It seems the Seattle Times is pontificating in favor of anti-gun foolishness again, this time pushing for a trigger lock law. My response....
The Brady Campaign is the Col. Klink of firearms issues - ask them about a given course of action, and if they support it, it's probably a bad idea... even on the days when they have good intentions.
We already have laws that:
1) Bar felons from owning guns (the childs mom & boyfriend, who being criminals, weren't especially attentive to the law).
2) Create criminal punishment for a wide variety of negligent acts, including leaving guns where a child gets them and proceeds to commit wrongful mayhem. (The current reckless endangerment statute).
3) Create civil penalties for negligence of every sort imaginable and a fair number that could be argued to be specious.
4) Criminalize both assault and homicide.
Yet, amazingly, bad things happen. Criminals (surprise!) violate the law and, if they aren't caught, KEEP violating the law.
And with each new law passed, we convert some number of law-abiding citizens into criminals either through ignorance of the new intricacies or their personal "level of stubborn" having been reached - and with many of these "look-busy" statutes, for no good purpose beyond looking busy.
We don't need another law that just runs up the tax bill, creates additional tragedy, helps legislators look busy at great expense - all in the name of making something already illegal, illegal...
Every "bad act" conceivable with a firearm (or a pointy stick, for that matter) is already addressed under law. And more than a few innocent acts.
Enough of the hoplophobic anti-gun bed-wetting. Put the blame on the felons in possession (a federal felony charge nobody has bothered to bring quite yet), the parents with bad gun handling and safety practices (already chargeable), the family that raised a boy so desperate to run away that he gathered a firearm into his bug-out bag, and finally a very misguided little boy.
Leave law-abiding WA gun owners alone - by and large a far more responsible and law-abiding group than either the general populace or the membership of Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
VERY well articulated and right on the money. I'm baffled by the notion that adding yet another law will prevent actions that are already illegal. Would it make them illegaler?
ReplyDeleteSadly the nanny state believes its job is to "keep us safe" even at the expense of civil liberty. The more dependent we become on the state the less self reliant we become. At what point is it the state's fault for our misbehavior.
Well said!
ReplyDeleteI would also add that, even ignoring all your very relevant points, trigger lock laws are bad laws, because trigger locks are inherently stupid. Rule 3 applies to all objects, not just your finger, and deliberately inserting a hard object into the trigger guard is just asking for trouble.
Also, welcome to the blogroll!