Thursday, February 28, 2013

A lock only keeps an honest man honest.

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Dad, Stand up Philosopher. AKA Bullshit artist.
My father was a thief. A car thief to be exact. Not the best one, he spent a number of years behind bars, until he met my mother. He didn't get so much as a parking ticket after that. One of the things he always did was leave keys in his cars and trucks and never locked the doors. He always told me that 'Locks only keep an honest man honest, it'll only slow a thief down until he figures a way around it'. Those words are more poignant now than ever before just applied to a different rule. We can make all the rules and laws we want pertaining to guns, but the people who choose to break the law, will find a way around them.


Some of the gun laws that are being mulled over in Washington and passed in some states across America are currently in practice elsewhere in the world. Senator Dianne Feinstein's gun ban bill specifically targets 'any gun with a detachable clip and one military characteristic'. This broad definition could include something as benign as any gun with a barrel shroud. The shroud doesn't make it any more deadly or improve it's function, it's merely cosmetic. Or how about Governor Andrew Cuomo's law in New York state banning high capacity clips. So now the criminals are going to have to drive to New Hampshire for the clips and their booze. Like that's going to stop anyone from having high capacity clips. What about gun registration? Or in California where they are trying to put together a 'gun insurance' bill, where if you own a gun you need to carry liability insurance..on the gun. Of course all this noise created by them begs the question..will any of it work?

Big Fat NO people.

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Let's take a look at South Africa. Recently thrust into the new with the unfortunate circumstances surrounding Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius, gun control in South Africa is almost oppressive. The path to gun ownership is a bureaucratic maze of testing, licensing, registration, background checks, competency and even objective approval from police. Waiting for approval for gun ownership can routinely be 2 or more years. There are about 49 million people in South Africa but there is over 9000 private security firms. Sounds like a safe place to me. There are over 300 million people in America and normal people don't need security firms watching their every move. To use a phrase by the patriarch on Duck Dynasty Phil Robertson "In the subdivision, when somethin' goes wrong, you call 911. In the woods, I am 911."

South Africa, with some of the most oppressive gun control laws in the world, boasts one of the highest gun crime statistics. Does gun control work? You be the judge, the truth is out there.

That's my two cents, spend 'em or put 'em in the dish for the next person.