Fayetteville, AR –-(Ammoland.com)- Dear students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School:
You have experienced a horror that no one should have to go through. And the claims that have been made that some among you are hoaxers or actors are a disgusting attempt to add further injury, a desperate effort to glom on to the notoriety of a killer.
I am glad to see you participate in the political process. As a teenager in the 1980s, I was one of the few among my peers who cared about how our country is run, and I do remember all the work that people your age have to do to get ready for adulthood. Things don’t get easier as the years add up, so I hope that you maintain your commitment to be involved.
That being said, there are some things that you need to know about the political sphere:
It’s a Rough Business
No one who opposes you will care about your feelings. That’s not because the opposition is filled with jerks. It’s just the way politics works. The people on your side will exploit your feelings for the benefit of the political goal. In other words, unless the person talking to you is a relative or friend—and not even then, always—understand that your emotional states are commodities.
Disagreement is a Part of the Process
You may have noticed on social media that anyone who disagrees with someone else is likely to be called a troll. This is a stock accusation, and it’s worth exactly as much as the evidence provided to support the claim. A troll seeks to derail rational discourse. But disagreeing with your position isn’t trolling. It’s continuing the discussion. Ideas have to be tested to find their worth, and you’ll need to submit the proposals you are advocating for to the analysis of others.
Similarly, disagreeing with you doesn’t make a person identical to the ones who are calling you fakes. As I said above, you experienced a horror. I acknowledge that, but I disagree with what you want to do.
Gun Control Doesn’t Work
This claim may surprise you, but it’s at the heart of why I oppose what you’re trying to do. Take a look at one nation that is cited over and over as proof that we should impose strict gun laws: England. (Don’t quibble about England, Britain, and the United Kingdom. The data available are for England.) The homicide rate in that country has been basically flat since the late 1700s, hovering between one and two murders per hundred thousand residents. And yet, gun control didn’t become onerous until the second half of the twentieth century. Until then, the people of England could own and even carry firearms in a manner much like what we are able to do here in most of the United States.
But what about Australia? That nation imposed bans and restrictions in 1997, following the mass shooting in Port Arthur. But the homicide rate peaked in the late 80s at around two per hundred thousand, then began a decline that lasted until the middle of the last decade. The 1997 laws added no additional decline in the rate.
At this point, someone will declare that Australia hasn’t had a mass shooting since 1997. That may be true, though mass killings have taken place since then, it’s worth noting that New Zealand didn’t impose new gun laws in 1997 and also hasn’t had a mass shooting since. A mass shooting is a horror, but so is any murder, and since the gun laws are not reducing the overall homicide rate, is it really such a gain to say that those deaths are now only happening one at a time?
Here among the states of this nation, gun control also fails to show any effect on homicides. The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence publishes a scorecard of gun laws in each state. The more burdens imposed on gun rights, the higher the score. And yet, comparing their ratings with the homicide rates by state shows no correlation. Some states with loose gun laws have lots of murders, while others have few. Some states with strict gun laws also have lots of murders, while others also have few.
Which is to say, it’s not the gun laws. Bans and restrictions only burden the law-abiding. We can work together on things that do reduce violence—education, poverty reduction, and anti-bullying programs—but we can’t cooperate as long as demands to violate our rights are still on the table.
If you wish to discuss any of this, feel free to let me know. I am on Twitter @gregcampnc.
About Greg Camp
Greg Camp has taught English composition and literature since 1998 and is the author of six books, including a western, The Willing Spirit, and Each One, Teach One, with Ranjit Singh on gun politics in America. His books can be found on Amazon. He tweets @gregcampnc.
Hogg and the others are being coached guaranteed. They push for GUN CONTROL, when the real problem was friends, family and law enforcement failures. The gun was nothing but a TOOL much like Mr. Hogg and the others are being used as right now. Cruz had said, done, shown that he was a viable threat and NO ONE did shit ! Now that he acted out his crime, it is the guns fault……….. BZZZZZZZZZZZZT, WRONG answer ! It is the shooter and those who did absolutely zero to stop him from pulling that trigger. Add to this mess a few… Read more »
What every community needs is a phalanx of super heros to respond to every known and unknown crime immediately as it starts to occur. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be likely anywhere in the US at this time. Why doesn’t somebody do that? To believe that an area becomes safe by declaration as a Gun Free Zone is like putting the same sign in front of a liquor store, stop and rob, fast food place, etc only to here massive complaints amongst the criminal element about not being able to bring their guns in those establishments. Shouldn’t that type… Read more »
OK, Gun Control Won’t Work! Got any Plan or Ideas on what might Work? I do, and these kids Got A Plan. Better to talk with them about your ideas then just complain about them. They are a movement, and they just might be coming to your State soon. I say let US All work with them, and maybe we can save a few lives. First part of my plan is to make every Government Building Gun Friendly, and take 60% of our tax dollars that they blow on protecting themselves and use to for our Schools and Kids. Let… Read more »
Furthermore… It turns out that a remarkably low percentage of states and police agencies report dis-qualifiers into NICS. There is a good reason for that, and an even better reason for eliminating “Background Checks” as a “do something” false flag operation. Background checks may make gun grabbers feel good, but they are easily bypassed by criminals, psychopaths and terrorists that want firearms. They just steal them, or use straw purchasers. Police agencies spend most of their time responding to actual criminal events, responding to domestic disputes, managing civil needs like traffic control and handling paperwork. NICS related data collection efforts… Read more »
A very good article, in my opinion.
That kid Hogg looks like someone who is in serious need of mental health intervention before he goes postal. Or it may be just like the difference between being a military weapon and looking like one. He isn’t a nut job but he looks like one so maybe he should lose some of his rights, like the right to assemble, the right to free speech, the right to vote, and, of course, the right to own a firearm.
Ask those students how differently the day may have gone had that coash, Mr. Aaron Feis, been allowed to carry his own handgun at school every day. Well concealed, so no one else kneew but him…… do these students who lived really think the man who wilfully placed HIS OWN BODY between the bullets and as many of his beloved students as he could, would have been content to do that and leave his own handgun in its holster? If he had time to throw his body to protect some students from gunfire, don’t you think he’d have had enough… Read more »
Hey, Hogg you are nothing but a shill for a corrupt media and Demon-Crap party you’re no hero, you’re nothing but a two bitt opportunist.
There is no rational justification for “Gun Control” in the United States.
There is also adequate history demonstrating that if these children get what they want, things will be much worse.
https://skilledshot.wordpress.com/2018/02/27/repeal-the-second-amendmend-for-the-children/
The Second Amendment exists for very rational reasons.
Dear Students, I hurt right along with you. As a gun owner, I do believe there should be stricter gun laws, However, for the past 30 years the way you are going about it is all wrong. I watched the town hall. This was not a discussion on how to prevent, but a planned attack on guns, legal gun owners and the NRA. Have you even looked into what the NRA actually does. A lot. Your local leaders, including the school system and your local sheriff chose not to take advantage of what the NRA can provide, free of charge..… Read more »
@MBH, Do you believe that there should be stricter baseball bat laws, hammer laws, swimming pool laws, paperweight laws, under the kitchen sink cleaning chemicals laws, and chain saw laws, too?
I appreciate that the simplicity of your argument. My greatest two concerns in this political debate are, first the inability to disentangle identity from opinion, thus civil disagreement becomes interpreted a a personal attack. My ideas are from me, but they are not me. I’m a lot more than a slogan or a tag-line. The second, and probably the most insidious, is the propagandized premise that we are debating. The story touches on the concept of violence at the core of the issue. “Gun-violence” is a logical fallacy. Object violence does not occur, thus it cannot be prevented. Firearms are… Read more »
Greg Camp, well-stated, unfortunately, as all readers at this site know, anti-rights people are generally devoid of the ability to reason and use rational, logical thought processes, and lack facts to support their emotional pleas to “do something”.
Our solutions to the “do something” are ones they will not believe nor accept, even though they are are “common-sense” and reasonable. Number one on the list is to eliminate GFZs that are proven time and again to not work.
Maybe there needs to be a correlation studied between states that are liberal and conservative.
Yeah go ahead get tougher gun laws but who do you all think it is going to hurt, not the damned criminal hell no, just the law abiding citizen that who. I am tire of hearing how we the law abiding citizen who are trying to protect them selves, their loved ones, and friends. NO ALL OF THE LIBERAL IDIOTS AND DEMOCRAPS ON THE HILL WANT TO LIMIT US THE LAW ABIDING CITIZENS, BUT NOT THE CRIMINALS OH NO NOT THEM. WELL CHILDREN AND LIBERALS AND DEMOCRAPS WHEN THE SHIT HITS THE FAN YOU ALL WILL BE FIRST TO SCREAM,… Read more »