Gun Control-Weapons of Mass Destruction Style

Posted by Jeff Carter
on December 23rd, 2012

English: A letter by Teddy Roosevelt which giv...

A letter by Teddy Roosevelt which gives the first usage of “Speak softly and carry a big stick” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Gun control advocates want to take all the guns away, and regulate against it. This is sort of shaping up to be a Republican versus Democratic response to the issue. As per usual, Republicans are taking the unpopular position, but it is aligned on the side of individual freedom.

However, let’s extrapolate the pro-gun control response and see how it’s worked with a different issue: weapons of mass destruction. Banning nuclear weapons has worked exactly the same as gun control. Only the bad guys have the weapons. North Korea and Iran relentlessly pursue nuclear weapons regardless of what the rest of the world says. As the US and Russia were signing treaties to reduce the size of their arsenal terrorist countries were doing all they could to build them. The UN has banned the use of chemical weapons in battle. Yet, Syria has them and may have used them on its own people. Iran and Iraq used them in their many years war.

What if the US didn’t have a nuclear arsenal, and more importantly what if we had never used it? Teddy Roosevelt was correct in his soundbite big stick policy. It makes a difference.

In the gun debate, a lot of ideas are being floated. The ones banning guns, legislating against a particular gun, or other forms of regulation and taxation of weapons won’t work. The bad guys will still get the stuff they need to commit crimes. Crazies will also still find a way to inflict pain upon citizens.

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