Rather than focus on the problem of crime, many gun control advocates cling to the abject failure that is gun control. This trend continues in the wake of the D.C. v. Heller case, where the Supreme Court found gun ownership to be an individual right. Rather than abandon the failed gun control laws that only serve to deprive law abiding citizens of the ability to defend themselves, some cities with handgun bans will now spend hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars in a likely pointless effort to keep their unconstitutional handgun bans. Just imagine if that money were spent on “criminal control” instead of pointless gun control:
“Criminal Control” is the answer
Rather than enacting handgun bans that disarm law abiding citizens(and which criminals will ignore anyway) we should focus our legislative and policing efforts on laws targeting criminals specifically. Perhaps the legislature could start by allocating more funding to our police departments, so that more police officers can be hired and put on the streets to deter crime and catch criminals in the act. Next, perhaps we should reduce the amount of police resources we allocate to enforcement of the speed limit on interstate highways (or other non-violent crimes), and divert those resources to preventing violent crime. Or maybe part of the answer is to expand neighborhood watch programs. That is by no means an exhaustive list of simple steps that could be taken to reduce crime, but I’m rather confident that any one of those steps would do more than a handgun ban.
Imagine if Oak Park were to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars expanding police patrols, rather than fighting to keep the unconstitutional handgun ban
Oak Park, IL, a suburb of Chicago, enacted an unconstitutional handgun ban more than 20 years ago. Right after the Supreme Court declared handgun ownership to be an individual right, Oak Park was sued by the NRA in order to vindicate the rights of law abiding Oak Park residents to have a handgun in their home for self defense. Rather than acknowledging that the Oak Park handgun ban is a total and utter failure insofar as stopping handgun related crime, Oak Park officials disparaged the Supreme Court justices, and vowed to fight to keep the unconstitutional handgun ban. Chicago followed suit as well. It is depressing to think that Oak Park is going to waste a substantial sum of taxpayer money fighting to keep an unconstitutional law that does not prevent crime (especially given the history of Oak Park’s handgun ban). That money could instead be spent on better lighting in high crime areas, more police patrols, or a variety of other measures that could make a real difference in people’s lives.