Responsibility and gun control policy

¶ … regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be in fringed. (Amendment II to the Constitution of the United States)

The preceding sentence has inspired a great deal of controversy over the years. Gun control is a heated topic in both American politics and in civil discourse throughout the nation. The issue has had a profound effect on lobbyists and on the general public. Issues revolving around gun control and the constitutionality of both new and old laws constantly see media attention. Every time there is a school shooting or a justifiable homicide, large numbers of advocates for gun control and opponents against the issue arise. Indeed, the politics of gun control and the rights of gun ownership inspire heated and emotional debates throughout the nation.

The concept of gun control is ultimately flawed. The vast majority of those who use weapons in violent offenses have not attained them through legal means. In other words, it is common for stolen guns to be used for criminal acts. The result is that one's own personal responsibility with firearms is far more important than gun control legislation. The reality is that to be a responsible gun owner, one must be aware that he or she owns a weapon. A gun is not a toy, nor something that should be glorified as is common in movies. Guns must be protected from larceny and from misuse. To own a gun is to be responsible for the weapon and one's own actions with said weapon.

Greg Claus contends that to own a gun one must be responsible for the use of the weapon. In his article, "With Gun Ownership Comes Great Responsibility," he writes of an incident wherein an intoxicated man attempted to enter a house that was not his own. The home owner shot and killed the man as he entered his house. This particular home owner was not faced with a threat to his life, but he shot the man anyway. Claus does not attack the home owner for having a gun, but instead criticizes him for his rash and somewhat unprovoked violence. "The problem," Claus writes. "Is with how coarsely we treat the sanctity of human life." He continues to talk about the possible implications to gun control litigation, but that is not the focus of the article. The focus is responsibility. He finishes his assessment of the situation by writing, "civilized society cannot now nor ever allow fear alone to be justification for killing another person."

Claus's article is concise and well written. He took an issue - the mistaken shooting of a drunk man - and evaluated the issue from a pro-gun perspective. He clearly relates the story to his intended audience and then begins to explore issues of responsibility in gun ownership as filtered through the incident described. Certainly Claus makes a number of assumptions about the incident or perhaps he just did not include his source material. He assumes that there was no violence preceding the shooting and he assumes that the shooter used his weapon without warning the intruder and without provocation. It appears Claus has a good understanding of human nature and one's need to react in light of fear so his assumptions are not that far out. Indeed, his focal point in the article is not necessarily the incident, but the importance of responsibility. Regardless of his assumptions he takes on a scholarly tone which reads as if he has a great deal of knowledge on the subject. One feels that his didactic tone is appropriate and educational.

The second article is a transcript from an address made by John Ashcroft to a Senate Judiciary Committee concerning the second amendment and the responsibility of the people to own firearms. Ashcroft makes a compelling argument that the framers of the constitution knew exactly what they were doing when developing the second amendment. He points out that a populace that is armed is a populace that will have the right to free speech and democracy. He identifies reasons for historical gun ownership including fear of the government and great distances between settlements and law enforcement. And lastly, Ashcroft identifies a number of reasons that one should own a gun in today's society. Among these he lists empowerment and responsibility. In his speech, Ashcroft said, "anyone who has fired a gun knows the awesome feeling of responsibility and empowerment that comes with it." He continues, stating, "gun ownership also fills an individual with a sense of responsibility and of the need to ensure public safety through the proper use of firearms."

The Ashcroft article is not as concise as the first article. Ashcroft has a great deal on his mind concerning gun ownership and the result is that some elements of his argument become muddled. He lists great distances and fear of tyranny as reasons for gun ownership. The distances he talks of don't exist anymore and modern tyrannical governments tend to have trained soldiers that could easily defeat armed citizens (1). It is not until he begins to talk of personal responsibility that his argument becomes fluid. His belief that one should have the ability to protect family and to understand the complex responsibilities of gun ownership are intelligent and enlightened.