The Immorality of Gun Control...

...and why it is consequently ineffective in achieving its stated goals.

The drumbeat for gun control has already started. The "best" I've seen so far is here (hat tip to the Michael Bane blog). But there are others here and here, for example (hat tip to Alphecca). What all arguments for gun control have in common is an abiding belief, despite reason and evidence to the contrary, that if we could just get rid of guns, suddenly the world would be a safe place. People who believe in gun control also have a magical belief in the power of words. Thus, if they could just pass one more law, with the right incantation, then criminals who don't obey the 20,000 laws already on the books will suddenly realize the error of their ways and become law abiding citizens. Children could once again play on the streets, the lion would lay down with the lamb, and we could all hug and sing a round of kumbayah. What all pro-gun arguments that attack these anti-gun positions have in common is that they make the same assumption. Namely, that our salvation lies in objects. But it is not the object, morally neutral in and of itself, but the character of the one who uses it, that determines whether it is used for good purposes or evil ones.

I will not address either side of this argument here. While John Lott, author of More Guns, Less Crime, makes a compelling argument that guns do, in fact, save lives; even if they did not, gun control is still immoral. So let's now lay out why these proposals, and gun control laws are immoral.

Life is a gift from God (or, if a libertarian, each individual owns his own life.) The responsibility to defend that life lies ultimately with each individual. The police have no responsibility to defend your life. (It is also unreasonable to require that someone put his life at risk in order to defend yours, when you are unwilling to do it yourself.) To fail to resist when your life is threatened is to trample on the great gift God has given you, to voluntarily commit suicide. Carrying arms, particularly a hand gun, and having the will to use it when confronted by criminals bent on your destruction is the most effective means of defending your life. A government that takes away the means of defending your life can not be considered legitimate. Indeed, such a government could be said to be complicit in the deaths of innocent citizens. Such a government is immoral, and not to be trusted.

Oddly enough, studies also show that criminals tend to avoid situations where an intended victim may be armed, preferring instead to pick on someone less able to defend himself. Who would have thunk it? The only way we will ever reduce crime is if we, each and every one of us, resist it at the instant it occurs.