Hiding behind a piece of paper

 doesn't do anybody a damned bit of good.

One of the Columbine survivors is demanding a repeal to the gun-free zone law in their schools. He wants people with permits to carry firearms to be able to carry in schools.

It makes a lot of sense to me. It would probably serve to make tha schools a little safer for the kids in it. I suppose it would also make it legal for teachers to carry, too and that would make the schools safer yet.

One of the things I see is that a lot of Americans are living in an unreal world. They think that passing a law of some sort is going to make them safer. When they do that they are simply hiding behind a piece of paper. There simply is no way to make anyone obey the law.

 All you can really do is punish someone for disobeying the law if you can apprehend them. Laws really don't prevent a whole lot of bad things from happening. They just punish those that get caught disobeying them.

We have laws against various crimes against people and property yet we still have murders, assaults and thefts.

We have laws against the use of narcotics and dangerous drugs but we still have people running around using these drugs. For that matter, we still have people making illegal liquor and that has been enforced since George Washington's presidency.  We've even created a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to enforce these laws yet we still have moonshiners and cigarette smugglers. Criminals still saw off shotguns and there are still illegal expolsives out there.

In fact the untaxed liquor laws have been flouted so much that there are now a couple of reality shows on mainstream TV covering the activities of moonshiners.

This says something to all of us about how well laws work. They really don't. Hell, back in the day of the $2 parking ticket I used to illegally park because it was cheaper than paying for time in the lot a block away.

I'd even bring two bucks and a stamp with me and fill out the envelope/ticket and drop it off in the mailbox on the way home.

Yet there are a lot of people that think we can legislate behavior to the point where we make ourselves safe. Let's face it, we can't. There are no laws that can be passed that are going to make us safe. None.

Calling a school a gun free zone isn't going to make things safer for anyone. It's going to make it a little more dangerous because the law abiding won't be armed, yet the scofflaws are not going to bother to obey the law.

It strikes me that it is time to stop living in the clouds and face the plain and simple fact that enacting any kind of law is going to make anyone safer. It's time to square up, pull your head out of the sand, face reality and take action that will make us safer, both as individuals and as a society.




To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY