Control

The tragic slaughter at Virginia Tech University in America this month has prompted calls in Britain and the US (from the usual suspects) for a ban (or at least tighter controls) on firearms.

The UK is of course replete with condescending admonishments for America at this time, particularly galling on the BBC (who else?) website's online "Have Your Say" feature accompanying the story. There are a few comments which take a different tone, of course, but these are few and far between--the website "moderators" do their work well in ensuring that public opinion is portrayed exactly the way they would like it to be, and the only dissenting voices spell and articulate themselves poorly.

"The obvious comment is sadly true - that a country that refuses politically to accept gun control is bound to experience more of such awful and frightening events." - John Knowles, Norwich, United Kingdom

"I hope all those pro-gun Americans will acknowledge that not one of those poor people killed today were protected by their right to bear arms. Self-defence with guns is a myth perpetuated by the gun companies while they make a fortune selling mysery ["Mysery"? Come on, now. -Terranix]." - ChrisR, Reading

"This is why guns should be banned. Can't you see that America?" - Awibble, Hull

"How many more American children will have to pay with their lives to support the sacred cow of the NRA and its anachronistic adherence to the right to bear arms." - Kevin McAuliffe, Hertford

"How many more American families need to be left with just a photograph by their fireplace before the politicians will get started on serious gun-control legislation?" - Lee Sainty, Hull, UK

As always with the caste of quasi-intellectuals the messages are low in sympathy and high in moral superiority. The recent spate of shootings in Britain (where gun laws are truly draconian in their strictness) clearly illustrates that criminals and psychopaths are always going to find a way to get hold of guns (if they think murder is okay they aren't going to be too worried about carrying illegal weapons, are they?), but this seems to have gone over the heads of these individuals. The "tighter gun controls" they constantly prod America to adopt have in the UK seen crimes involving firearms (perpetrated mainly by members of ethnic minorities) increase literally a hundredfold since the beginning of the 20th century, when even children could lawfully own arnd carry guns. The use of handguns (specifically) in crime has risen by around 40% since they were made completely illegal following the Dunblane massacre, while sports like target shooting are almost extinct, the British olympic team actually having to go abroad to practice. I'm seeing to gains for considerable losses, there.

It seems completely obvious that the problem here was not a lack of firearms prohibition but the mentally unstable South Korean expatriate who pulled the triggers on those pistols. Virginia Tech University did, in fact, implement rules forbidding the lawful carry of firearms on campus a very short while before this killing spree, and the result was that students and staff alike were totally defenceless in the face of this murderer. Back in February, Sulejman Talović, a Muslim refugee, also had a crack at going on a shooting spree in Trolley Square Shopping Mall, which was also a "Gun-free Zone", in Utah, but found it brought to a sudden end by a shopper with a concealed carry permit who had chosen to ignore the rules in much the same way the would-be mass murderer had. Legally held guns (Cho's guns lacked serial numbers and thus were never legal anyway) belonging to responsible citizens with a vested interest in protecting themselves, their property and their families frequently foil crimes in America, hard though this might seem to many Brits, who have surrendered the right to even carry pepper spray for their own protection, forced to instead to rely on a police "service" who cannot even be relied on to pursue bicycle thieves for fear of being sued if they fall off and hurt themselves.

Finally, I would like to raise the spectre of Switzerland--gun ownership there is almost compulsory. There's an assault rifle in almost every home. There were very few restrictions on gun carry until the EU managed to twist its arm a few years ago (to what purpose is anyone's guess). Incredibly low levels of crime. Far lower than here in the UK. Far higher sense of personal responsibility and pride in one's nation, though.

How do you reconcile that with your "a country that refuses politically to accept gun control is bound to experience more of such awful and frightening events" dribble, Mr. Knowles? As ever, perhaps the "liberal" agenda is not gun control at all, but just control.