Straight Shooting on Gun Control

A Reason debate.

Abigail Kohn, Don Kates, Wendy Kaminer & Michael Krauss from the May 2005 issue

(Page 5 of 5)

It Isn't Safe Yet

Michael I. Krauss

Abigail Kohn clearly has come to a nuanced understanding of gun owners. That would be unremarkable for the majority of Americans who already understand gun owners (because they are, or are closely related to, gun owners). The fact that Kohn finds her understanding noteworthy is an indication of the ignorance that prevails among those who have a negative attitude toward guns, among whom I assume Kohn once counted herself. In that sense, her essay reads much like an article urging people not to fear the Jews because they don't really drink the blood of Christian babies: Reading it makes one sad that it's needed, but perhaps it will do some good. So two cheers for this essay.

It's hard to give three cheers for it, though, because Kohn pulls her punches on many occasions, presumably to avoid offending her gun-phobic readers. For instance, she might have pointed out, in more than a fleeting half-sentence, that there is no evidence gun control reduces crime; that gun control has distinctly racist origins (the desire to disarm freed slaves); and that gun control is most constraining precisely in areas (such as Chicago and the District of Columbia) where descendants of freedmen are trying to build safe lives for their families.

I am myself a victim of gun control. I work in (and for) the Commonwealth of Virginia, but I live in neighboring Maryland. Maryland is surrounded by Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware, and Virginia, each of which affords law-abiding citizens the right to carry a concealed weapon, provided they have taken appropriate training courses. Maryland statutes appear to grant such a right, but in fact the superintendent of police vetoes every "carry application," except for those of politicians and celebrities, just as Kohn describes. The Democrat-dominated Maryland legislature fears mayhem if the state's nonpolitician, noncelebrity citizens are afforded this basic right of self-defense. Yet Maryland consistently has a considerably higher crime rate than any of the neighboring "concealed carry" states. It is this kind of madness that makes gun owners conclude gun controllers are immune to rational argument.�

End of rant; back to Kohn. Contrary to her insinuation, the National Rifle Association is not an extremist organization, any more than the American Civil Liberties Union or the Anti-Defamation League. Kohn may not know that several organizations have split from the NRA because, in their view, it is insufficiently protective of Americans' Second Amendment rights. By her insinuation, Kohn reinforces silly stereotypes instead of debunking them.

And let's talk about those Second Amendment rights that Kohn assures her readers are so clearly secured. As I write, citizens of our nation's capital are fully denied these rights: If they use a firearm to defend themselves against a criminal, they are rewarded with confiscation of their weapon, for only criminals may possess firearms inside the District. Would Kohn feel the 13th and 14th amendments were firmly anchored if the country still included one slave-holding jurisdiction? Many jurists retain the deluded view that the 1939 Supreme Court case U.S. v. Miller sterilized the Second Amendment. Miller did not vacate the individual rights protected by the amendment, and it could not do so even if it tried, since the Supreme Court cannot modify the Constitution. Until citizens across the United States are assured of respect for their Second Amendment rights, it is outrageous to suggest these rights have been secured.

Finally, let it be known that I'm not a "gun enthusiast" myself, though Kohn's essay seems to assume all Second Amendment supporters are. I do not enjoy guns the way I enjoy cars, for example. I feel firearms are serious, dangerous items that happen to be great equalizers, enabling individuals to defend themselves against stronger assailants and citizens to defend their rights against tyrannical governments. I'll be glad if Kohn's debunking of the equivalent of the Jewish blood libel gains traction among the deluded. If and when that happens, maybe we all can sit down and really consider ways to enforce the Second Amendment and reduce violent crime.�

Michael I. Krauss ([e-mail]) is a professor of law at George Mason University.

The Makings of a Bargain

Abigail A. Kohn

Considered together, these three replies neatly demonstrate why the gun debate is at a standstill. What is a patent truism to one side is an obvious falsehood to the other. Wendy Kaminer argues that gun enthusiasts need to recognize that the NRA has become so virulent and unreasonable that it does a disservice to the gun-owning community, while Michael Krauss insists it is a much-maligned civil rights organization that has become almost soft in its politics, to the point that splinter groups are forced to take up the battle for our (perennially deteriorating) gun rights. Is it any wonder the gun debate has lost even the pretense of civility?

This leads me to one of Kaminer's most trenchant questions: Why am I not harder on gun enthusiasts? Krauss' and Don Kates' comments illustrate the reason perfectly: There isn't much point. According to Kates, shooters won't compromise because they view the gun control movement as fundamentally untrustworthy. Why should shooters make deals with the devil? Gun controllers undoubtedly would use any good-faith efforts by shooters to push for yet more gun control, which eventually would pave the way for their true goal: confiscation. Or so the argument goes. And as Krauss amply demonstrates, some gun rights advocates now approach the very idea of debate, much less compromise, with such thinly veiled hostility that just having a discussion seems unlikely. If Krauss expresses this much contempt for people who ostensibly agree with him, heaven help those who dare to disagree.

These two factors--distrust and hostility--are the primary reasons the gun debate goes nowhere. As I point out in my book, this is true for both sides, not just for gun rights advocates. But here's another reason why shooters are unlikely to consider any form of gun control: They don't need to consider it. For the most part, at least on the national level, they now hold the winning hand. Why tinker with success?

This is the point on which I feel most compelled to disagree with Krauss. As someone who conducted her research during the Clinton administration, which was genuinely hostile to gun owners, I see it as obvious that gun owners and gun rights groups enjoy far more political power now than they have in years. As the elections of 2000 and 2004 have clearly established, gun control is a losing proposition for Democrats, and the gun control movement is in more disarray today than it has been for decades. Some gun owners may still feel like victims, and may live in enclaves where their ability to carry openly, for example, is not allowed (yet), but on a national scale gun owners are in a far stronger political position than they were 10 years ago. Period.

Hence my question: What are they going to do about it? Couldn't they take this opportunity to actively seek out and promote legitimate violence-reducing programs and policies? Whether one chooses to label the Boston Gun Project an experiment in gun control or not, the fact remains that this program substantially reduced gun-related fatalities in Boston, at least while it was well-funded and operational. The bottom line is that it greatly improved people's lives. Is Kaminer the only one willing to recognize this point?

So yes, of course, shooters should remain vigilant against the obvious prejudice evidenced in places like San Francisco, where politicians will try (again) to enact bigoted and unenforceable laws banning handguns. And shooters should address the profoundly problematic policies of corporations like Pizza Hut. But equally important, shooters should openly applaud programs and policies that are genuinely capable of reducing violence. Imagine how empowering it would be for shooters to say to their critics: "Well, no, I don't support a ban on handguns, primarily because it doesn't work. However, I do support [Project X or Program Y] because it has demonstrably reduced gun-related violence in several crime-ridden cities across the U.S. I reserve my support for policies that actually reduce crime and violence." This could be the basis for a grand bargain if both sides are willing to compromise and work to reduce gun violence: Shooters would support reasonable and effective programs, and gun control advocates would give up the goal of disarming the American people.�