Curmudgeon's Corner

Gun Control

Posted by Al Campbell on Jan. 17, 2013

U.S., Political, Quality of Life

The President signed 23 Executive Orders yesterday that will create some $500 Million in added spending.  He was surrounded by kids and did his usual good job of creating an emotional backdrop against which we would hear his words.

Is it likely that this will have the desired effect, whatever that is?  If this was designed to find all the illegal weapons with which the vast majority of crimes are committed, it will have no significant effect.  There is a simple fact of life in our day: those who want to commit crimes will find the guns that enable them to do so no matter what Executive Orders are issued and no matter what laws might be passed or rules written as the result.

The Senate Majority Leader has already said he won’t do anything that will not pass the House.  He knew, of course, that nothing of substance is going to pass the House based on earlier surveys; therefore he didn’t need to spend any political capital on the issues.

There will no doubt be nibbling around the edges of the issue.  Federal agencies will do their utmost to find ways to limit, confiscate or significantly control the weapons, or more likely the ammunition those weapons need to be anything but a club with which to strike someone.  Weapons that look like “assault” weapons may be limited through some form of legislation.  There are no ‘machine guns’ being sold in gun stores.  Magazines may be limited in the amount of rounds each can hold, but those who desire will find ways to get around those things.

It seems, to me at least, that there is an inordinate combination of psychotic conditions, often untreated, that are mixed with the use of guns to kill innocents.  I’m not sure if the Executive Order that would clear the way for health care workers to violate the rules of HIPPA by disclosing confidential patient information to government agencies is the way we ought to be proceeding.  That seems a dangerous slippery slope waiting to be misused.

All that having been said, do any of us really think this series of Executive Orders will slow the pace of shooting deaths in the President’s home town of Chicago?  I doubt any serious person would say ‘yes’.  Do we think this will prevent the Sikh temple occurrences caused by someone not in his right mind or blinded by hatred?

These Executive Orders will cause more problems for law abiding citizens than they will ever cause for the people they were intended to affect…unless the intent was actually to begin the process of disarming our citizens.  And they will continue to fuel the sale of handguns and rifles and shotguns…and the ammunition that is needed to make use of those pieces.

Unfortunately, I continue to hear this statement in my mind:  Never let a good crisis go to waste.