Gun control and the facts that mess it up

I haven’t waded much into the gun control debate of post-Sandy Hook.  I’ll admit, my first reactions that day were based on ’round’em up, round all the guns up now!’  That’s why policy shouldn’t be decided in the heat of the moment, not unless massive human life is depending on it.  The same could be said, of course, about the death penalty.  I’ve always been against the death penalty, largely on the grounds that no legal system is perfect, and one innocent person executed isn’t worth the feelings of justice that capital punishment evoke.  Still, there are times when I would gleefully pull the trigger if given the chance, simply out of the horror of what criminals are sometimes capable of.  Hence the need for reason to check emotion.

So rushing to policy decisions when something like Sandy Hook occurs is not, IMHO, a great idea.  It’s better to take a deep breath, and look at the facts.  Like these, that suggest gun ownership and mass shootings really aren’t connected.  Naturally there could be other facts that suggest other things, and I’m fine with looking at them all to see what we might see.  You never know.  I doubt there’s anyone who doesn’t pray there will never be another Newtown.

But the price is too high for knee-jerk reactions and emotionally driven responses.  Sure, it’s an emotional topic.  Who wasn’t cut to the heart that day when the news of Newtown first broke?  But the goal is finding a solution, not throwing the baby out with the bathwater.  Not to base solutions on ideas that are refuted by actual facts.  Certainly not rushing through things that could do more harm than good.  And yes, that means compromising our liberties.  I, for one, have been shocked that individuals who have spent years trashing our government over its claims that our liberties might need to be re-imagined in our war against terrorism are suddenly acting as if any damn fool knows we should be ready to compromise our liberties to prevent another Sandy Hook.

It’s that sort of thing that we must avoid.  Sit down and find answers?  You bet.  Look for solutions?  Oh yeah.  Do whatever it takes to prevent another Sandy Hook?  No.  Not whatever.  Because there is an immense volume of terror that can be put into a term like ‘whatever’.  And if our desire is for the best for everyone, we’ll not forget it.