Gun control advocates use the words “common sense” to describe laws that degrade and destroy Americans’ natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms. Background checks are “common sense.” Ammunition magazine capacity limits are “common sense.” Gun bans in schools and stores are “common sense.” To paraphrase The Princess Bride, I don’t think those words mean what they think they mean. In fact, I know it. When deployed by the antis, “common sense” means “park your brain in the corner.” It’s time the pro-gun side reclaimed the term. So here’s my common sense, my stat and citation-free guide to gun rights . . .
Guns save lives
Common sense says that a firearm is an effective tool for defending innocent life against the threat of death or grievous bodily harm. Shooting someone trying to attack you, your loved ones or other innocent life demotivates them. In fact, common sense tells us that just pointing a gun at a criminal may be all that’s needed to make a criminal cease and desist.
Guns are simple
Common sense – and a quick trip to any gun range – says that it’s easy to use a gun. Load, point, shoot. Despite the antis’ oft-expressed fear that “untrained” civilians will shoot the wrong person, people who use guns defensively use their common sense. They make sure they fire when they have a good chance of hitting their target. (Again, simply pointing a gun is usually enough to stop an attack.)
Guns aren’t dangerous in and of themselves
Common sense says that no gun shoots someone without human manipulation – any more than a knife stabs someone all on its own or the poisons under your sink pour themselves into children’s mouths. There are dangerous people who use or store guns irresponsibly or criminally, but common sense says that people are to blame for firearms-related injuries and death.
Gun owners are mentally stable
Avoiding stats, a LOT of Americans own guns. If a significant number of them were mentally unstable, common sense says there would be a LOT more firearms-related “crimes of passion” and spree killers.
Gun owners are patriotic Americans
Common sense says if gun owners wanted to overthrow the U.S. government they wouldn’t pay their taxes, vote, wear patriotic clothing or use patriotic imagery when asserting their gun rights. While the antis claim that gun owners are “secret” insurrectionists, common sense says gun control advocates are making the claim to justify gun control laws and further their anti-gun agenda.
Gun owners don’t suffer from feelings of sexual inadequacy
The antis claim that gun owners own firearms to compensate for feelings of sexual inadequacy due to below-average penis size. (I swear I’m not making this up.) Common sense says that male gun owners are no more or less sexually endowed than the general population – without considering the fact that a LOT of women keep and bear arms.
Background checks don’t prevent crime
Common sense says that anyone with a criminal record knows they will fail a criminal background check when trying to purchase a gun from a legal source. So criminals avoid background checks entirely by stealing a gun or purchasing a firearm from the black market. When and where background checks are expanded to gun shows and legal private sales, criminals avoid those sources as well. And steal or purchase a firearms from the black market.
Ammunition magazine capacity limits don’t limit carnage
There are millions of standard capacity ammunition magazines in America – even in places where they are banned. Common sense says a someone committing a crime with a firearm won’t care that he’s using an illegal magazine in his illegal gun when committing an illegal act. Common sense also tells you that a mass killer will find a way to increase the number of bullets he can fire if he so desires (e.g. by swapping magazines or carrying more than one gun).
Gun violence restraining orders don’t work
Using a gun violence restraining order – due to become law in California – a judge can order firearms confiscation from people considered dangerous by a disaffected spouse or partner – without the owner’s prior knowledge (i.e. a chance to refute the charges). Common sense says that a person subject to a GVRO who’s bent on hurting or killing a spouse or partner will withhold a gun from the police, secure a gun illegally or use some other method to attack their target.
“Assault weapons” are effective for self-defense
Common sense says that if the police use military-looking semi-automatic or automatic rifles to protect innocent life, [non-law enforcement] civilians can use them for the same purpose.
“Gun-Free Zones” don’t save lives
Common sense says that armed criminals don’t disarm where they’re legally prohibited from carrying firearms (convicted felons are prohibited from carrying a firearm period). These so-called “gun-free zones” – schools, hospitals, New Jersey – disarm law-abiding gun owning citizens, who do respect these prohibitions. Common sense says that armed criminals have enough common sense to know they’re less likely to encounter armed resistance in a gun-free zone, and thus consider these areas a relatively “soft” target.
Feel free to add to this list in the comments section below.