There is no Silver Bullet to Stopping Gun Violence; That Doesn't Mean We do Nothing

This is one very neat trick that opponents of gun control always perform. Don't do take this or that action in terms of gun control as it won't stop mass shootings or wouldn't have prevented the latest mass shooting.

Of course, not. It's a big problem and it will take any number of incremental steps none of which may seem so impressive on its own.

The President gave a very powerful speech today and you have to feel the honest emotion he showed that our country is willing just to allow Sandy Hook style shootings in perpetuity rather than make even the most simple and reasonable changes to gun laws.

"President Barack Obama, tears running down his face, reminded Americans on Tuesday afternoon about the 20 elementary-school children who died in the 2012 massacre in Newtown, Connecticut."

"Every time I think about those kids, it gets me mad," Obama said after rattling off a list of personal liberties taken from the victims of gun violence, during his remarks announcing new executive actions on gun control."

"While he said he respects the Second Amendment as a former constitutional law professor, Obama said that other rights, including freedom of religion, have been taken away from the victims of mass shootings."

"Second Amendment rights are important, but there are other rights we care about as well. And we have to be able to balance them," he said. "Because our right to worship freely and safely, that right was denied to Christians in Charleston, South Carolina and that was denied to Jews in Kansas City and that was denied to Muslims in Chapel Hill and Sikhs in Oak Creek. They have rights, too."

As he ran down the list of other mass shootings that occurred during his presidency, Obama got emotional when he got to the mention of Newtown.

"Our right to peaceful assembly, that right was robbed from moviegoers in Aurora and Lafayette," he said. "Our unalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, those rights were stripped from college kids in Blacksburg and Santa Barbara and from high schoolers at Columbine. And from first graders in Newtown. First graders. And from every family who never imagined that their loved one would be taken from their lives from a bullet from a gun. Every time I think about those kids, it gets me mad. And by the way, it happens on the streets of Chicago every day."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/barack-obama-newtown-massacre-tears

That is another important constitutional principle, he touched on. There is a saying regarding life. liberty, and the pursuit of happiness: your rights end where my nose begins.

If punching you in the nose makes someone happy, that doesn't mean they get to do it or this is an attack on liberty.

One reaction to the President's speech by gun control opponents is to snicker that his proposal is weak tea. It won't do anything. But they contradict themselves by saying this and yet also claiming that this is a draconian action to take away their guns. Is it weak tea or will it take away everyone's guns which would not be weak tea?

In fact what the President is doing here will at least make it tougher to buy guns online so that could potentially help. Everything that gun control advocates suggest, opponents dismiss. For instance they dismiss efforts to limit how much ammo one gun owner can purchase.

So opponents point out there are ways around that-get a friend to give them more ammo, etc.

Sure, but by making it more trouble to get it at least some will be discouraged around the margins. I mean by this premise why have any laws? Having laws on the book against murder don't end its incidence so why not take it off the books?

Interestingly, the GOP is not so pessimistic at the efficacy of law enforcement on other issues. On the issue of guns, the conservatives are purely libertarian to the point of not even wanting to prevent terrorists from purchasing guns.

But on the issue of Americans purchasing cheaper Canadian drugs, the GOP doesn't throw up its hands and say 'Why bother as they are only going to ignore these restrictions and buy Canadian drugs anyway?'

Any particular gun law won't be a silver bullet in stopping all mass shootings or gun violence but can be an incremental move in the right direction. But to hear the gun nuts tell it, the perfect is the enemy of the good: unless a measure you propose solves all possible cases of gun violence imaginable for all time, there's no point in even trying.