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There Is No Middle Ground by Larry Pratt February 6, 2002 A new book makes it clear that understanding the gun control debate is hardly
likely to end the debate. The book is entitled Armed:
New Perspectives on Gun Control, and it is written by two well known
authorities in the field, criminologist Gary Kleck and attorney Don Kates. Those who claim to be for "reasonable, common sense gun control"
deny their intentions of banning guns, but their own statements and their own
logic belie their denials. Kleck is willing to support certain limited gun control measures but believes
that the absolutist logic and statements of the leading pro-control advocates
has polarized the debate. Those in the Handgun Control, Inc. camp (now known as
the Brady Center to Stop Gun Violence) have made the middle ground untenable
according to Kleck. He quotes Rep. William Clay of Saint Louis saying: "We need much stricter gun control, and eventually we should bar the
ownership of handguns except in a few cases." Likewise, Kleck quotes Rep. Bobby Rush of Chicago saying that: "ultimately, I would like to see the manufacture and possession of
handguns banned except for military and police use. But that's the endgame.
And in the meantime, there are some specific things that we can do with
legislation." Just as blatant is this citation from syndicated columnist Charles
Krauthammer: "In fact, the assault weapons ban will have no significant effect
either on the crime rate or on personal security. Nonetheless, it is a good
idea....Its only real justification is not to reduce crime but to desensitize
the public to the regulation of weapons in preparation for their ultimate
confiscation." And of course, the Sarah Brady file is full of statements about how each new
gun control conquest is a good first step. In fact, Kates mentions that HCI went
to court to keep the DC gun ban from being repealed. HCI donated to the unsuccessful handgun ban referendum in Massachusetts in
1976, and at one time belonged to the National Coalition to Ban Handguns.
Nowhere on the HCI website does one find a condemnation of a domestic or foreign
gun ban. For these and many other similar reasons, Kleck lays the blame on the door of
the leading pro-control spokesmen for the refusal of even moderate pro-gun
freedom supporters to accept any controls whatsoever. Moreover, the nature of the gun controls put forth is to impact mostly the
non-criminals. This further convinces the middle-of-the-road gun owner that gun
regulations are unlikely to have much impact on anyone but them. They get the
point. Gun controls are aimed at the law-abiding, not the criminals. In other words, the best arguments against gun control compromises have come,
ironically, from the "we want it all" statements and policies of the
Sarah Brady fraternity. This helps explain why, according to Kleck, the non-compliance with the
California semi-auto ban has been around 90 percent. Kleck provides a substantial collection of quotes from prominent Americans
who favor banning guns, topped off by former President Bill Clinton. Regarding a
ban, Clinton said: "I don't think the American people are there right now....But there
are certain kinds of guns that can be banned and a lot of other reasonable
regulations that can be imposed." An example of constantly raising the bar for gun owners to jump over is the
HCI law suit against Beretta. HCI said that it was negligence for gun companies
to make guns without a "gun loaded" indicator. Beretta makes handguns
with such devices, but HCI sued them anyway — the indicator was not good
enough for them. Of the half-dozen states that have registration laws, Kleck finds that "state registration laws have no measurable effect on rates of crime
or violence....HCI places highest priority on giving the government a resource
that would indisputably facilitate mass confiscation of guns, but that has no
documented value for reducing crime or violence." Kleck submitted his chapter on the absolutist goals of Handgun Control to
HCI, but they refused to comment. At the end of the day, my reading of Armed makes crystal clear to me
that giving in to the slightest of the demands of the pro-control leaders (in
and out of Congress) is to set foot on the slippery slope that plummets toward
victim disarmament. |
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