There Is No Gun Control

by John Morgan Duty II
www.CitizenSpokane.com

It seems that every day we hear about another effort aimed at controlling guns. Legislation efforts, too numerous to list, have entranced our Congress. Some lawmakers are literally obsessed with taking our gun ownership to task and seem to have little more on their minds than "Saving the Children." 

I’m here to tell you there is no such thing as gun control. The game afoot is incremental prohibition. By governmental estimates there are between sixty and eighty million gun owners so in realistic terms, it is more likely twice that many. 

I make my assertion based on the empirical evidence and not on emotion or how I wish things were. I, like millions of people, wish I could trust my government but I have learned that I cannot. To further realize the truth of this thesis, lets examine the facts as they stand. Lets look at examples with which everyone can relate. 

I am forty-seven years old. Stated clearly on the bottom of my social insecurity card are written the words, "FOR SOCIAL SECURITY AND TAX PURPOSES-NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION." Written upon the bottom of my eighteen year old daughter’s social security card is nothing. However on the back there are multiple warnings, one of which states, "Improper use of this card and/or number by the number holder or any other person is punishable by fine, imprisonment, or both." Evidently, over the course of a few short years, the government has incrementally changed the purpose of the card and as we all know, you are required to tender this number for practically everything you do. It is considered to be valid identification for all government purposes, alone or in tandem with various other identifiers, such as a passport or driver’s license. Logic would tell us that according to my card, everyone within the government that requires you to tender this card for identification purposes should be fined or in jail or both. They are not.

Let's now leap forward to a more current case of incrementalism. Think back just a few years. Back to the time when the government mandated that you wear a safety belt, for your safety and of course, "To Save The Children." They assured us that even though you would be forced to absorb the cost of placing these safety measurers in your car, there would never be a fine for not actually having it in use. Then they said you would only be fined if some incident, such as a wreck, occurred and you were found not wearing your safety belt. Even more recently, they said that it would be a primary fine and if any officer of the law so much as saw that you weren’t in compliance, you could be stopped and ticketed. More recently yet, we had a nation-wide program called "Click it or Ticket" whereby the police threw up roadblocks this past Memorial Day to make absolutely sure you had on your safety belt. Those who objected to this intrusion were taken to jail and one woman was beaten, bruised, jailed, and fined. 

Starting to get the picture? Our government has no quitting sense. Their overbearing, bullying, and brutish nature, knows no bounds. There is even a second layer to this incrementalism. They have incrementally acclimated you to the occurrence of incrementalism. They are so proud of themselves for training you so effectively; they are going to graduate you to outright oppression, much the same way a child graduates from high school to college. Now that all the good little boys and girls have accepted oppression 101 you are ready for graduate studies in how to become completely defenseless and, above all, "Save the Children." This has gotten so predictable that one would be forced to feign mental retardation to accept this notion of "Gun Control." So for those of you who still have the capacity to remember the safety belt and the social security card, 

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS GUN CONTROL.

THERE IS ONLY INCREMENTAL PROHIBITION!