Using cowboy mentality as it typically is used - as a grave insult - the bishop of Dallas has enthusiastically supported Obama's actions, and hopes for more. Other Catholics are likewise decrying the recent attempts to loosen gun restrictions and open up more legal possession of guns. According to the article, Pope Francis and the US Catholic Bishops wish the US could follow other countries and their laws that have reduced gun violence.
I guess my somewhat uninformed question is this: do open carry laws lead to more gun violence? In his speech, President Obama said that Kansas recently loosened gun restrictions and has seen an uptick in gun violence. Is this the case? Gun violence seems to have gone down nationwide. Murders, too. I don't know.
My suspicion is that there isn't a direct link between loosening gun ownership restrictions and violent crime. For no other reason than the media doesn't plaster stats and graphs all over the place proving it. As for the other countries? I have a feeling more is involved than merely gun regulations. But again, not owning a gun myself, I'm rather uninformed.
I do know that I have a profound distrust for the movement most associated with calling for more gun control, based on actions and attitudes I witness in other areas. But, I seem to be a minority in that one. At least I'm a minority in the Catholic witness. Perhaps the Christian one.
Have you ever heard the story of the Hession Rifle?
ReplyDeleteTo sum up: After WW1 England disarmed itself much as liberals want America to do now. Well what happened afterwards? That's right, the English ended up shortchanged on weapons when fighting a little enemy called the Nazis.
So what happened? AMERICA RAN A GUN DRIVE FOR ENGLAND (the NRA alone sent 7k firearms to England). Yes, the NRA helped supply the fight against Nazis - literally.
So ask those Catholics. If America disarms like Europe, where is Europe going to get their guns the next time war breaks out?
Then again, maybe if Vatican City is occupied and razed to the ground Catholics will finally learn their lesson that the Boss promised us this world would always have war, and it's a fool who disarms.
I think the one fundamental flaw in that concern is that most who want to disarm America believe that America is the enemy, the Nazi of the modern age. Who is there out there capable of our evils? Otherwise, yeah. I hadn't heard of that, but it fits with the other pieces of the puzzle rejected by control advocates.
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