The phrase “gun control” is tainted, and the gun control advocates know it. It’s a phrase that instantly raises a wall of opposition from gun owners, and doesn’t get their supporters’ blood up quite like it once did. So gun control advocates are trying to re-brand their civilian disarmament efforts. Advocates like Jim Cavanaugh, MSNBC’s resident ex-ATF agent (also known as “Waco” Jim Cavanaugh for his involvement in the Waco massacre) who recently penned an article trying to re-brand “gun control” as “crime control.” His thesis: gun control isn’t really about guns, it’s about crime. But Jim’s logic is as flawed as a lead balloon . . .
For former ATF agents like Mr. Cavanaugh, there’s no difference between a lawful gun owner and a criminal. In their minds, all guns owned by civilians are just crimes waiting to happen. It’s only a matter of time.
I used to say to the Special Agents and detectives assigned to my division, “That gun trafficking ring you broke up was about to be a series of murders.” Or, “That armed felon you just arrested was a murder looking to happen.”
The idea that a citizen can responsibly own a gun and not use it to kill someone in cold blood doesn’t register in their minds. Civilians are inherently idiots and murderers, and it’s up to the ruling classes to keep them from harming themselves. Like a benevolent father figure looking out for their best interests.
People like Jim don’t want to look at the cases where an armed citizen stopped a criminal and saved their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Events like that, to Jim, are irrelevant. They’re the outlier, not the norm. Because that idea, that guns benefit society, is one that they outright refuse to consider.
The Gun Control Act of 1968, swept into law by the assassinations of the 1960’s, strengthened gun laws, and the Brady Handgun Violence Protection Act of 1993, passed after the attempted assassination of President Reagan, did mandate background checks. These two laws have prevented uncountable murders and violent crimes. Without them, American life would be drastically different–and worse.
Jim realizes that the only way to disarm the United States is to get them to think like he does — to reflexively associate guns with crime. To believe that the only reason guns exist is to commit crimes, to kill innocent people. That there’s no way that guns could ever benefit society.
I’ve got some news for Jim: guns save lives. Every single day. And that’s the truth, whether he likes it or not.