Locked and Loaded Issue of Gun Control
Sean O'Grady
Issue date: 4/1/08 Section: Editorial & Opinion
Last month the
NIU shootings
sparked Mayor
Richard M. Daley
to push his proposal
for "common
sense gun legislation."
This new
gun control measure,
which he says will help
reduce gun violence, calls
for a ban on semi-automatic and
.50 caliber military type weapons,
the prohibition of multiple handgun
sales to one person within 30
days, and a ban on
large capacity magazines,
among others. This
rekindles the flame of the explosive
debate over gun control,
but is tougher gun legislation
really the answer to the locked
and loaded issue?
Perhaps a better answer
comes from a bill proposed by
Arizona State Senator Karen S.
Johnson. Her proposal allows
people 21 and over to carry firearms
at public universities and
colleges and was subsequently
approved by the Senate Judiciary
Committee. The difference
between Daley's proposal and
Johnson's bill is Johnson's has
produced results while Daley's
just feeds off of fear.
But thanks to legislators
like Daley, Illinois is one of two
states without a concealed carry
law. While the antigun lobby
entertains the idea that guns increase
crime, there is little ammunition
for their assertions. A
fear among many supporters of
gun control is the suspected violence
stemming from the possession
of
guns. However,
John Lott,
researcher at the University
of Maryland, College
Park, has written on the correlation
between crime and concealed
carry laws. In his book, More
Guns, Less Crime he concluded
that violent crime rates decreased
with the relaxation of carry and
conceal laws.
Johnson and Daley's legislation
show the polarization of the
issue, and how frequently blind
ideals are placed before facts
when regarding gun control. Yet,
with gun activists frequently labeled
as extremists and the hysterical
atmosphere that follows
tragic school shootings, it has
NIU shootings
sparked Mayor
Richard M. Daley
to push his proposal
for "common
sense gun legislation."
This new
gun control measure,
which he says will help
reduce gun violence, calls
for a ban on semi-automatic and
.50 caliber military type weapons,
the prohibition of multiple handgun
sales to one person within 30
days, and a ban on
large capacity magazines,
among others. This
rekindles the flame of the explosive
debate over gun control,
but is tougher gun legislation
really the answer to the locked
and loaded issue?
Perhaps a better answer
comes from a bill proposed by
Arizona State Senator Karen S.
Johnson. Her proposal allows
people 21 and over to carry firearms
at public universities and
colleges and was subsequently
approved by the Senate Judiciary
Committee. The difference
between Daley's proposal and
Johnson's bill is Johnson's has
produced results while Daley's
just feeds off of fear.
But thanks to legislators
like Daley, Illinois is one of two
states without a concealed carry
law. While the antigun lobby
entertains the idea that guns increase
crime, there is little ammunition
for their assertions. A
fear among many supporters of
gun control is the suspected violence
stemming from the possession
of
guns. However,
John Lott,
researcher at the University
of Maryland, College
Park, has written on the correlation
between crime and concealed
carry laws. In his book, More
Guns, Less Crime he concluded
that violent crime rates decreased
with the relaxation of carry and
conceal laws.
Johnson and Daley's legislation
show the polarization of the
issue, and how frequently blind
ideals are placed before facts
when regarding gun control. Yet,
with gun activists frequently labeled
as extremists and the hysterical
atmosphere that follows
tragic school shootings, it has
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