Introduction
It feels ghoulish to write about such a tragic topic, but the "other side" sees no such compunction exploiting tragedy for political ends, so once more unto the breach. While I have been incapacitated by a nasty cold, social media has been awash with arguments about the recent Robb Elementary school shooting. Naturally, this has resulted in calls for more laws against guns.
I argue these proposals ignore the root problems and blame innocent people. The siren song of the politician's syllogism can be heard loud and clear. Something must be done, and banning things is something, so it is what must be done! Is it any wonder these demands for more government control and intrusion into our lives are met with hostility?
Background & Context
I wrote about violent crime and gun ownership a year ago in a post which showed the lack of effect the Clinton gun ban had on violent crime trends. The 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban only created a legal tangle of arbitrary definitions and dates that could turn an innocent person into a "criminal" without any real crime or victim, and protected no one. Meanwhile, firearm sales set several new records, and now 25 states (as of this post) have some form of "constitutional carry" law eliminating license requirements for concealed carry in most places for most people. The prediction was blood in the streets, but crime statistics suggest the opposite.
Meanwhile, the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 and subsequent laws have declared it a crime for anyone to carry a firearm on school grounds or even within 1,000 feet of a school. Current president Joe Biden supported these laws back when he was a senator. These victim disarmament zones effectively guarantee wrongdoers free rein to commit atrocities with little effective resistance until police arrive. Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that police have no duty to protect anyone.
There are always calls for more background checks and restrictions on gun sales, usually from people who don't even know about the National Instant Criminal background Check System (NICS check) required for every commercial firearm sale by any Federal Firearm License dealer since 1993.
Lastly, every incident always results in demands for prohibitions against "assault weapons," with the term essentially defined as "anything modern." Never mind the ineffective (and now expired) mess of the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban, and its prohibitions of cosmetic features and standard-capacity magazines, there are a lot of existing laws on the books already, and they tend to make innocent people into "criminals" rather than prevent criminal acts.
- The National Firearms Act of 1934, imposed a then-prohibitive $200 tax stamp on all machine guns, suppressors, short-barreled rifles/shotguns, and explosives.
- The Federal Firearms Act of 1938 created the Federal Firearms License system for retailers and manufacturers.
- The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 raised the minimum age for handgun purchases to 21, and prohibited interstate sales of handguns without an FFL.
- The Gun Control Act of 1968 added numerous further restrictions on interstate sales without an FFL and effectively replaced the acts of 1934 and 1938 with updated provisions, including restrictions on the import of firearms the government deems not suitable for sporting purposes.
- The Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986 is an Orwellian misnomer for a law prohibiting new manufacture of any machine guns for civilian sale. It did at least relax restrictions on private sale of long guns between residents of adjoining states, and curtail some avenues for abuse of peaceful people passing through more restrictive states though.
The above laws are just the most impactful federal laws, and this is to say nothing of the various state and local restrictions around the country. To say America is a lawless frontier with no gun laws is absurd. The only absurdity is the arbitrary nature of their definitions, and legislation by regulation redefining things to be "illegal" without any legislative input from an alleged representative democratic republic. After a century of compromise with authoritarian busybodies, we got lots of punishments and no security.
The Robb Elementary Shooting
Based on the available information at the time of this post, the perpetrator was able to legally buy rifles through FFL dealers with no prior criminal record or mental health issues, meaning no red flags in a NICS background check. He was apparently a struggling student who suffered from bullying. He may have been antisocial to some degree long before this violent incident.
Nonetheless, he apparently murdered his grandmother, stole a handgun at some point, crashed a stolen vehicle near the elementary school, shot the cop guarding the front door, and went on a shooting rampage inside. Police responded surprisingly quickly, but it still took a long time to evacuate students elsewhere and break through the perpetrator's barricade. Some reports suggest police spent 40-60 minutes after arrival outside the building before making entry. Apparently a border patrol agent on the scene finally shot and killed the perpetrator, ending his spree.
News reports being what they are, I'll just link to Wikipedia, since it will probably be updated faster, more often, and more accurately as events unfold.
The Unhinged Responses & My Rebuttals
On the left, the typical calls for a new gun ban could be heard immediately. Blame has been hurled at the NRA, gun owners, rifle manufacturers, etc. while gun owners are accused of not caring about dead children. I carry a gun because I intend to stop anyone who tries to murder kids in my vicinity. I know I am the first responder in any emergency, not the cops who show up minutes or even hours later to mark corpses and take pictures of the crime scene. Even if "well-regulated militia" meant government control like the hoplophobic crowd imagines, and school shootings are as frequent as they claim, we should not be prohibited from keeping and bearing arms when protecting children. Finally, I know this is a cheap shot, but it's strange to see people who have been howling about even the slightest threat to "abortion rights" suddenly concerned about death and dismemberment when there has always been a genetically-unique human from conception, not just once they are born.
On the right, there were rumors that the perpetrator was an illegal immigrant, and we need more border enforcement. This is just idiotic. First, no, he wasn't. Second, even if he was, condemning all immigrants is just as stupid as condemning all gun owners, and legality has never defined morality anyway.
Why is no blame placed on the school system that was failing to address this teen's needs, and subjected him to a mind-numbing routine which failed to help him learn, punished him for not meeting their standards, ans subjected him to constant bullying? No one questions the school system or its status as a soft target with no real security. This school apparently had a cop at the door, but he got shot anyway. Once that first and only line of defense was breached, there was no defense in depth. The teachers, janitors, lunch ladies, principal, secretary, etc. all have the natural right to self-defense, but Texas only enacted its "constitutional carry" law less than a year ago, and it still prohibits carry in schools in accordance with federal law.
A student was struggling to cope with the system, but he didn't get the help he needed. I don't know what it's like to struggle academically, but I do know what it's like to struggle physically. It would appear the perpetrator was looking at having to repeat 12th grade. Additionally, based on the context, but no direct evidence, I surmise he came from a broken home and lived a somewhat-impoverished life, although being able to afford at least one better rifle than I could buy and body armor, it seems he did have some economic opportunity. But from what I have been told, many people living in poverty struggle with seeing a larger perspective or making long-term plans, especially when struggling financially, dealing with family dysfunction, and under extreme stress from outside factors like school schedules, grades, and two years of COVID fearmongering and disruption. This doesn't excuse his actions in the slightest, but may help explain what pushed a fragile person to crack if we assume he wasn't a high-functioning sociopath from the start.
The Kids are Not Alright
Youth suicide has been climbing for years, as shown on the charts above. Tobacco use by minors resulted in heavy restrictions on vape products, and there are currently demands to prohibit menthol cigarettes to curb youth and minority use. Teen alcohol abuse has been declining, at least as of 2019. Drug abuse is an ongoing problem. Something is clearly wrong, and blaming guns is looking for an easy scapegoat instead of exploring the deeper issues at hand.
Conclusion
The acting individual always bears the greatest responsibility. This violent attack on children was completely unjustifiable regardless of the circumstances, and people have good reason to be outraged that it occurred. If we need to point fingers at anyone else, this is a failure of the education system and self-defense prohibition, not a failure of liberty and gun culture. Stop demanding the liberty of peaceable people be subject to restrictions based on the misdeeds of violent people. That will only ever result in tyranny, because evil does not care about laws. If you demand laws be respected, advocate for respectable laws which respect our liberty first and foremost. Don't demand innocents be systemically punished, restricted, regulated, or surveilled for the crimes of others.
