The New York Daily News cover on Va. shootings

What's so incredible? Don't the guys with the guns make the rules?

 

I don't have a gun, I don't even plan to have one. I live in a state where people don't really care about the issue.

Philosophically, though, my mind goes to drugs and alcohol and anything else the government tries to ban when it comes to guns......heroin and meth are illegal and people get them, pretty much at will. I think any gun laws would work out the same way for the the hard crooks and true nut jobs.

I think if it was put to a vote I would probably vote in favor of more restrictions. But I'm not sure I'd expect them to work.

 

Drugs and alcohol can cause physiological addiction. I don't think guns do.

Whenever I see or hear people make this argument, I have the same response: You're right. You're right that stricter gun laws won't end gun deaths in America. Zero is a pipe dream.

But what if it cuts gun deaths by a fraction? Roughly 30,000 people die from a gun each year. If you reduce the rate by even 10 percent, that's 3,000 people saved. Fifty percent means 15,000 people aren't dying. Sounds worth it to me.

 

If they banned bourbon and beer, there would be fewer drunk driving deaths.

 

So your argument is that we shouldn't ban beer and bourbon because they cause addiction?

 

What's a harder debate: Gun control or how we as a society handle the mentally ill?

 

My argument is that you're comparing apples to oranges.

 

How so?

Alcohol is something people enjoy. It also contributes to 10,000 deaths a year on America's roads.

Guns are something people enjoy. They also contribute to 10,000 deaths a year in American homicides.

 

And with stricter enforcement and public education, drunk driving deaths have reached an all-time low.

 

Right. The questions would be: (1) What would be the gun equivalent? and (2) Would it be Constitutional?

 

Now that is definitely up for debate, and I don't claim to have the definitive answer. What I hate is people throwing up their hands and saying nothing can be done about it.