Gun Control Is Not Normal

Jennifer Sensiba at The Truth About Guns has an article telling us that Today's Gun Control Isn't Normal, And We Shouldn't Pretend It Is. As someone who has had the good fortune to live as long as I have, I remember when we were much freer. I remember when guns could be purchased by mail, and have it delivered to your door. Or, you could go to the hardware store, Montgomery Wards, Sears and Roebucks, and other stores and put down your money and take away a gun. No background check, no FFL, and nobody cared. Especially for us old farts, the current situation isn't normal, and I refuse to pretend it is.

One very troublesome aspect of human psychology is normalcy bias, our hesitance to believe that the way things are right now is how they’ll always be, and how they always were. In many ways, that’s how it is with gun control. It’s easy to think that just because something has been a certain way your whole life that it can’t possibly change. Whether we live in denial or not, sometimes the world changes anyway.

After the NYSRPA v Bruen decision, anti-gun politicians and commentators accused the Supreme Court of things like “repealing the 20th century.” But, the truth is that even most of the 20th century wasn’t a gun control paradise. In this article, I’m going to give several examples of things that are “unthinkable” today that show gun control is both relatively new and entirely worthless.

...snip...

Not only was concealed carry and gun ownership common in those days, but one could simply send in a postcard requesting one. When the gun arrived, you’d pay the postman for the gun and then have it. There was no waiting period, background check, or any other hoop to jump through. The gun would go straight to your door.

But, if you wanted to go to a store and get one. Hardware stores sold firearms, suppressors, and many other highly-regulated things right on the shelf like a BB gun today. But, this guy thinks such a thing is crazy, despite it being normal only decades ago.

If you're against the ban on ghost guns, you in essence believe there should be no background checks on gun purchases whatsoever. You believe you should be able to pick up a gun at Ace Hardware next to the hammers.

Well, yes, exactly so! This was normal from the time immemorial in the United States until 1968. Sensiba speculates on the causes of the current mass shootings. That too is not normal. People used to teach their children to be responsible in general, including with guns. People learned early on that you don't solve your problems with a gun.

When we see gun control activists acting like we’re crazy for not accepting their laws as normal, we need to remind them that what they’ve done to society isn’t normal. We should be able to take a gun just about anywhere we want without having to grovel for permission and pay money. We should be able to order guns online and have them shipped to our door, or go get one from a vending machine if someone wants to offer them and we want to buy one.