The False Promise of Gun Control

1. The False Promise of Gun Control Introduction to Moral Issues

2. Do gun control laws work? • What are your experiences with guns? • Polsby: “Gun-control laws don’t work. What is worse , they act perversely. While legitimate users of firearms encounter intense regulation, scrutiny, and bureaucratic control, illicit markets easily adapt to whatever difficulties a free society throws in their way.

3. Two general types of Gun Control Laws • 1. The older kind of Gun control law sought to regulate how, where, and by whom firearms could be carried • 2. More recent gun control laws have sought to make it more costly to buy, sell, or use firearms ( or certain classes of firearms, such as assault rifles, Saturday night specials, and so on.) by imposing taxes on them • The Brady Bill is of both types: it has a background check provision , and its five- day waiting period amounts to a “time tax” on acquiring handguns.

4. The Second Amendment • The second amendment of the Constitution: The right to bear arms…to be enjoyed by everyone, not just a militia. • Polsby: One of the principle justifications for an armed populace was to secure the tranquility and have good order in the community. • Polsby: However, Most rational people would reject this type of reasoning: I admit that my behavior (owning guns) may be dangerous to public safety, but the Second Amendment says I have a right to do it anyway.

5. Fighting the Demand Curve • The Value of a weapon to a given person is a function of two factors: • How much he or she wants to dominate a confrontation if one occurs, • And how likely it is that he or she will actually be in a situation calling for a gun • Someone who intends to engage in a transaction involving a gun- a criminal , for example- is obviously in the best possible to predict the likelihood of getting what one wants. • Therefore they will be willing to pay more for guns, because it is so important for hostile transactions.

6. Fighting the Demand Curve • Other citizens, (Professors, politicians, , newspaper editors) are people who don’t value guns in the first place • They are out of the loop, concerning the value and harm of having a gun…because they cannot accurately judge how important a gun plays in a criminals transaction.

7. Do Guns Necessarily Drive up Crime rates? • It doesn’t appear so…..According to the American Journal of Public health from 1976-1985 , spousal homicide fell, despite increasing guns sales • If firearms increased violence and crime, Florida’s murder rate should not have been falling since the introduction of a law that makes if easier for ordinary citizens to get permits to carry concealed handguns.

8. Does sealing the border work? • Even if many states outlawed sales of handguns, then, they would continue to be available, through interstate commerce. • Why would a smaller force of federal government officers do a better job than a larger local force? • On the demand side of guns…criminals can still commit crimes without guns through other tactics…e.g. smash and grab, burglary • On the supply side, firearms transactions can be consummated behind closed doors…illegal marketplaces are any easy way for criminals to arm themselves for life

9. Administering prohibition • The US government has no means to confiscate the 200 million privately owned firearms • We can create gun free zones….but is it feasible to do this when we are burdened with costs of paying security guards, and constant inconvenience by authorities. • Voluntary programs, like turn in your gun day, have been ineffectual • Do we want metal detectors on every corner, random searches, etc?

10. Ignoring the ultimate sources of crime and violence • One cannot expect people to quit seeking new weapons as long as the tactical advantages of weapons are seen to outweigh the costs imposed by prohibition. • The only way to make people give up guns, is to create a world in which guns are perceived as having little value. • Populations of game animals readily recover from hunting seasons but not from loss of habitat. • Mean streets , when there are few legitimate entry-level opportunities for young men, are a criminal habitat

11. Protection • Communities must organize more effectively against predators. • The root cause of crime, is that for certain people predation is a rational occupational choice. • The solution of the problem of crime lies in improving the chances of young men. • Nothing guarantees prudent behavior like a sense of the future, and with average skills in reading, writing, and math, young people can realistically look forward to constructive employment and the straight life of steady work.

12. We can’t control guns • The right to bear arms is valid because “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” not merely because it was written as the second amendment. • As long as crime pays as well as it does, we will have plenty of it, and honest folk must choose between being victims and defending themselves.

13. Trayvon Martin Case • A teenager, Trayvon Martin was walking home, and was shot down by a security guard, who was not charged for murder, despite the fact that Trayvon was unarmed. • Florida Gun laws protect Trayvons killer: • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CG_-MfOw3o8