Debate Magazine
This is what the gun-rights folks are fighting so hard for. They want to convince people that the best response to the possibility of gun violence is to own and carry a gun of your own.
The gun control argument is that more guns just increase the violence.
Case in point: today's story about Rob Eells. He was shot by a robber for refusing to give up his money, fought back and both he and the robber ended up in the hospital in critical condition.
In many people's eyes that makes him a hero, but is that really the case? Is he a hero? Or is he part of the problem of ever-increasing gun violence?
One way to look at it is this. Forgetting about who was right and who was wrong for a moment, we've got two people, both with guns, both ended up seriously wounded. If only the robber had had a gun, one of two things would have happened. Eells would have given up his money and no one would have been hurt, or Eells would have resisted and only he would have been shot. Remember we're forgetting about right and wrong for a minute - that would have been one wounded instead of two. That's always better.
Now let's bring right and wrong back into it. A 15-year-old, dangerous beyond his years, attempts to rob someone. Does he deserve death for that? Even if he's pointing a gun at someone, responding with superior firepower, eliminating the threat by killing a young human being, is excessive.
I realize it's anathema to the gun-rights, stand-up-for-yourself macho crowd, but the best thing is to give the thief your money. Even if you have a gun of your own, give him your money and let him go on his way.
A big part of the problem is the self-defense guys hate robbers and criminals and consider them less-than-human. It's easy to preach excessive response when you consider it like squashing a bug. But the right thing is to remember we're not dealing with scumbags, or goblins or any of the other names they use. We're dealing with human beings and as such lethal response has to be the last possible answer.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
