Heller Brings out Hysterical Ignorance

Now I am not a big gun advocate. I don't own any, but I currently carry one or two everyday due to my current deployment, and I know how to use them.

However, I do know idiocy on guns when I hear it. And we are hearing plenty of it now in the aftermath of the Heller case concerning gun ownership in D.C.

One such display of ignorance can be found in the Washington Post, courtesy of Colbert King.

King says:

"If D.C. street thugs are pleased by anything, it's probably the fact that five of the justices -- a slim majority, but that's all it takes to win -- have come around to seeing things their way."

and

"The court's ruling doesn't affect the dudes who have been blowing away their fellow citizens for three decades."

Unfortunately Mr. King does not realize that he is actually making the case for Heller with his argument.

Perhaps he has heard the old adage, "If guns are outlawed, only the outlaws will have guns." This has been the reality for DC residents, as King points out, for 3 decades. But not because of gun ownership (since it does not exist), but because of the very gun control that Mr. King would like to see continue. That he is unable to make this logical connection is disturbing.

The bottom line is that people who think like King don't realize that there is a huge difference between gun OWNERS and criminals who POSSESS guns. Gun Control always restricts ownership, but never has any significant effect on the gun violence which is perpetrated by the criminals who are already possessing their guns illegally. More and stricter gun laws usually only ever affect the law abiding, and not the law breakers.

As for Mr. King's assertion that the Heller case will have no effect on "the dudes" who have been spilling blood in DC for years, perhaps he should consider this. If you are a thug/dude who has been terrorizing your local populace because you knew that the innocent among them can do nothing to defnd themselves, you can pretty much act with impunity. But if you are that same thug, and you are faced with the prospect that one of your law abiding fellow citizens might legally have a gun in his home, or perhaps tucked in his belt, you might definitely have second thoughts about how or if you conduct your reign of terror.

King ends his column with the refrain: "...the NRA has taken aim at San Francisco and Chicago. See what we have unleashed, D.C.? America, more body bags, please." Perhaps he should take a few minutes to ruminate on why it is that the cities with the strictest gun control laws have been the ones that have been filling the body bags already, and those with stronger guns rights tend to have less violence.