A Rational Look At The Gun Debate
Commentary by Phil Valentine  /  April 4, 2000

I asked my listeners on a recent afternoon if, after picking out a new bathtub for their home, they would be willing to wait three days to buy it. I asked if they would be willing to lock up the faucet each time the tub wasn't in use. Then I let them in on a startling discovery that I had made. Each year, five times more children drown in bathtubs than are killed by guns. Yet, when was the last time you saw the media working the country into a frenzy over bathtubs?

In the wake of the tragic school shooting and murder of first-grader Kayla Rolland in Flint, Michigan, the anti-gun zealots have renewed their call to arms, if you'll pardon the metaphor, to rid our country of guns. President Clinton begs Congress to pass gun legislation that would require trigger locks with every gun and would tighten background checks at gun shows. Hysterical prophets of doom are slobbering all over themselves on television, imploring our representatives in Washington to ‘do something, for God's sake, before another child dies!' The anti-gun advocates ignore the fact that the Republican congress offered up a gun bill with the trigger locks and background checks included but President Clinton chose to kill it because it didn't require a 72-hour waiting period at gun shows. The fact is, instant background checks are already required at gun shows just like they are at gun shops. The Clinton Administration wants to require a 3-day wait to ensure that nobody buys a gun at a gun show.

So, how large is this problem of criminals buying guns at gun shows? The FBI says that the criminal use of guns from gun shows is so small that it's hardly worth keeping that statistic. But, here's a stat they do keep. In 1997, the FBI says 738 children under age13 were murdered in the US. They also say that just 133 of those children were murdered with guns. Indeed, that's 133 too many but the media would have you think children were being murdered with guns in this country at epidemic proportions. That statistic points to a bigger problem. A problem with our society where some parents have such disregard for their own children that they would take their lives. Should we really be surprised when, occasionally, a child of one of those parents goes out and takes the life of someone else?

You need to know that children are being exploited by someone else, too. They're being used by those who would strip you of your right to defend your own family with a gun while doing nothing to actually save the children at risk. President Clinton himself invited the mother of Kayla Rolland to the White House for a photo op not one week after little Kayla was murdered. He used the mother and her daughter to further his agenda to require trigger locks and 3-day waiting periods at gun shows, neither of which would've saved her daughter. Remember, the first-grader in Michigan who shot Kayla was carrying a stolen gun which, by the way, was not stolen from a gun show. The child also lived in a crack house with no father and a sorry mother and an odd collection of human refuse who would more likely try to smoke the trigger lock than use it to secure a gun.

Stop and think for a moment about how important our right to bear arms was to our Founding Fathers. Of all the belongings of their day that were important to them - a home, clothing, a horse - guns are the only inanimate objects in the entire Constitution which are singled out for protection. Why? Thomas Jefferson said "The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against the tyranny in government." It was George Washington who said "The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference. They deserve a place of honor with all that's good." If you think their thinking is a bit outmoded, contrast their statements with Adolf Hitler who said "The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the people to carry arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subjected peoples to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing."

Here's another little tidbit for those of you who still have a fear of citizens with guns. With all of the thousands of Tennesseans who have handgun carry permits, to date, not one of those people has ever used their gun in the commission of a crime. In fact, in states where carry permit laws have been passed, violent crime, including murder, has gone down. Nationwide, a recent survey showed that guns are used by private citizens for protection on the order of between 2.1 and 2.5 million times each year. That's about 139 times the number of all murders combined. Instead of impeding access to guns by law-abiding citizens, perhaps we should consider a 3-day waiting period before one can become a parent.