Mass Killings Are A Human Problem Not a Gun Problem

While we await more news about how and why there was a mass shooting at the Navy Shipyard in Hawaii, it may be worthwhile to ponder a shooting that occurred in India, a country that makes the gun grabbers really proud.  India's gun restrictions make California look like the Wild Wild West.

Tom Knighton, in a post at Bearing Arms notes that an Indian Border Patrol Officer Kills Five Co-Workers In A Mass Shooting. But Knighton's point in writing this article is not so much to look into the motives of the killer, but rather to point out that contrary to the meme that mass shootings only happen in the United States, in fact they occur all over the world. The problem, as always, is people, not the tools they use to kill their fellow man:

The country of India has some very strict gun control laws. In fact, they recently passed a law that states you can only have one gun total. That’s a hell of a lot worse than the gun rationing schemes some of our own lawmakers are pushing, though I don’t doubt they’d love to pass a measure like that.

The United States, on the other hand, is supposedly the only country where mass shootings happen. They simply don’t occur in countries with strict gun control, or so we’re told.

I, for one, have been arguing that the issue is a human issue, not a gun issue. Something is very wrong with people and our society that we produce people who would do such a thing. However, I’ll also note that we’re not the only ones who do this. Christchurch, New Zealand, for example, wasn’t American.

David Hardy, in his new book, Mass Killings: Myths, Realities, and Solutions makes the same point:

Actually, it does. The record death toll from a mass shooting came in Norway, in 2011: 67 deaths. The record death toll from a mass killing of any type came in China, in 2001; the killer used bombs to take 108 lives.[2]  In 1982 a berserk South Korean policeman killed 56 (the same number that died in our worst shooting, in Las Vegas), in 2007 two Ukrainians killed 25 with a hammer and a pipe, in 1986 a Columbian used a six-shot revolver to kill 29 in a Bogota restaurant. This “just doesn’t happen in other countries”?

Hardy, David. Mass Killings: Myth, Reality, and Solutions (pp. 4-5). Kindle Edition.

Note that Hardy has done a great service to the gun rights cause by pointing out that these killings occur Worldwide, and that the tools vary, depending on what the killers can get their hands on.  There are homemade bombs, cars, knives as well as guns.  The solution then, is not in restricting guns, because mass killers will just find another tool.  The first recorded murder in history is that of Cain killing Abel with a rock.  Are we going to ban rocks?

It is unfortunate that news of these killings in other countries does not feature in U.S. news reports.  But that doesn't mean they don't happen with regularity.  Even in counties like India, where guns are heavily restricted, as Knighton's post points out.

Here are the facts:  The Second Amendment was included in the Bill of Rights, in part to provide a balance of power in favor of the citizens as opposed to government power.  The only reason why politicians want to restrict the arms the people have is because they fear if the people have the balance of power on their side.  One has to wonder why?  In any case, restricting firearms is illegal, no matter what either the politicians or the Supreme Court says.  The black letter law says our right to arms "shall not be infringed."

Go read knighton's post.  While your at it, why don't you download Dave Hardy's book at Amazon.  It is only $2.99 for heaven's sake, and I read the whole book in one sitting.  In other words, it is short and concise.