No Way to Prevent It

Most gun owners aren't nuts.

And never have been. Still, the intense, even religious fervor that accompanies all arguments on this subject seems to infect even otherwise reasonable people.

There is a common bumper sticker, "When you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns." But I don't think that's the real argument we hear from the NRA and its supporters. What they imply without actually saying it is more like, "When you outlaw guns, only the GOVERNMENT will have guns."

That is the basis for the otherwise wacko-sounding opposition to any gun laws at all. Looked at that way, their "paranoia" no longer seems so disconnected from reality. Now, can we trust the government? Well, thus far, I'd say "Yes, of course" like the good Liberal I am. But you know...Mexico is forty miles from my front door. In theory, anyway, Mexico has very tight gun control.

And in Mexico, to a considerable extent, "Only the outlaws have guns."

Including the Government.

I don't pretend to know the right thing to do. We are a huge nation, nearly one-third of a billion people with wealth unimagined in human history and a heritage of virtuous self-reliance. Yes, that's largely a myth but myths inform existence so they matter more than they should. I don't know whether a gun-free United States would be a better or worse place but I do know it would be a different place.