On the topic of gun control

After the

recent shooting in Connecticut the hot topic is gun control. The fact remains

that stopping a troubled person whose behavior is not alarming enough to

trigger action by his family or friends, borders on the impossible.

We don’t

want to give every gun buyer the burden of proving mental stability — any more

than we would require each taxpayer to take a polygraph when filing a 1040. The

only real hope for keeping a lunatic away from guns is diligence by those who

know him.

It’s hard

to imagine that stricter gun-control laws would have any discernible value in

averting tragedy.

Yes, there is no doubt that the existence of some 260

million guns increases the death rate in this country. We do not have drive-by

poisonings or drive-by knifings, but we do have drive-by shootings. Easy access

to guns makes deadly violence more common in drug deals, gang fights and street

corner brawls, but making stricter laws will not stop those people wanting to

use them in a harmful way from getting them.

Gun control has faltered mainly because it hasn’t worked.

And nothing in the new recommendations offers hope of success.

Passing a law to head off a freakishly rare occurrence is

probably a waste of time.

The main lesson that should emerge from all of these mass

shootings is that we need to work harder to identify and cope with dangerously

unstable personalities.

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