Criminal Law

Thanks John Stossel, who once again seems to state the obvious:

First, criminals don't obey the law. (That's why we call them "criminals.") Second, no law can repeal the law of supply and demand. If there's money to be made selling something, someone will sell it.

I’m not poking fun at Stossel. Far from it. He sums up the two biggest arguments against gun control in less than 40 words. Since every so often legislatures seem to want to try and repeal the law of supply and demand (like with the gas prices issue), it’s no surprise that they would attempt to do this with guns as well. And as for those criminals who don’t obey the law… If I have the choice of facing an armed criminal with a gun in my hand, or without a gun in my hand; I’d rather have the gun. Viscerally, it makes me feel better – and the statistics show that you’re safer fighting the attacker than following along.

Stossel closes with this:

"The prospect of tyranny may not grab the headlines the way vivid stories of gun crime routinely do," Judge Kozinski noted. "But few saw the Third Reich coming until it was too late. The Second Amendment is a doomsday provision, one designed for those exceptionally rare circumstances where all other rights have failed -- where the government refuses to stand for reelection and silences those who protest; where courts have lost the courage to oppose, or can find no one to enforce their decrees. However improbable these contingencies may seem today, facing them unprepared is a mistake a free people get to make only once."

The preparedness issue is one that everybody avoids, yet is the most critical. Even with citizens not currently in armed rebellion against the government, who is to say at what point it will be so? Yielding your rights to this defense against tyranny does not merely yield your rights, but that of your children as well. And perhaps for generations. How many generations has it taken for the racist concealed weapons prohibitions to be repealed? And even now, almost all the states require a “permit” for you to carry a concealed weapon. As such, this right has yet to be reclaimed by the people.

I used to joke about how people would react if there was a 5 day waiting period on computers; since words written on a computer could reach so many people so quickly. After all – the pen is supposed to be mightier than the sword. Now, after the campaign finance debacle – it’s no laughing matter.

The point is that presuming that armed rebellion is currently not necessary, that fact does not translate to say that it will never be necessary. We have the obligation – the duty – to advance the cause of liberty to the next generation. For who knows when they shall need it.