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3-27-08 Ben Matthews FORUM
03/27/2008 10:00:23
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This is Ben Matthews with the WJBC Forum.
9/11, Columbine, Virginia Tech, Northern Illinois University ... unfortunately the list could go on.
These tragedies and others, each in their own way, cause us to consider and converse about our rights and responsibilities as a Country. They prompt us to ponder our priorities as a People. These are not just National tragedies, the results and the ripple effects hit us here at home as well.
And more specifically they lead to discussion and debate about gun rights and gun regulations.
They cause people to question whether there should be guns in cockpits, classrooms, and on college campuses. And they cause people to wonder if individuals should be able to carry concealed weapons around as a defense against attacks and as a deterrent to potential attackers.
I’m not a Constitutional scholar and I am no expert on the Second Amendment. I don’t have a perfect solution to propose.
But the discussion does make one wonder ... if there were guns in the cockpit or classroom or on college campuses, would 9/11, Columbine, Virginia Tech or NIU have happened?
And I have to say, unfortunately, probably yes. Those perpetrators were not concerned with dying themselves and would likely not have cooled to their plans just because someone else in the room might have been packing heat. And yet the call for concealed carry laws gets louder than ever following such events. It almost feels like grandstanding and opportunism - playing on people’s fears to further one’s own agenda.
Ever since its origin, the Second Amendment has been debated. There do not seem to be any easy solutions or answers. Does allowing individuals to carry concealed weapons really prevent people from committing crimes? Does it really protect people? Is it really what the Founding Fathers had in mind?
I don’t know.
But I am pretty confident the Founding Fathers didn’t foresee the Northern Illinois shootings.
I know it’s not a perfect analogy, but allowing everyone to carry concealed weapons in order to prevent crimes seems a little like saying if you allowed players to carry their own whistles during a basketball game there would be fewer fouls. And of course somehow that’s supposed to help the officials. I just don’t see how more whistles or more people playing official helps.
There are compelling arguments on both sides. It seems to me that we might be missing the point altogether when we use such tragedies to talk about who should carry what weapons. I think there might be bigger questions to answer, bigger issues to address and bigger problems to solve.
Going Forward, this is Ben Matthews with the WJBC Forum.
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