23 Thoughts On Gun Control That We Should Probably Listen To Right Now
By Brad Winlsow
No matter what side of the coin you fall on, we could all admit that our country has a serious, serious problem. Here are some musings that could help catalyze the ongoing discussion in a productive and provocative manner:
1. “You can have all the gun control laws in the country, but if you don’t enforce them, people are going to find a way to protect themselves. We need to recognize that bad people are doing bad things with these weapons. It’s not the law-abiding citizens, it’s not the person who uses it as a hobby.” – Michael Steele
2. “Gun control means control. It means control for the government and the government starts controlling the people.” – Luke Scott
3. “The desire to order other people around and make them conform to one own’s vision takes many forms.” – Thomas Sowell
4. “By calling attention to a ‘well regulated militia,’ ‘the security of the nation,’ and the right of each citizen ‘to keep and bear arms,’ our founding fathers recognized the essentially civilian nature of our economy…” – John F. Kennedy
5. “Gun bans don’t disarm criminals, gun bans attract them.” – Walter Mondale
6. “Just as the First and Fourth Amendment secure individual rights of speech and security respectively, the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. This view of the text comports with the all but unanimous understanding of the Founding Fathers.” – John Ashcroft
7. “It seems ridiculous that you can be in one state with your driver’s license and buy a firearm, and then in the next state it is totally illegal. There are real problems to that, but as soon as you bring up the subject and say ‘gun control,’ it sets a red flag.” – Joe Perry
8. “It’s not a gun control problem; it’s a cultural control problem.” – Bob Barr
9. “New Rule: Gun-control people have to stop pressuring Starbucks to ban guns. I want my gun nuts overcaffeinated, twitchy, and accident-prone. That way, the problem will take care of itself. Plus, if just one gun nut kills just one pseudo-intellectual writing a screenplay-slash-graphic-novel on his iPad, natural selection is doing its job.” – Bill Maher
10. “Gun control? We need bullet control! I think every bullet should cost 5,000 dollars. Because if a bullet cost five thousand dollars, we wouldn’t have any innocent bystanders.” – Chris Rock
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11. “This battle for ‘common-sense’ gun control laws pits emotion and passion against logic and reason. All too often in such a contest, logic loses. So, expect more meaningless, if not harmful, ‘gun control’ legislation. Good news – if you’re a crook.” – Larry Elder
12. “The Second Amendment is timeless for our Founders grasped that self-defense is three-fold: every free individual must protect themselves against the evil will of the man, the mob and the state.” – Tiffany Madison
13. “How oblivious do we have to be to the inner turmoil of our own children to not see what they’re going through, and then suggest when they completely snap with homicidal violence, it must’ve been the video games?” – Edward M. Wolfe
14. “Expecting a carjacker or rapist or drug pusher to care that his possession or use of a gun is unlawful is like expecting a terrorist to care that his car bomb is taking up two parking spaces.” – Joseph T. Chew
15. “Laws can’t control the lawless” – Wayne LaPierre
16. “It’s time for Democrats, Republicans and independents to say … the strongest conceivable gun control laws won’t stop all acts of violence. But, also, to acknowledge that the stronger our gun control laws are, the fewer acts of violence including mass violence that will happen in our society.” – Joseph Lieberman
17. “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” – Benjamin Franklin
18. “It is criminal to teach a man not to defend himself when he is the constant victim of brutal attacks. It is legal and lawful to own a shotgun or a rifle. We believe in obeying the law.” – Malcolm X
19. “Nothing we’re going to do is going to fundamentally alter or eliminate the possibility of another mass shooting…” – Joe Biden
20. ”Americans used to roar like lions for liberty; now we bleat like sheep for security.” – Norman Vincent Peele
21. “The Strongest Reason For The People To Retain The Right To Keep and Bear Arms Is, As A Last Resort, To Protect.” – Thomas Jefferson
22. “When seconds count between living or dying, the police are only minutes away.” – Phillip Van Cleave
23. “GUNS ARE NOT THE ISSUE. WE ARE.” – Aaron B. Powell