Never Punish the Innocent for the Guilty

The False Promise of Gun Control

The Second Amendment was not written in ink but in the blood of men who knew what it meant to live under tyranny. They understood that liberty is not self-sustaining, it must be defended, sometimes with words, sometimes with arms. Yet, every time a senseless act of violence captures the nation’s attention, the same chorus begins again: “We must do something.” And by “something,” the Left invariably means more gun control.

But here lies the first lie: that restricting the freedoms of the law-abiding will somehow disarm the lawless. It never has. It never will. Evil does not obey laws, it exploits them.

To punish the innocent for the crimes of the guilty is a perversion of justice. Yet, that is exactly what gun control seeks to do. It seeks to disarm the responsible citizen while the criminal, the deranged, and the tyrant remain armed and emboldened.

The problem is not the tool of violence, it is the culture that glorifies it, the mental illness we ignore, and the spiritual decay we pretend doesn’t exist.

The Left’s Myths and the Reality They Ignore

The arguments for gun control are predictable. They are repeated with emotional intensity but without intellectual honesty.

1. “If we just ban assault weapons, mass shootings will stop.”

False. The vast majority of mass shootings are committed with handguns, not rifles. And even when rifles are used, most of the proposed bans would not have prevented the tragedy in question. Evil men adapt. If they cannot find a rifle, they find a pistol. If they cannot find a gun, they find a knife, a bomb, or a car.

The tragic truth is that someone determined to commit murder will find a way. What these laws do accomplish is to disarm the citizen who might have stopped the shooter.

2. “Universal background checks will keep guns out of the wrong hands.”

False. The majority of criminals already obtain their weapons illegally, through theft, black-market transactions, or straw purchases. Layering additional laws on top of existing ones only burdens the law-abiding while doing little to deter those who already operate outside the law.

A criminal who plans to commit murder is not going to fill out a form.

3. “Other countries don’t have gun violence like America.”

Misleading. Other countries also don’t have America’s unique blend of freedom, responsibility, and constitutional restraint. Many nations with strict gun laws also experience horrific violence, knife attacks in the U.K., bombings in Europe, machete massacres in Africa. The difference is not the weapon, it’s the will to use it.

The American experiment depends on self-governing men and women, individuals capable of defending themselves, their families, and their communities. When we replace that with dependence on the state, we exchange freedom for the illusion of safety.

Freedom Is Not the Enemy of Safety

The Founders did not grant the right to bear arms as a sporting license. It was a moral declaration,

that a free man must have the means to defend his life and liberty. To strip that right away in the name of “safety” is to misunderstand both freedom and safety.

There is no safety without freedom. And there is no freedom without responsibility.

It is not the gun that commits evil, but the heart that wields it. When Cain murdered Abel, there was no firearm in his hand, only hatred in his heart. Evil does not arise from the steel of a weapon but from the corruption of the soul.