Self Control, Not Gun Control; C. Farmer

Passage of the Brady Billwas strategically important. Brady II, which will require federal licensing and registration of all guns, has been submitted to Congress. We can expect more restrictive legislativeinitiatives to follow. Meanwhile, Americans are fearful, al most desperate, as they are assailed with reports of an exploding crime wave.l Pro ponents of gun control promise safety and protection in exchange for our civilliberties. That's not a new promise, but it is an empty one. All totalitarian regimes disarm their citizens. Routinely, superficialtheories are offered to explain the orgy of violent crime in our nation. The fundamental reason is ignored. Self-control-not gun-control is the key to preventing anarchy in America. Mrs. Farmer is a freelance writer living in St. Francisville, Louisiana. It's Up to the Individual Personal accountability has virtually been abandoned in our social structure and is conceptually absent for an entire generation of young Americans. Amid a web of infor mational overload, one message is para mount. The moral standards, and internal restraints inherent in historic Western cul ture are obsolete. Human behavior has been officiallyunleashed. And if, in a hedonistic tantrum, one goes beyond the ever increas ing limits of acceptable conduct, one need not look far for absolution. Society, biology, psychology, racism, sexism-any thing except the individual is now responsible.

It is as natural, and in their hands as deadly, for such a deviant to use a knife, a hatchet, a club. The Gainesville student murders are a case in point. Gruesome details of rape, stabbing, and decapitation were revealed after Danny Rolling, a career criminal, .pleaded guilty to murdering five college students. Rolling suffers, we are told, from "intermittent explosive disorder, a rare condition characterized by aggres sive, violent outbursts and sometimes by remorse." The Criminal as "Victim" A glance at our criminal justice system shows there are minimal or often no conse quences for criminal behavior. Criminals are routinely characterized as victims. Through plea bargaining, psychiatric de fenses, prison furloughs, and early parole, they are put back on our streets. Seventy percent of all violent crimes are committed by only six percent of all criminals. Demands to reform our criminal justice system are valid. But it's a long road back to sane procedures and substantive justice.

Instilling self restraint and responsible be havior will not be instantaneous or easy. It is, however, our best hope. Moreover, is it beneficial, is it moral, to surrender the right to effectivelyprotect our children-ourselves? By capturing the moral high ground with their assertion: "If gun control saves just one life, then it's 105 106 THE FREEMAN • FEBRUARY 1995 worth it," proponents of gun control are often successful in evading the alternative. "Existing gun control laws have already cost innocent lives." In October 1991, 23 people were mur dered in Luby's cafeteria in Killeen, Texas. The assailant reloaded his two pistols five times before the police arrived. Texas law, which prohibits carrying firearms, insured that all the victims would be unarmed and defenseless. Most of us remember the Luby's massacre. It was national news, and is often cited as proof of the need for still more comprehensive gun control.

Shoney's in Anniston, Alabama, just two months later, was the scene of another violent encounter involving two criminals with stolen pistols who forced employees and 20 customers into the walk-in refriger ator of the restaurant. You probably don't remember the Shoney's episode. Most peo ple have never heard about it. It never made the national news. (National coverage is rare when guns are used to save lives.) Unlike Texas, the only people killed this time were the two criminals. Thomas Glen Tarry, a courageous citizen who was legally armed under Alabama law, fatally shot both outlaws, and saved the lives of 20 innocent people.2 The Right to Defend One's Self In a landmark study on crime control, criminologist Gary Kleck explains that "Victim gun use in crime incidents is asso ciated with lower rates of crime completion and of victiminjury than any other defensive response, including doing nothing to re sist." According to Professor Kleck, "vic tim gun use may be one of the most serious risks a criminalfaces.,,3 Fear of confronting an armed citizen is a deterrent that also benefits the roughly 50 percent of American families who don't own firearms. If Janet Reno and her allies prevail, only criminals will be armed.

Far from vigilantism,the right to keep and bear arms is affirmed in our Constitution, and is rooted in centuries of responsible citizenship. But while the constitutionality of gun control laws is being argued, empirical ev idence has shown they simply don't work. Already, there are over 20,000gun control laws in the United States. A 1982 National Institute of Justice report concluded that such laws had no impact in reducing crim inal violence.4 To remove guns from law-abidingcitizens presumes that guns are to blame for violent crime, and shifts responsibility from the individual to an object. It has been said before. It's worth repeating: guns don't kill people; people do. 0 1. For countervailing perspective on crime trend see, Rich Henderson, "Crime Story," Reason, June 1994, p. 14. 2. David B. Kopel, "The Violence of Gun Control," Policy Review, Winter 1993, p. 7. 3. Professor Gary Kleck, "Crime Control Through the Private Use of Armed Force," Social Problems, February 1988, pp. 16, 2.

4. Kopel, p. 16. Spread the Word! A year's subscription to The Freemanis a perfect birthday or thank-you gift for dis cerning relatives, friends, and neighbors. First gift (or your own new subscription or renewal): $30.00 Each additional gift $15.00 Call us at (800) 452-3518-or fax your order: (914) 591-8910. For orders outside the United States: $45.00 for the first subscription; $22.50 for each additional gift.