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 ure,
blame the gun.
Never mind that many students in government schools are
routinely
tormented and attacked in ways that would constitute a felony (if
a school principal, rather than a ninth-grader, were the victim).
Often, schools are so big and impersonal that administrators frequently
don't even know there's a problem. Or schools may be so sports-focused
that athletes can get away with anything.
The Santee murderer (we won't mention his name, because he doesn't
deserve the publicity he sought) lived with his father; his mother
lives on the other side of the continent. She is reported to have
called the young man earlier this year. The killer's former girlfriend
said that the killer craved his mother's attention, but never got
it. The mother is so minimally aware of her child that she thought
he played on all the sports teams. In fact, he played on no team
sports.
The killer's father apparently didn't realize his son had severe
social and emotional problems, didn't realize that maybe he shouldn't
have access to the keys to the gun safe.
But it's the gun's fault — couldn't possibly have anything
to do with parental responsibility.
The killer told an adult and several students he was going to shoot
up the school. They did nothing. Blame the gun.
California politicians have passed some of the toughest gun laws
in the nation. There's government permission and registration for
every gun transfer — even giving an old squirrel rifle to your
cousin. There are bans on hundreds of cosmetically incorrect firearms;
no permits to carry a handgun for lawful protection — unless
you've got special political connections; and laws requiring guns
to be locked up to keep them away from people like the Santee murderer.
So why is California one of the most dangerous states in the Union?
Don't all those laws targeting law-abiding gun owners save lives?
The problem with California gun laws in general, and California's
mandatory gun storage law in particular, is that they affect precisely
the wrong people.
If a father doesn't notice that his son, who is making death threats
to everyone who will listen, has swiped a revolver, a mandatory
gun-lock law like California's isn't going to stir him into action.
On other hand, responsible parents who obey the law and teach their
children to do the same will obey the gun-lock law. These people
weren't going to commit crimes with their firearms. Because of the
gun-lock laws, these people end up becoming easy prey for criminals.
In Merced, California, in August 2000, a pitchfork-wielding man
attacked and murdered Jessica Carpenter's 7-year-old brother and
9-year-old sister while their parents were not home. Jessica's father
kept a gun in the home that was, in accordance with California law,
locked in a safe. According to the family, Jessica, age 14, is a
very good shot, and had the gun not been securely stored, Jessica
would have been able to retrieve it and use it to fend off the murderer.
The California mandatory gun-lock law helped kill two children in
Merced. That same law did nothing to save the
| “To
the national media, civilians who take forceful action
apparently teach the wrong lesson: that we're not all
helpless; that brave people can stop criminals.” |
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two children in Santee.
The Merced incident may have been sensational, but it is typical
of how laws like California's turn a family's home into a safe zone
for predators. A John Lott and John Whitley study compared crime,
accident, and suicide trends in states with California-type laws,
to trends in other states, while controlling for the effect of numerous
sociological variables. The study found no statistically significant
reduction in accidents involving children or teenagers. Teenage
gun suicide decreased, but not the overall teenage-suicide rate.
There were also large increases in violent crime and homicide:
Rapes, robberies, and burglaries rise by 9, 11, and 6 percent, respectively,
as a result of safe storage laws…. The fifteen states with
safe storage laws would be expected to experience 168 more murders
in the first full year that the law is in effect. The number of
murders peaks in the fourth full year at 380 murders…. During
the five full years after the passage of the safe storage laws,
the fifteen states face an annual average increase of 309 more murders,
3,860 more rapes, 24,650 more robberies, and over 25,000 more aggravated
assaults.
The crime increase was most severe in states like California, where
violation is a felony. But the victims of the California gun lock
law never made the national news. And did you read about the four
California children who were killed last week by a sociopath who
ran them down with an automobile? Of course not. The media's interest
in dead children depends mostly on whether those children can be
exploited to promote bigger government.
So don't expect a lot of editorial cartoons criticizing parents
who expect schools to raise their children. Don't expect too many
congressmen with 100% voting records from Handgun Control, Inc.,
to give a big speech worrying that so many parents spend less than
five minutes a day talking with their children. Blame the gun.
A small but terrifying subculture of America's children worship
the Columbine murderers. Do you think that Time regrets putting
the two killers on its cover? Do you think the national media considers
for a second how many lives might be saved by simply refusing to
broadcast the names of publicity-seeking mass murderers? Do you
think the media has slightest regret for the saturation coverage
given the Santee murder, and the three
copycat crimes that followed within 48 hours? Blame the gun.
Why exercise First Amendment rights in a responsible manner, when
it's easier to demonize the Second Amendment?
Upon hearing the shots at Santana High School, one student grabbed
a still camera and another grabbed a video camera to record the
carnage. No one tried to tackle the killer during his three reloading
breaks. Is it because the national media failed to tell the story
of the heroic high-school student who tackled the killer in Springfield,
Oregon, while the killer was reloading?
The killer became nationally famous. The hero didn't. The media
lost interest in him when they found that the hero's father belonged
to the NRA, and the family opposed gun control.
At Columbine, teacher Dave Sanders was justifiably lionized for
dying while trying to help students flee. Most people have never
heard about the adults who saved lives in Pearl, Mississippi, or
Edinboro, Pennsylvania, by confronting and subduing the rampaging
killers.
To the national media, civilians who take forceful action —
wrestling a shooter to the ground, or pointing a handgun at the
shooter's head — apparently teach the wrong lesson: that we're
not all helpless; that brave people can stop criminals. That's a
lesson which conflicts with the enraged helplessness promoted by
the "Million" Mom March and its mean-spirited message that the only
way for children to be safe is for the government to crack down
on law-abiding gun owners.
Sure, blame the gun. Keep on ducking real responsibility for children's
safety and moral education. Teach people to be afraid, but not how
to protect themselves. Keep on hating inanimate objects and the
law-abiding people who own them.
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