Peter Clothier has a holier-than-thou column in the HuffPo claiming he doesn't need a gun because
I myself am enough in tune with Buddhist teachings to believe that the taking of life is wrong in any circumstance--and, yes, that includes the saving of my own. I'm not naïve enough to believe that I wouldn't resort to violence in order to preserve my life, but I would not prepare for that contingency with the purchase of a gun.
Curiously, Clothier must've either killed or endorsed the killing of animals and plants to preserve his life. Nor does Clothier mention the idea of using someone else's gun to preserve his life. Or someone else using their gun to save his life.
Of course, the stupid Mr. Clothier doesn't acknowledge the fact that other people owning guns--and their willingness to use them--has kept him safe throughout his life. After all, cops have always carried guns in this country and they are sworn to preserve the lives of even ingrates like Clothier.
The stupidity of Clothier's argument becomes clearer the farther one reads into his column. The truth of the old addage about giving a guy enough rope to hang himself becomes more obvious just a couple of more grafs into the column.
In this context, I find it strange and profoundly unsettling that in all the news media reports on the recent senseless killing sprees in Nebraska and Colorado, I have heard virtually nothing about the guns that were used. If anyone has been speculating about how a deadly assault weapon ended up in the hands of a teenager who was well known by authorities to be mentally unstable and a young man whose rage and hatred were already on record, I have not heard or read it.
It's hard to believe Clothier hasn't heard about the teenager who stole his stepfather's gun. And gun control laws already in place are supposed to prevent the mentally ill from obtaining weapons. What stopped the last rampage wasn't less guns but more guns.
I've watched gun control arguments unfold over the last couple of weeks and they typically point to the success of gun control laws in New York City. But the decrease in crime in NYC cannot be attributed solely to gun control laws; there was an increase in the number of police officers on the street and other laws, such as anti-vagrancy laws, that helped lower crime in that city, In all honesty, gun control laws tend to ensure that criminals get guns while law-abiding citizens do not.
And still, banning guns doesn't stop people from killing each other. People killed each other long before guns were invented and, in places where guns are banned, determined would-be murderers just use other weapons. After all, a steak knife can kill someone, too.
Clothier should be thankful that he has the option not to own a gun but that others choose to do so. Their vigilence could just save his life some day.
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