It’s been a little more than 24 hours since a gunman burst into a Baptist Church in rural Texas and killed at least 26 people – the deadliest church shooting in modern American history.
In what has become an all-too familiar fallout routine, the shooting has prompted predictable mass obsession over the perpetrator and his motive. It’s also sparked another robust discussion over what could have been done (or should be done in the future) to stop such attacks.
In this case, that’s (once again) a debate over gun control …
Looking at things through the lens of immediacy, this makes sense.
When carnage like this is unleashed upon the world, we quickly digest the “what” (i.e. locations, body counts, investigating agencies etc.) and find ourselves moving on to the “why.”
And whether an answer to that question presents itself or not, the next transition is one of wanting to “do something” in order to keep it from happening again.
Again, that makes sense …
It’s natural when faced with evil to want to stop it from happening again. Honestly, something would be wrong with us if we didn’t find ourselves consumed by this urge following the sort of brutality we witnessed in Sutherland Springs, Texas yesterday.
But as this desire to “do something” overtakes us there’s something we need to consider: Sometimes there’s nothing to be done. Or to put it another way, sometimes the “things” certain people would have us do would ultimately create a far more dangerous world than the one we currently inhabit.
“Not every tragedy has a political solution,” author Jeffrey A. Tucker wrote for the Foundation for Economic Education.
Hardly any of them do, in fact.
From Tucker’s column …
The shooter in Texas was possessed by an evil longing to cause mass death, and his weapon of choice was a gun. It appears that his desire to kill even more was thwarted by a gun in the hands of Johnnie Langendorff, the hero next door who risked his life and limb to stop the bloodshed.
More gun control would very likely have done nothing to stop the killer but might have prevented law-abiding citizens from coming to their neighbors’ aid. No one who pushes gun control can credibly promise otherwise.
Indeed …
Tucker goes on to note that those pushing for gun control in the aftermath of tragedies like this one “are reluctant to admit what they are really pushing: gun monopolization by the state.”
That’s true …
This news site has been aggressive in its defense of the Second Amendment, but irrespective of our position (or for that matter your position) … there it remains. If you want to ban guns in America, you’ve got to repeal the Second Amendment.
Let’s assume for the moment this was something that could potentially happen (it couldn’t) … should we?
Absolutely not.
Quoting the great Saint Thomas Aquinas, Tucker noted in his column that “when state authorities attempt to stamp out sin, vice, and evil, they run the risk of inadvertently unleashing even more.”
Often times it isn’t so inadvertent, either.
The evils to be unleashed by a Second Amendment repeal wouldn’t just be confined to violent criminals who have habitually ignored (and will continue to ignore) laws passed with the intention of governing their behavior.
Those criminals will continue to kill and maim, of course, but we’re referring to an even bigger evil …
“A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves,” Edward R. Murrow once said.
In other words, if you think the liberty-limiting, crony capitalist, wealth-gap expanding country in which we live is trending in the wrong direction for “We The People” currently, just imagine what would happen if our citizenry lost the ability to defend itself.
Which is the real reason the Second Amendment must remain in place no matter what.
Look, we understand these aren’t comfortable points to raise in the aftermath of another unspeakable tragedy involving a firearm. But it’s necessary to talk about them – especially since a firearm helped put an end to this tragedy.
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