Gun control doesn’t work.
A simple statement based on tons of observations we’ve seen through the years. It’s even based on studies, just not the ones that seem to make all of the headlines. Time and time again, we see examples of bad people skirting all the laws in the universe to get their hands on a gun.
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But most years see more gun control laws created than are repealed, unfortunately. That means we get to see plenty of examples of just how little is accomplished by these measures.
Over at Ammoland, Dave Workman took a look at 2024 in retrospect and shockingly enough, he found that yep, gun control is still a total fail.
If the past 12 months have taught us anything as a nation, it would have to be that gun control has actually failed in its purported mission of preventing criminals from getting guns, and that proponents of restrictive gun laws are both delusional and living in denial when they claim otherwise.
Remember, the gun prohibition lobby is typically silent when a legally armed private citizen intervenes in a crime to stop the criminal.
While the number of homicides decreased in 2023 by more than 11 percent, according to the most recently available data estimates from the FBI, the use of firearms in those killings remains high.
The Christmas Eve triple shooting in Oxford, Mich.—scene of the tragic high school shooting in November 2021 which resulted in several new gun restrictions—confirms what gun rights advocates such as Alan Gottlieb at the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms have been trying to explain for years, if not decades: Criminals do not obey gun control laws, and existing laws restricting adults do not prevent juveniles from getting and/or using guns illegally.
The Detroit Free Press, reporting about the Oxford shooting, which has turned into a homicide, said the incident happened “a short distance from Oxford High School.” The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office has a suspect in custody and a gun has been recovered.
The October slaughter of a family near Fall City, Washington, allegedly by a 15-year-old family member shocked the upscale Lake Alice neighborhood. The teen has been charged with five counts of homicide, and the case will continue into 2025.
Yet Washington state, over the past few years, has seen the adoption of several new gun control laws requiring “expanded” background checks, a 10-day waiting period and proof of firearm safety training, and other restrictions on adult gun buyers.
Back on Jan. 9, USA Today outlined gun control laws which took effect earlier this year in California, Michigan, Minnesota, Washington and other Democrat-controlled states. Have any of those laws prevented homicides in any of those states?
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The short answer is that no, it hasn’t.
It never has and never will.
Let’s say that gun control could, in fact, take guns out of the hands of all criminals. It can’t, of course, but let’s delve into this hypothetical for just a moment. For the sake of argument, let’s pretend it’s possible.
So, guns are out of criminal hands. So what?
The problem is that looking at guns as the problem ignores the fact that far too many people in this country don’t value human life. They see murder as a reasonable response to mundane disagreements. They think they need to kill someone simply because they were rude or showed some other form of disrespect.
Removing guns from the equation doesn’t change that.
There’s a reason our non-gun homicide rate is higher than most other developed nations’ total homicide rate, and it’s not because we lack knife control or hammer control. It’s because we have entire sections of our population who think murder is a conflict resolution method.
Until and unless you address this, you’ll never deal with the problem.
But here’s the rub: If you address this, you don’t need to do anything else.
Guns aren’t the issue, which means gun control isn’t the solution. The real problem, at least from a gun rights perspective, is that far too many people fail to understand the real issue in the first place.
