Politicians make political profit by passing ineffective laws. I study firearms laws, so that is where I noticed it first. When it comes to violence in our society, a politician doesn’t need to actually improve things with their legislation. In fact, the next gun law they pass can actually make things worse rather than better.
We buy our politics like an impulse shopper. We don’t look beyond the packaging to see what is really inside.
Politicians live in a world of vague images and impressions about the stated intent of their proposed law. All the politician really needs is a good headline. He will even write the headline for the media.. if the media lets him. Favorable media coverage helps the politician get political donations. Campaign cash is the real goal of legislation. That is a far cry from actually doing the people’s business and controlling criminal violence on our streets.
You and I live in the real world where a politician can’t do very much. The reasons are simple enough. When it comes to controlling violence, criminals don’t obey the law. That is a problem for the average unarmed citizen, but violent crime is actually an opportunity for the politician. More laws and controls are always the solution.. no matter what the problem. All that matters is that the politician’s press release spins well enough for the fawning news media.
This problem is widespread. A gullible news media and short attention span voters can be found from coast to coast and border to border. The only solution I see is to have a smaller government and to be a better consumer of political news. Pay attention to what your politicians do.
Our politicians won’t change unless we change them. Our politicians will only stop lying when they are caught and shamed.
Here are several more examples of political hypocrisy that needs to stop.
- Let’s start in Seattle. We were told that the recently passed Washington gun law would stop criminals from getting guns. These new laws demand a background check each time honest gun owners take possession of each other’s guns. Last week, a Seattle woman was robbed at gunpoint in front of her home. The armed thief took her purse and keys. The criminal didn’t submit to a mandatory background check to get his gun. In fact, robbery is up 38 percent in the area year to year. The “mandatory background check” law sounded good but simply doesn’t work as advertised.
- Oregon passed a similar “mandatory background check” law. Here is news that another felon from Oregon used a gun as he robbed a home. It was already illegal for these convicted felons to have guns, but that doesn’t stop them. The new mandatory background check law won’t stop them either.
- A thief robbed a San Diego, California restaurant and shot a customer. This is San Diego where honest citizens can’t get a permit to carry a firearm. The thief had a gun anyway.. and he didn’t bother asking the sheriff for a permit.
- Two police officers were shot and killed in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. They officers were shot by two convicted felons. It is illegal for a felon to possess a firearm, but criminals don’t obey the law.
- Three to four people have been shot each day in Baltimore, Maryland after the recent riots. Baltimore has extremely strict gun laws. The laws are so strict that it is impossible for an honest citizen to get a permit to carry a concealed weapon for self-defense. That isn’t stopping the thugs. Those gun laws only leave the honest citizens defenseless.
- Gangs run guns into the gun free cities of New York City and Washington, DC. Gangs move drugs. Gangs move people. Gangs move guns and ammunition. That doesn’t move New York politicians. Criminals get their guns, but honest citizens are left disarmed by law.
- Violence soared as Chicago passed more and more gun laws. Public violence finally fell when citizens were allowed to protect themselves on the street with a discreetly carried firearm. There are exceptions. Crime remains high on Chicago public transportation where honest citizens remain disarmed by state gun laws.
No city is immune.
I can see it now. There are headline-surfing anti-rights voters out there saying that we should pass a new law to make criminals obey the old law. Sigh. And somewhere, another politician found his low-information voters and smiles.
I’ll make is simple for you. Gun laws can only infringe on the rights of law abiding gun owners because honest gun owners are the only ones who obey gun laws. Criminals don’t. Crime won’t drop by telling criminals it is illegal to own guns. Criminals don’t care because they break the law for a living. Failed firearms prohibition only makes it more cumbersome for honest citizens to protect themselves. Is that failure a flaw in the law.. or is it a feature that was designed in from the start?
That may be the political intent all along.
by Rob Morse
https://slowfacts.wordpress.com/2015/05/20/prohibiting-firearms-for-political-profit/?fb_action_ids=10206916388854618&fb_action_types=news.publishes&fb_ref=pub-standard
