I'm not going to go deeply into the tragedy today in Connecticut, but I wanted to expand upon what Ezra Klein said this afternoon, that those who reflexively call for a moratorium on so-called political issues after events like this are, in fact, politicizing the event themselves.
At some point, we as a nation are going to have to decide to take these tragedies seriously. There is no one solution to this problem, and anyone who tries to tell you that there is is lying to you, or to themselves.
We need to improve our mental health screening processes. We need to vigorously enforce our existing firearms laws. These are non-negotiables if we want to reduce gun violence, especially that of the mass, nonsensical variety that is increasingly common in this country.
But inescapable from this issue is our self-annihilating relationship with guns. We cannot stop these absurd tragedies until we decide to stop sacrificing our fellow citizens on the altar of an unfettered Second Amendment. Our freedoms are sacred to us in this country, and mostly for good reason, but the cost of this stubbornly archaic interpretation of this particular freedom is paid by the people killed in these shootings and by their families. Anyone who thinks this interpretation is defensible ought to try and defend it to them.
"Anyone who thinks this interpretation is defensible ought to try and defend it to them."
ReplyDeleteI believe you correctly perceive an opportunity, Jonas, for the state to advance its natural agenda to grab more power for itself. If I were to take up your challenge I would almost surely fail.
As a libertarian it seems I always struggle uphill. Arguments for less government controls will rarely be understood by non-libertarians in a hurry to make fast decisions.
The best things we have in life have grown. Naturally we like to believe that we can guide this process of growth, for a better future. But if guns represent a threat, placing disproportionate power in the hands of people who may be mistaken in their aims, consider that any new legislation will give even more power to the subset of people in society who already possess most of the most dangerous weapons -- that is the government.
This catastrophe gives the democratic state an opportunity to expand its power (as has been shown by Robert Higgs in "Crisis and Leviathan"). But I see no evidence that legislators have any better comprehension in this moment of the processes of growth of the best things in life.