Banning Guns is Only Part of the Answer
Let’s face it, if guns were banned, the price of black market guns will skyrocket. Those who can’t afford the black market prices will resort to more crime to steal available weapons. Sales of “ghost” gun kits would explode to encompass complete guns and not just the components needed to convert unregulated parts into functioning firearms. From there, it’s not a far reach to make and sell fully automatic weapons. This is a case of “be careful of what you wish for.” To quote H.L. Mencken, “…there is always a well-known solution to every human problem—neat, plausible, and wrong.”
At the same time, any sane person would agree that the current situation is untenable. In fact, it’s been out of control for a long time. Some people point to Columbine High School as the start of the mass shooting era in the US, others go back to Charles Whitman in the University of Texas at Austin clock tower in 1966 from where he killed 14 and wounded 30 more. I, on the other hand, posit mass shootings are simply an escalation of American blood-lust that began as far back as the 1800s.
In 1850 a Potawatomi tribal leader named Simon Pokagon described seeing, hearing and feeling a flock of a hundred million carrier pigeons along Michigan’s Manistee River. Sixty four years later, in 1914, the last carrier pigeon died in captivity in a Cincinnati zoo. Over that 64 year period, over 136 million carrier pigeons were wiped out through indiscriminate slaughter. With the arrival of telegraphs and locomotives, commercial hunters were able to kill 136 million of birds in a few short decades.
Another case in point is bison. Prior to the arrival of Europeans, estimates put bison populations at between 30 million-60 million. By 1889, there were just 512 remaining. Through the efforts of conservationists and Native Americans, by 1935 bison herds had increased to 20,000 and remain stuck at that level today. Beyond subsistence hunting, which is well understood and accepted by all reasonable people, many were killed “just for the hell of it.” The photo to the right shows thousands of bison skulls to be ground up for fertilizer. This article from an 1867 edition of Harpers Weekly describes this slaughter in vivid detail. Among the details is this tidbit:
Colonel Dodge said in 1867, “Every buffalo dead is an Indian gone.”
The Junction City Weekly Union
Junction City, Kansas Mar 9, 1867
During the 1800s, it was US government policy to kill as many bison as possible to deprive Native Americans of a valuable food source and, in turn, subdue Indigenous peoples. So, the Colonel Dodges of the period reveled in killing bison and Native Americans and, even, had a town named after him, Dodge City, KS.
Bottom line, Americans just love killing be it carrier pigeons, bison, Indigenous people or current Americans. Killing is in the American blood. Killing is the American answer to just about every problem Americans face. Stranger Black man walking through the neighborhood? Call the cops and have him killed. Better yet, pull out your AR-15 or Glock and kill him yourself. Gay couple down the street annoy you with adoption celebrations of their new child? Firebomb their house and vandalize their cars. Politicians causing you agita by passing laws that protect and promote common good? Gather a mob and kill them!
Short-term, there really aren’t any constitutionally valid solutions. Since 35% of the US population wants an authoritarian government, maybe it’s time to give them a Democrat led authoritarian government. Joe Biden can first pack SCOTUS with liberal extremist justices so they don’t get in the way of what comes next. Mobilize the National Guard and take control of all state governments. Nationalize all industries deemed critical to the national interest. That includes all social media apps, transportation, mining, agriculture, retail industries and anything else that kills, destroys or otherwise wastes natural resources. Tax all church and church affiliated madrasas, aka church school. Ban civilian ownership of all firearms including rifles, handguns, shotguns and, even, muzzle loaders. Immediately implement a house-to-house search for illegal firearms. Anyone caught with a firearm will be sent to Gitmo to await trial. Anyone caught using a firearm will be summarily executed.
Something has to be done to change American penchant for killing. Something drastic and, possibly, extra-constitutional because what we’ve been doing until now isn’t working.