Illusory Thinking on Gun Control
The saga of the suburban sniper who terrorized the Washington area for
nearly a month may or may not be over with the arrest of two suspects, John
Allen Muhammad and his teen companion John Lee Malvo. But, predictably, some
people have already found another culprit to blame for the tragedy: guns and
gun-rights supporters. Recently, when the New York Times ran a story about
actor and National Rifle Association president Charlton Heston’s last round
of stumping on the campaign trail next to the headline “Disbelief and
Desperation in the Sniper Zone,” some saw a macabre irony. “As long as our
elected leaders remain hostage to the rantings of Mr. Heston and the
National Rifle Association, we can expect a future of … similar
headlines,” wrote a Massachusetts reader. A Washington resident accused the
gun organization of “protecting” the likes of the sniper. But could any gun
laws have prevented the shootings? Even the most far-reaching gun-control
proposals do not include a ban on rifles, only handguns. What’s more,
Muhammad is a United States Army veteran, the kind of person who would
likely have access to guns even under a strict gun-control regime. And in
general, our society doesn’t have a stellar record of keeping prohibited
things out of people’s hands.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/10/28/131723.shtml