Opus 2012-158, Plow and Crown: Cooking the Frog, Attacks on the Poor, Saturday Night Specials

Would you prefer to live in a city where “Saturday Night Special” meant that drunk rapists were free to break into your house without worry or one where it meant you could buy a cheap handgun to protect yourself from that drunk rapist.  If you prefer the first scenario then you might want to move to Reseda, a bedroom community of Los Angeles. 

A local chain of sporting goods stores sells a wide assortment of guns.  As you look at their ad you see that certain handguns have a little red tag that says, “Not available in Reseda.” It seems that their store in Reseda is not allowed to sell these guns.  They are always small enough to fit in a purse or be used by a woman with small hands.  They are usually cheap enough that a poor person could buy one.

Who does this policy hurt?  It does not hurt the criminal.  I have asked the kids at school how many of them could get me a gun tomorrow if they wanted to.  I get many hands raised.  I would not be fingerprinted, security checked or forced to wait for ten days.  And it would be cheaper.  Since I am not a criminal that avenue is not open to me. 

For people like me it would simply be an inconvenience.  I can drive to another town to buy a gun.  All it does is add to the air pollution by making me use gasoline. 

The one this policy endangers is the poor, law abiding person living in that area.  They don’t have transportation.  They can’t afford the more expensive guns.  It is also a good possibility that police protection where they live is not as good as other areas also. 

So who are these laws supposed to help?  Remember the video of the big strong Black Panthers with their clubs outside the voting station intimidating white people away from their constitutional rights?  If I remember correctly that was in a city that has stringent gun control laws.  I wonder if they would have been so free in their intimidation if concealed carry were common in that city.  Don’t bother answering, we know the answer.

And what political party do you think the thugs were endorsing by their actions.

Remember that when you only have seconds, the police are only minutes away, on a good day.

homo unius libri