Tim Grobaty: A more perfect union, with fewer guns

A BETTER-REGULATED MILITIA: It is time, apparently, to ban rocks.

Rocks, tire irons, sections of 2x4s, arsenic, kitchen knives and iron skillets. All these things, in the wrong hands, can kill, we were reminded idiotically by way too many people last Friday and in the days following the massacre at Sandy Hook.

The level of debating-skill sophistication always plummets, along with the national mood, each time one of these assault weapon-enhanced mass killings takes place. The rapidity with which gun advocates remount their arguments in favor of their weapon of choice and in passionate defense of the breathtaking range of their killing efficiency makes one imagine that they're dispatched like an army by the National Rifle Association, even as the NRA stood semi-graciously mute for a while after the latest school murders.

The depthless observation that "guns don't kill, people do" is still hauled out after all these years as a reason to not regulate the innocent gun, which only wants to sit in a nice walnut case all day or maybe do a little varmint huntin' now and then.

The fact is, that guns really don't kill on their own. We'll give 'em that one. But a shooter can do a lot better job as a killer with a gun. And the more rounds that gun's magazine can hold, the easier it is for that person to kill more people. Make it a semi-automatic (full automatic is ideal, but, thanks to a stray bit of sanity, illegal for most of us to own) and you

can kill with your eyes closed. Guns don't kill, people do. Together, they make a great team.

The next level of deep thought is, again, woefully predictable and illogical. Stop us if you've heard it: Knives kill people (well, no, people kill people, but we get what you mean), tire irons kill people, rocks kill people. And here's the topper: Automobiles kill people. Are you going to outlaw knives and rocks and cars?

OK, no, we're not - nor is anyone, or hardly anyone - seeking to outlaw guns. After all, we need our well-regulated militia in order to defend ourselves against a government gone amok, as per the poor and abused Second Amendment, whose authors are kicking themselves in their graves for not having the foresight to anticipate an AR-15 assault rifle, never mind that weapon being maddeningly available at some 1,700 Wal-Marts, the nation's No. 1 seller of firearms in the U.S.

People - some of us - are merely seeking regulation. What kind of regulation? Anything at all would be nice: Banning assault rifles of any stripe would be a good start. Closing the second-market means of buying guns without so much as a cursory background check by purchasing firearms at guns shows and on the Internet. Limiting the capacity of the gun's magazine to however many rounds it takes to defend your home or kill a deer. Making background checks a tad more thorough - in some civilized countries you're required to have a couple of people vouch for you when you apply for a gun.

Gun control is not going to end killing. Killing will go on as a long as there's still a rock left on this planet. It's not going to end mass murders. But it will save lives. That's undeniable. How many lives will it save? We don't know. What's the number gun fanatics need to have in front of them before they'll agree that regulation is necessary?

Did we say "gun fanatics?" We meant "gun nuts." Too often these aren't mere Second Amendment defenders who cleave to every clause of the constitution. Here, we're talking about the people who fear that their prized arsenal of sophisticated weaponry will be snapped up by bellicose pacifists in Washington and who go into a hoarding frenzy at the first rumors of peace.

When our president gave his beautiful and gently stern eulogy in Newtown on Monday, you could hear pickups firing up all across the country as people flocked to gun stores and discount chains with smiley-face icons to pick up an armload of assault rifles and other firearms - and plenty of ammo, because those bad boys can spew out a couple hundred rounds per minute even if you have a lethargic trigger finger.

Gun sales spiked ferociously after the Aurora, Colo., theater slayings; they spiked when Obama was re-elected; they're spiking now.

And it's all because Obama is hinting that the country might be moving in the direction of compassion and common sense. For some people, that's a frightening prospect. For the rest of us, it's a reason for - what's the word that's always used? - hope.

tgrobaty@yahoo.com, 562-714-2116 or twitter.com/grobaty

Source: http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_22218310/tim-grobaty-more-perfect-union-fewer-guns?source=rss

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