Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill14564
I wonder if that is true. A criminal is a former law abiding citizen who made a bad choice. How many of the recent shootings that hit the headlines were carried out by someone who was a law abiding citizen the day before the shooting? How many were in legal possession of the weapons they used right up until they began their attack?
It's easy to say that criminals should not have guns, though your Colony example shows it is difficult to put into practice. It's not so easy to pick tomorrow's criminal out of today's law abiding citizen. We can (try to) close the barn door after the horses have gotten out but we're not really good at that, it doesn't solve the problem, and it does nothing for the victims.
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This is why making certain activities, behaviors, or choices illegal, is important. If there are no consequences to your choices, then you basically have permission to make them.
Yes, only criminals commit crimes. But if the crime isn't illegal, then the criminal is not a criminal when they commit it. It's not a crime. No consequence, no crime.
If you have to be registered and licensed, and take a test to carry a firearm in public, and there's no consequence for NOT being registered and licensed and tested, then - you really don't have to be.
But if NOT being registered, licensed, and tested comes with a jail sentence if you're caught, you're more likely to comply and get registered, licensed, and tested. A usually law-abiding citizen will do that. And even some criminals will do that, so that their sentence is lower if they get caught committing crimes with their firearms. "Yes, I shot out the window. But I am licensed to have this weapon so you can't get me on a weapons charge, only on a "you broke a window" charge."
Or whatever. You get the idea, it's a bad example but I'm not in the habit of asking criminals about their choices.