The latest anti-gun push doesn't worry me so much, to be honest, mostly because I already know it will fail to produce the desired effects. For one thing, Obama is arguably the nation's most successful gun salesman, with over 65 million gun sales since 2009, and -- due to the latest rumblings about greater gun regulation -- with every major dealer either operating at full capacity or unable to meet current demand. For another thing, the 300 million guns in the hands of private citizens, many of them in states that won't comply with federal gun grabs, will preclude any kind of Euro-style mass disarmament. Disarming legally armed Americans would be just as daunting a bureaucratic and executive task as deporting all illegal immigants, which is the reason I know we won't do either.
It seems to me that the main political goal of the current gun mania is to nip at the heels of the gun lobby in order to satisfy a few interest groups and give off the illusion of big, powerful government action. Banning the AR-15 "assault rifle" won't move the needle one micrometer on gun murders in this country at all, but that was never the point. I don't doubt there are sincere Democrats who believe that it will, but I think that's because they cling to certain unexamined, false premises, and because they often let their emotions overpower logic when it comes to policy.
I can't speak to Europe's political situation, when it comes to guns. I know that their gun laws vary from country to country, but their larger continental problem seems to be linked more closely to all those big bets they made on post-war communal entitlements, without regard to the individuals whose personal ambitions and work ethics make those entitlements possible. It's hard for freedom to flower when the dreams of the current generation are yoked to the debts and excesses of the previous one.
(OTOH, I think that Europe's Sick Man is swiftly becoming America's, these days, so I've been paying much closer attention to their woes in recent years.)
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Date: 2013-02-26 11:40 pm (UTC)It seems to me that the main political goal of the current gun mania is to nip at the heels of the gun lobby in order to satisfy a few interest groups and give off the illusion of big, powerful government action. Banning the AR-15 "assault rifle" won't move the needle one micrometer on gun murders in this country at all, but that was never the point. I don't doubt there are sincere Democrats who believe that it will, but I think that's because they cling to certain unexamined, false premises, and because they often let their emotions overpower logic when it comes to policy.
I can't speak to Europe's political situation, when it comes to guns. I know that their gun laws vary from country to country, but their larger continental problem seems to be linked more closely to all those big bets they made on post-war communal entitlements, without regard to the individuals whose personal ambitions and work ethics make those entitlements possible. It's hard for freedom to flower when the dreams of the current generation are yoked to the debts and excesses of the previous one.
(OTOH, I think that Europe's Sick Man is swiftly becoming America's, these days, so I've been paying much closer attention to their woes in recent years.)