Gun control is a hot topic right now, and no wonder. With the recent epidemic of gun violence across the nation, it only makes sense that the government should step in and regulate the sale and possession of guns.
The problem with this is, there is no "epidemic" and the sale and ownership of guns is already regulated by the government.
In the interest of full disclosure, I must tell you all that I don't like guns. They make me nervous. I don't like to be around them, I don't want my children around them, and I believe the world would be a better place if they were never invented.
Unfortunately, they are a part of the world we live in, and there is no getting around that.
Every now and then there is a story about a person, any random person, that gets behind the wheel of a car and, either through malicious intent, ignorance, or indifference, causes harm to a great many people.
How many senior citizens have mistaken their gas pedal for their brake pedal? How many drunks have zigged when they should have zagged? How many mentally deranged people have intentionally aimed their vehicles at a crowd of innocents, closed their eyes, and hoped for the worst?
According to the CDC, gun deaths will actually exceed traffic fatalities... by 2015. This means that, and correct me if I'm wrong, traffic deaths have exceeded gun deaths since we started keeping track of such things.
Where is the outcry against reckless driving?
Where are the demands to limit or ban certain types of automobiles?
Why hasn't this president written a slew of executive orders, refused to discuss their constitutionality, and unveiled them in front of a group of young children, to address the recent epidemic of auto deaths that has gripped the nation?
Once again, it all comes back to politics.
Everyone needs an automobile, not everyone needs a gun.
Which is the larger constituency?
Banning automobiles would be political suicide, but banning guns, in some sectors, is seen as the ultimate in benevolent governmental action. Regardless of what the numbers say, regardless of which object poses more of a danger, guns are the easy target, so they will come after them, with a vengeance.
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