On the hypocrisy of the Left

I should introduce these comments by noting that I have never owned a gun and have no reason to think I ever will. I have fired a gun less than half a dozen times in my life in target shooting with friends. I should also note that I am as horrified as anyone by the recent tragic shooting. However, if the Left is really interesting in protecting children, perhaps they should consider the following options along with tighter gun control.

1- Abortion kills hundreds of thousands of times more children each year than mass murder with semi-automatic weapons. If you want to save the lives of children, start with outlawing abortion.

2- Drug and alcohol abuse kill hundreds, if not thousands of times the number of children as die by mass murder. These children suffer death by drunk driving, along with rape, abuse, etc. Why not have strict penalties for alcohol and drug use?

3- The real problem is not semiautomatic weapons. 99.9+% of the millions of such weapons legally owned by Americans are ever used in mass murder. Criminals, of course, will obtain illegal weapons. The problem is use of weapons by the mentally ill. Of course 99.9+% of the mentally ill will never commit mass murder either. But we simply cannot predict which .01% of the mentally ill will commit mass murder. Unless we severely restrict the freedom of the mentally ill, or make gun ownership completely illegal, we cannot sole this problem. Why only limit the freedoms of the law abiding gun owners, instead of limiting the freedom of the potentially violent mentally Ill?

4- Social science tells us that gun free zones, and strict gun control laws have little impact on gun violence. Indeed, statistically, the best way to reduce gun violence is to allow hidden carry laws.

5- Why don’t liberals call for censorship of ultra violence in movies and video games, which clearly desensitized people to the consequences of gun violence? Why restrict gun ownership and not gun pornography?

So, while I’m personally not opposed to strict gun control laws, the reality is that the liberal proposal is no solution to the real problem, but is a political reaction.