Following the advice of President Obama's former Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, who said, "never let a serious crisis to go to waste," Obama and all three Democratic presidential candidates are continuing to seize on the tragedy - a terrorist attack in a San Bernardino, Calif., social services facility - to call for more gun control.
The jihadist attack, which claimed the lives of 14 and injured as many as 17 innocent people, took place in a "Gun Free Zone." But that irony has escaped Obama and fellow gun control advocates.
We need only to look toward Chicago - where Emanuel is mayor - which claims some of the most restrictive gun legislation in the United States, for proof that restrictions have done nothing to stop gun violence. That's because a gun is a tool like any other than can be used to inflict violence. The desire to kill, an emotion that that is based in the psychological, is what needs addressing. Take away guns, and those who wish to kill will simply select another tool to do so.
That critical point was not lost on President Ronald Reagan - although he was shot and almost killed by a deranged John Hinckley Jr. Even then, Reagan rejected a call for additional legislation, arguing at a press conference that there were already too many gun-control laws on the books, "more than 20,000 gun-control laws in effect - federal, state, and local - in the United States," he said.
Here are some of the facts that led Reagan to come to such a conclusion.
Fact: Guns are inanimate objects. They do not have personal volition or intention. A gun left on its own has about as much chance as killing someone as your kitchen utensils do in preparing your next meal. Both require a personal agent with volition and intention to do anything.
Fact: Law-abiding citizens follow laws restricting access to firearms. Criminals and lunatics do not. Restricting access punishes law-abiding citizens, denying them their constitutional right and leaving them helpless.
Fact: Since 1950, every public mass shooting (with the exception of just one) in the U.S. has occurred in a place where civilians are banned from carrying firearms. The San Bernardino attack makes it 10 out of 11.
Fact: There is no law or regulation that would have prevented any of these mass shootings.
How many more mass shootings in designated "Gun Free Zones" will we have to witness before politicians stop lying to the American people? How much longer will innocent people be forced to lie in wait like animals at a slaughterhouse, while politicians continue to spew meaningless sound bites?
It is uncertain how many lives would have been saved had just one person at the California facility been armed, but it is certain that "Gun Free Zones" endanger lives.
Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessary represent those of Headlines and Global News.
