Wishful Thinking as Public Policy
The Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, striking down the ban on gun ownership in the nation’s capital, is welcome because it affirms the natural right of self defense and an explicit constitutional right of individuals to own firearms. It strikes a blow against “wishful thinking as public policy.”
Consider this quote from the CNN news report on the Supreme Court decision:
In March, two women went before the justices with starkly different opinions on the handgun ban.
Shelly Parker told the court she is a single woman who has been threatened by drug dealers in her Washington neighborhood.
“In the event that someone does get in my home, I would have no defense, except maybe throw my paper towels at them,” she said, explaining she told police she had an alarm, bars on her windows and a dog.
“What more am I supposed to do?” Parker recalled asking authorities. “The police turned to me and said, ‘Get a gun.’ ”
Elilta “Lily” Habtu, however, told the high court that she supports the handgun ban, and tighter gun control in general. Habtu was in a Virginia Tech classroom in April 2007 when fellow student Seung-Hui Cho burst in and began shooting. She survived bullets to the head and arm.
“There has to be tighter gun control; we can’t let another Virginia Tech to happen,” she told the court. “And we’re just not doing it; we’re sitting around; we’re doing nothing. We let the opportunity arise for more massacres.”
The police replied to Shelly Parker with cold realism, candidly admitting they were not prepared to do anything to protect her. Indeed, the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in Castle Rock v. Gonzales (2005) that there is no constitutional obligation for the police to protect you.
Yet, look at the quotation from Elilta “Lily” Habru. This unfortunate woman has experienced the horrible effects of violence committed by a criminal with a gun. The criminal, Seung-Hui Cho, was already violating a “gun-free zone” law against bringing his gun onto the Virginia Tech campus. She blames lax law enforcement for her suffering and wants “tighter gun control.”
What exactly does she want? She has a lovely dream: a world without guns or violence. Washington, DC, is famous as the “murder capital” of the country. Guns are everywhere, and yet that city had the strictest gun control laws in the nation. If there had been any more strict enforcement, it would have required some kind of periodic house to house search of the city, as well as TSA-airport security searching of individuals as they walk down the streets.
That is where Elilta Habru’s wishful thinking would lead. We should all have a dream about a world without violence, but a world without individuals owning - and carrying, loaded - firearms is not likely to bring us that peaceful situation. Wishful thinking cannot make guns and violent criminals go away, but wishful thinking can bring us an authoritarian police state.