This article was printed from KeepAndBearArms.com.
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Years ago I observed that if liberals really want to see fewer firearms
manufactured and sold every year in this country, all they have to do is shut up.
They can't do anything about the 750,000,000 -- three quarters of a
billion according to the industry, three times BATF estimates --
already in circulation. But whenever one of these cretins thinks up a
new way to harrass those whose only crime is exercising the natural,
fundamental, and inalienable human, individual, civil, and
Constitutional right of every man, woman, and responsible child -- to
obtain, own, and carry, openly or concealed, any weapon any time,
anywhere, without asking anyone's permission -- every time the media
start yapping it up, folks go out and buy as many new guns as they can afford.
The phenomenon is well known to those who claim to worry about how
many guns there are in America. It's kept the personal weapons
industry afloat so tidily, I'm often tempted to wonder whether Handgun
Control -- founded by members of the Nixon-era CIA -- isn't financed
by one of the larger firearms corporations. On the other hand, a
conservative editor of mine once suggested that, whenever you're
tempted to believe there's a conspiracy afoot, you should consider the
possibility that they're just stupid. His advice has stood me in
good stead over the years and helped preserve whatever sanity I
possess.
Now, recent events cause me to question this advice. For some
time, I've been pretty unpopular with my erstwhile allies over my
bitter opposition -- rooted both in principle and practicality -- to
licensed concealed carry. I've had screaming arguments in my home with
the better-known litigants on this issue. I've publicly debated it
with its most photogenic advocate. And -- because I persuaded
Colorado libertarians to instruct me to write a letter asking the
governor to veto any licensed carry bill the legislature sent
him -- one of the leaders of the nation's oldest pro-gun organization sent me
E-mail when the bill in question was withdrawn, saying "I see you
finally got your way".
Yeah ... sort of.
My opponents think I'm simply being perverse. But the principle
here is that the Bill of Rights doesn't say a word about needing some
bureaucrat's consent to own and carry weapons. Nor did Thomas
Jefferson, who advised a nephew to "take a gun on all your walks".
It's manifest from an abundance of such evidence that the Founders
expected us to go about our everday business armed.
The Constitution doesn't create rights, it only seeks to protect
them. If any of the amendments were repealed today, we'd continue to
possess our natural, fundamental, and inalienable human, individual
and civil rights. It sets an intolerable precedent to allow anyone to
give us a license (which they can always deny or revoke) to do what we
already have an absolute right to do. It converts rights into
privileges -- about as practical an objection as there is!
But there's another practical objection. Some view licensing as a
step toward what we really want. When it's shown beyond doubt -- as
in Florida -- that armed citizens not only do no harm, but actually
shrink crime, we'll go back to the legislature to reduce regulations
or eliminate them. But here's what will really happen: when crime
has dropped by double digits and we go back for our changes, politicos
(especially those who never wanted us to be armed) will simper, "See
what good the law has done -- why fix something that ain't broke?" And
we'll be stuck forever with whatever latterday version of the Sullivan
Act we stupidly agreed to instead of demanding what's ours by right.
So far I've failed to convince my pro-license comrades, so caught
up are they in a fervor to do something. But now I have an ally,
of the liberal sort who sells millions of guns each year to those who
think it may be their last chance: Ward Lucas of Denver's Channel 9.
As mediacs will from time to time, he decided his viewers need to know
who's licensed by Colorado sheriffs to carry concealed. Given those
sheriffs' long, well-documented conspiracy (most of them are also
just stupid) to deprive their constituents of their rights (with the
commendable exceptions of Weld and El Paso Counties) people with
licenses generally turn out to be the sheriffs' friends or political
cronies.
My county sheriff -- who's all over the place on this issue -- decided
to resist any attempt to expose the lucky half-dozen he generously allows
to exercise their rights in his fiefdom. When the legal dust had settled,
the Law of Unintended Results had worked another miracle. The judge (quite
rightly) decreed that licenses issued by a sheriff are a matter of public
record.
Lucas must be given the list. Weld County Sheriff Ed Jordan,
observing much of this comedy, tells me he's always favored
unlicensed "Vermont Carry", and that any requirement that licensees be
"outed" is another strong argument in its favor. Jane Prendergast of
S.W.A.R.M., once the Colorado lobby for licensed carry, tells me
publication of such lists is a major reason why her rapidly-growing
organization overwhelmingly favors unlicensed "Vermont Carry".
Nobody wants to be named on TV as a gun toter. It strips them of
their privacy. It exposes them to unpleasant social pressure at work,
in church, and other places. It makes burglary easy -- putting more
guns in the hands of criminals. Creatures like Lucas know this. They
count on it, as part of their ideological drive to discourage their
victims -- pardon me, viewers -- from defending themselves.
Widespread, successful self-defense is a disaster for the hairspray
crowd: they can only report a dramatic decline in violent crime once.
When there are no more rapes or muggings, what do they report on,
then?
Happily, this latest attempt to chill self defense has only solidified
support -- among those who used to scream at each other at the top of their
lungs -- for unlicensed "Vermont Carry".
Way to go, Ward -- keep on sniffing that hairspray, willya?
My home on the web, The Webley Page: www.webleyweb.com/lneil/
My e-zine The Libertarian Enterprise: www.webleyweb.com/tle/
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