Gun Control & RKBA

I really don't have a problem with gun control, provided it's done the right way. If they prove little else, speed limits prove that we are capable of weighing necessity, convenience, and public safety, running some numbers, and coming to a compromise we can live with as a society. I'm not arguing against a similar approach to gun control, and honestly believe we should re-assess that one every few years based on the data before us. But the frank truth is that AR-whatevers are felt to have at least some arguable use to a very significant percentage of the population in most of the country. Granted, it may be 30-40% of the population, but it's likely 80% of the country's land area. And let me be clear that gun control as a subject bothers me so much that this time next year I'll be in Edinburgh.

But every time we start with this sort of crap, where we grab some rancher from Montana and say, "Citizen, a bunch of urban Democrats don't understand why you think you neeeeeeeeeed that rifle. Justify it to them or you can't have it," it's really not all that different from the times our society has said, "Citizen, a bunch of old biddies don't understand why you think you neeeeeeeeed that beer. Justify it to them or you can't have it." Or, "Citizen, a bunch of religious Republicans don't understand why you think you neeeeeeeed to marry your gay lover. Justify it to them or you can't do it." Or, "Citizen, a bunch of old white men don't understand why you think you neeeeeeed that abortion. Justify it to them or you can't have it." It doesn't help that no answer is ever acceptable to the Grand High Inquisitors in any of those situations, either. Those laws didn't just not make sense, they were all complete fucking disasters, and at some point a learning curve should kick in and we should stop doing this malum prohibitum shit. See? It's a mistake we make so often that there's even a name for it. That's not an argument for doing it more often, though.

Nobody will ever have a justifiable point when asking a citizen of a free society why he thinks he neeeeeeeeds to do or have something. It's not his job to justify his needs and wants to somebody else, never has been, and never will be. It's fine to pick up the burden of proof and actually make an honest argument why society thinks you need to not have or do something, and it's fine to support the anti-gun(anti-home-nuclear-reactor/...) argument with crime data, public health figures, possibly even poll numbers, or whatnot, but "Citizen, justify your need for something to me!" is really a demand which has no place in a free society. Especially if no answer is ever acceptable on any subject.