Paul Kelly, the former vice-chair of the Boulder County Democratic Party, wrote this editorial on the gun control debate in the Colorado legislature:
Will Rogers once said, "The problem's no so much what you don't know, but what you do know that just ain't so." With that in mind I'd like to look at some of the myths floating around our society about crime, violence, and gun control.
"The founding fathers were talking about muskets, if they had known how deadly guns would become. . . "
The patent office is provided for in the Constitution. They were well aware of the potential for technological advancement in weaponry. Furthermore, due to parallel advances in communication, transportation, trauma care and treatment of infection, firearm wounds are actually significantly less lethal now than in 1790. The Second Amendment is about the balance of power between the government and the people. The efficiency of the firearms involved is irrelevant.
"If they had known how violent and dangerous our society would become . . ."
Four delegates to the Constitutional Convention died homicde victims. The modern equivalent would be 39 sitting members of the U.S. House and Senate ending up homicide victims, an estimate that's probably not off by much more than 38. They understood the potential for criminal violence.
"They were worried about European tyrants; such things can't happen here."
The worst mass murder in Colorado was not Columbine but Sand Creek, and it was perpetrated by the government, as was the Ludlow massacre. It can happen here.
"The Second Amendment is just about armed militias."
Since an unarmed militia is dumber than an austere orgy, what are the odds they really debated whether the militia should have been armed or not; then decided that, given the function of a militia, guns are probably more useful than protest signs, so they better guarantee the militia the right to bear arms? Sure, then they debated whether the navy ought to have ships.
"Gun accidents are wiping out our society, especially children, requiring sweeping storage and trigger-lock laws."
A fatal accident is 11 times more likely with a private swimming pool than a gun, and about as many children under 5 drown in plastic buckets as die in gun accidents. Having a gun in your home is 50 times safer than downhill skiing.
"Due to the availability of guns, America is an incredibly violent society with an astronomical homicide rate."
Bull. The current homicide rate in Europe is 3.7 per 100,000 and rising. The rate for Americans of European decent is 3.1 and declining. A contemporary European would decrease his risk of homicide by moving to the U.S. The same is true of Japan, which has a higher homicide rate than Japanese-Americans. If the availability of guns is a factor, it's a positive one. In the 20th century, more than 53 million Europeans died violently from homicide, warfare and government extermination programs. The number for Asia is over 100 million. For America it's 1.8 million (and over 600,000 of them died in Europe, the Pacific or Asia). Throughout the 20th century the U.S. has been one of the safest places in the world to live and raise children. Out-of-control individuals are nowhere near as dangerous as out-of-control governments.
"Guns cause violent crime, and the Democratic Party's gun-control policies are a good way to combat crime."
Rate all of Colorado's counties on gun ownership, percentage of elective offices held by Democrats and violent crime. You'll find that the higher the rate of gun ownership, the lower the crme rate. The higher the percentage of Democrats in elective office, the higher the crime rate. Liberal policies and crime go together like flies and outhousses.
Our Founding Fathers were right and a lot of you are wrong. But then, they didn't allow people like Peter Jennings and Dan Rather to control their access to information, and you do.