Gun Control: The Real Issue

Gun control activists claim we need gun control laws to protect ourselves from cr sayiminals. They if people don't have guns, then they can't be shot by criminals. Then the gun rights activist reminds his opponent that criminals won't choose to follow gun control laws. Usually they both list their statistics on effects of gun control laws upon crime rates. However, there is a more crucial issue at stake than whether we are safer from criminals. Gun control laws enable persecution by government.

Basically, governmental persecution occurs through the ultimate act of a ban on possession, but such acts come after a gradual process of gun permits and registration (to aid collection of guns when a ban comes) and bans on supposedly more dangerous guns (assault weapons). Assault weapons are as necessary as handguns. It is foolish to fight a government possessing assault weapons when you only have handguns.

Gun control is a bad idea because it results in removing your ability to defend yourself and forces you (if you are a law-abiding citizen) to trust and depend upon your government. Most people cannot afford private security services so they rely on government, which is inefficient in the production of security. The government provides security based on bureaucratic rules, not market profit-loss efficiency. Instead of changing or removing a policy (or even going out of business) government suggests a policy should be enlarged to work. But this is the opposite of the market; if a policy fails it is because consumers do not approve, thus a change is made instead of trying to force it on the consumers.

Being dependent on government adds a risky element to the population. If the government has all the guns, they are the stronger force. We are reliant on them for security. There is an imbalance of power. If they were to betray that trust through some evil policy, we could not defend ourselves. For example, a child being attacked by a man is likely to be overpowered because the child has initially placed his trust in the adult, and second, because he has no method of defense.

If private security services are expensive, don't we need government to provide defense? Private security services are only expensive because government attempts to monopolize security with gun control laws; the government's security actions are considered more legitimate (through force) than market security actions. Government actions reduce the number of people providing security, causing supply to plummet, which causes price to rise.

There are numerous examples of government persecution during the 20th century alone. Most are familiar with Nazi Germany's gun control laws enabling genocide. And most are familiar with the Soviet Union murdering 20 million of its subjects. And, again, most know that communist China purged 10 to 35 million of their subjects through three different periods. But nationalist China purged 10 million of their political opponents too. In addition to these well known purges, Rwanda, Cambodia, Uganda, Guatemala, and the Ottoman Empire each murdered their subjects because their subjects were vulnerable. Last century governments murdered four times as many civilians as were killed in all wars.

Armies have historically avoided well-armed populations. Nazi Germany chose not to invade Switzerland because the Swiss were heavily armed and the Nazi did not want to fight a guerrilla war to subdue the Swiss. The American military in Iraq does not move into highly insurgent regions without adequate preparation (air attacks). And the Imperial Japanese never wanted to invade mainland America because of our armed citizens.

The effects of gun control are many, but through an inefficient production of security, an imbalance of power, and an attempted monopoly on security, the end result is the enabling of governments to persecute their own population. However, where a population has been well-armed liberty has been better preserved, and people have been safer from governmental persecution. There is no complete safety, but it is exponentially increased within an armed society.

Chart of Death by Gun Control

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