Laws

Laws
If it weren’t so serious, it would be hilarious. I’m talking about the way people
manipulate themselves via laws, all because basically we, as humans, really don’t get
along very well.
Laws are as fickle as the folks who write them and only meaningful to those who follow
them. Come to think of it, “political correctness” is nothing more than a bunch of self-
imposed “laws” that people follow lest they be snubbed by others.
What this tells me about current society is that there is a gigantic moral hole, and that
many people are grasping for anything they can reach that will provide them with some
form of compass to tell them one way from another. They confuse political correctness
with righteousness.
When it comes to guns, we have literally tens of thousands of laws telling us what to do,
when to do it, what not to do and when not to do it.
The thought came to mind when I was reading a piece in this fine publication about a
trigger gizmo or something like that, which allows for really rapid semi-auto fire – kind of
like close to a full-auto in shots per second, etc.
Years ago, there was a gadget that was a kind of a crank that attached to the trigger
guard that attempted to accomplish the same results.
Such devices would be fully unnecessary if folks had ready access to full-autos. But, of
course, there are laws that restrict the possession and use of machine guns – both in
the form of paperwork and fees. Some places don’t allow machine guns at all.
There is even a law involved in this vein that froze the number of machine guns for
civilian use to those that existed at some arbitrary moment in history that happened to
be handy for the government.
Did all of those laws stop the misuse of machine guns? Nope.
Sawed-off shotguns are illegal in the U.S. Do criminals still bob the barrels of
scatterguns and use them illegally? Yep, surely do.

Magazine capacity restrictions are among the most idiotic laws on the books. To
suggest that such laws have any merit at all, one has to assume that the gun will shoot
all by itself, but that the gun itself can’t change magazines.
Speaking of magazine capacity restrictions, history indicates that this concept is a self-
inflicted wound.
I think the first such restrictions involved plugging shotgun magazines for waterfowl
hunting – an effort brought on by a group of hunter-elite at the time.
What about silencers/suppressors? They have been regulated heavily by a bevy of laws
for decades. Such devices are being used more widely now than ever in the history of
such things. In fact, they are being used enough now that it truly is time to change some
of those restrictions.
Gun laws are reactionary by definition. They are enacted in reaction to something that
someone thinks can be solved by passing another law. I can’t think of a single instance
in which reactive gun laws have solved whatever the root problem happened to be.
Rather, those laws merely attempt to alter human behavior by affecting a piece of
hardware.
There have been laws throughout recorded time – and probably some even before that.
They are necessary for societies to avoid anarchy. The question is: which is worse – too
many laws or not enough laws? Conundrums of this sort can be cogitated by others in
ivory towers behind the front lines of real life in the world.
Entire societies have functioned on as few as 10 basic laws – the things written on the
stone tablets and brought down from the mountain by Moses.
Whether it is 10 or 10 million laws, people still are people, some of whom will do
somebody wrong, so to speak.
Hence, a classic riddle of Gundom: If individuals and society need gun laws to address
the evil that some do, then how is it that the guns themselves are the implements
needed for individuals and societies to defend themselves from that evil? Hmmm.
Decades ago, most folks seemed to understand those kinds of inter-workings. That’s

because in those times mores, not laws, were the major determining factors in personal
lives.
But as laws have replaced mores, people seem to have become confused – no longer
really able to discern the difference between good and evil. Black and white have been
replaced with gray.
Concurrent dumbing-down of society has meant that now something has to be of
bumper sticker complexity to be understood. Which, in turn, means that mindless,
unthinking masses now pretty much need more and more laws that tell them what to do,
when to do it; what not to do, when not to do it.
And so the spiral turns downward. More people, more laws. Dumber masses, more
laws. More evil, more laws: more evil, more guns, etc.
People always seem to want some kind of magic wand or magic pill to solve the many
things that bother them. Doesn’t work that way very often, but folks seem to keep trying,
just in case.
Well, if that is the case, then I have a suggestion for a magic pill to solve all gun-related
woes: Trash all gun laws while enforcing behavior.
Wait a second. We already have it. It is called the Second Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution. Then salvation is as simple as adhering to it. Wow! That was easier than I
thought.

Laws

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Laws