Posted by
John Caile on Wednesday, March 11, 2009 2:28:41 PM
The eerie coincidence of two mass public shootings in both Germany and America has oddly undermined the position of gun control advocates. After all, for decades we've heard the claim about how much "safer it is in Europe, where they have strict regulations on guns."
Ooops.
But there's more. It turns out that Wednesday's school shooting in Germany is just one in a series of shootings at German schools, including an incident in 2002 in which a 19 year old student killed 15 people before turning the gun on himself. Here again, haven't we been given the impression that "school shootings" are unique to "gun crazy" America?
Naturally, after the 2002 shooting rampage, German officials overreacted by...you guessed it, passing more gun control laws, including raising the minimum legal age for owning a gun from 18 to 21. But the shooter in yesterday's massacre was only 17 - thus he was too young to legally possess a gun even under the old laws!
Ooops, again.
Obviously, their new restrictions were no more effective than the previous laws. But don't hold your breath waiting for reality (or even common sense) to sink into the craniums of those who hate guns and fear private gun ownership. They will persist in blaming the actions of every psychotic killer on "guns."
Even worse, they will likely miss (or simply ignore) the obvious lesson - that gun control doesn't really work any better in Europe than it does here. Instead, I wouldn't be surprised if they attempt to use these occurrences to "prove" that what we really need is - you guessed it! More gun control! And not just more - but WORLD-WIDE gun control!
Such international rules on guns have already been proposed by numerous anti-gun groups both here and in Europe, with oversight and "enforcement" provided by...the U.N. Now there's a thought that should send chills down the spine of any thinking human being - let's give our rights over to the U.N. - an organization whose officials can't find their shoes in the morning (those who even wear shoes, that is).
So, take heed, gun owners - these most recent shooting incidents will be unlikely to result in a change in the "thinking" of the anti-gun contingent. But even those who don't own guns should view these most recent incidents as opportunities to question the current knee-jerk reaction of responding to every sensational shooting by passing yet more laws.
But the harsh reality is that no matter what ridiculous new gun control schemes are implemented, whether here or in Europe, none of them will save a single human life. They will only "succeed" in placing the innocent at greater risk, and violating the rights of the 99.997% of gun owners who never harm anyone.