which serves only to enhance government control and precious little else.

"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms . . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes . . . Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."
--Thomas Jefferson, quoting Cesare Beccaria in On Crimes and Punishment (1764).