On November 14 Reason responded to Senate Democrats’ unending push for more gun control by suggesting that libertarians are highly unlikely to comply with any new gun laws that make their way onto the books.
The magazine points to precedent in Connecticut, California, and New Jersey, all three of which implemented strict registration requirements that only resulted in the compliance of a fraction of each state’s gun owners. They then look to Europe and make a similar point by quoting the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey, which says guns are still in the hands of Europeans despite stricter gun laws. And in many cases, Europeans possess these guns because of “a pervasive culture of non-cooperation with public authorities”
It is that spirit of “non-cooperation,” whethere stateside or overseas, that drives Reason to suggest that libertarians have no intention of complying with any new restrictions on their Second Amendment rights — and that gun control advocates are the only people who might comply with the laws they want.
“That will leave supporters of gun controls increasingly disarmed relative to their opponents in a politically factionalized country,” Reason’s J.D. Tussle writes, “with libertarians probably sitting on the biggest armories.”
“Gun control advocates might want to give this whole matter a little more thought.”
Tuccille also juxtaposed various views on firearms and how those views flesh themselves out in political affiliation:
Republicans tend to be much more supportive of concealed carry, and Democrats much more supportive of restrictions, even in polling conducted after highly publicized and emotionally wrenching shootings. Unsurprisingly, surveys find that Republicans are more than twice as likely to own firearms as Democrats (49 percent vs. 22 percent), and conservatives almost twice as likely as liberals to own guns (41 percent vs. 23 percent). Less data is available for libertarians, but as you might expect the available results put us among the most overwhelmingly supportive political factions for the right to bear arms, and the most opposed to restrictions—to the point that the Public Religion Research Institute uses such opposition as part of its definition of libertarianism (along with opposition to domestic spying, support for non-interventionism overseas, low-tax and free-market views, advocacy for marijuana and pornography legalization, and more).
The strength of Reason’s argument is boosted by the fact that Democrats are virtually the only ones pushing gun laws in response to mass public attacks — and yet the laws they push would do nothing to stop those attacks.
For example, Senate Democrats emerged from the October 1 Las Vegas attacks pushing for background checks, although the Las Vegas attacker passed background checks to acquire his guns. They also argued against concealed carry and pushed a ban on “high capacity” magazines, among other things. Now the Democrats’ surrogates in the establishment media are ridiculing the AR-15 rifle and pushing confiscation of firearms.
These Democrat-sponsored gun controls represent simplistic thoughts from people who live in a theoretical world rather than a real one, from people who actually want Americans to believe that there is a point of critical mass that can be reached with the passage of one more law (or one more group of laws). But reality is quite otherwise. Again and again those who are armed also prove to be those who are safest.
It is hard to argue with Reason’s contention that Americans who oppose government interference in other spheres of life will reject government regulation when it comes to the Second Amendment as well.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.