Another Sheriff Dispised by the Dispicable

Sheriff Lewis of Wicomico County, MD, has attracted all the right people, meaning he has become despised by the despicable, with recent comments about the Second Amendment. The story is at Townhall.com, by Michael Schaus and entitled Maryland Sheriff Attacked for Promising to Defend the Second Amendment.

There is a little prayer that goes something like this: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Let us recognize first off that the Second Amendment acknowledges a pre-existing right to bear arms, it does not grant that right. The same is true for the rights granted in the First Amendment. Second, we must acknowledge that the rightful purpose of law is not to prevent crime, but to set forth the penalties for commission of certain crimes deemed harmful to society as a whole. Unstated in the law is the notion that men have free will, and can choose to do good or evil at any time. Three, laws will only be observed by those who obey the law, not by those who do not. Those who do not, we call criminals.  The point is, you can not change human nature.

Sheriff Lewis is absolutely correct.  He has taken an oath to defend and support the Constitution of the State, and of the United States.  If others who have taken similar oaths decide, as men with free will can do, to break that oath, Sheriff Lewis has warned them that he will nonetheless keep his oath within his County.

On the other hand, the people attacking Sheriff Lewis have not been paying enough attention to that little prayer.  You can make laws endlessly.  You can be as oppressive as you want, but you can not prevent bad guys from obtaining weapons with which to do nefarious things.  If you ban the (legal) sale and the (legal) manufacture of guns, they will still obtain them by smuggling them into the country.  If they can smuggle drugs,  what makes you think they can't smuggle guns with that shipment?  Or, they will manufacture them underground.  Any competent machinist has the skill and access to the tools needed to build a gun.  If you make it rewarding enough, someone is going to be making guns on the side.  Remember free will?  And, of course law enforcement, the military, and any number of "special" and  "elite" politicians, like Diane Feinstein, will be exempt, so that legal manufacturing will continue to supply them.  So, thefts from armories, corrupt police, or shipments will supply whatever is needed to continue crime as always.  These are unchangeable facts.

I understand, you are afraid.  You are afraid that neighbor with the guns secretly wants to shoot you.  Probably not, but have you ever approached him with anything but hostility?  Why don't you bake a cake, take over, and sit down with him over coffee and cake?  Discuss guns with an open mind.  Why does he keep them?  Maybe it is for exactly the same reasons you are afraid of them.  Maybe he wants to defend his family against an armed assailant.  Are you an armed assailant?  No?  Well, stop worrying about your neighbor.  Or maybe you are afraid that someone has a squirrel running around in his head telling him to go to your children's school and kill as many of the evil bastards as he can  (they're not evil bastards, that is what the squirrel is saying.)  Could be, I don't know.  But maybe your new friend has a different idea of how to protect not only your kids, but his own.  He probably has a better idea of both the power and limitations of guns.  Maybe you could try some of his ideas.  After all, we have tried the gun free zone idea, and that hasn't worked very well.  Just a suggestion, but remember that one definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.

Now say it with me:  God, grant me the serenity...