Tuesday I arrived on campus to see a table outside manned by young, idealistic, and foolish young people in favor of increasing background checks on guns in Nevada. As much as I appreciate their zealotry and enthusiasm, it's based on several pieces of flawed logic. Since they are young people, they still believe in the world the way they wish it were and will be and discount human nature. They still think that things are simple, that people are predictable, and that what they are doing will lead to the outcome for which they hope just because it might. Well, this is not an effective way to achieve the outcome they allegedly seek. They may not really mean it the way they sell it, but if they do mean it honestly and earnestly, they are ignoring a few facts, behaviors, and statistics that show that this road does not lead where they think it will and that increased background checks will not necessarily make the state safer.
False Logic #1: Background checks are not currently done enough to deter crime
Background checks are actually only required right now in Nevada if you buy a gun in Clark or Washoe County. In the rural areas, there are no background checks at all, so the simple answer could have been to simply drive to Ely or Wells or Schurz and buy one in a county where they don't ask any questions. However, most people who obtain guns don't do that, even though it's not technically illegal. The only way to get a gun in Clark County without a background check is to meet someone in a parking lot based on an internet ad and buy one out of his car. Even then, most people in those ads insist on seeing some sort of paperwork or ID before they will sell a gun. It's not 100% effective, but it does deter most law-abiding citizens from transacting sales with criminals and miscreants. You have to prove you live in NV, that you either bought a gun legally (blue card) or have a CCW.
False Logic #2: Background checks will keep guns out of the hands of criminals
By definition, criminals are people who do not care what the law says. Criminals always get things even if they are illegal- drugs, hookers, jobs, promotions, elected to public office, guns, etc. Police statistics in Clark County show that 99.9% of gun violence is perpetrated by people who shouldn't have a gun who obtained it by illegal means. Criminals do not show up to do background checks; they know they won't pass. They get guns elsewhere, and they will always find a way to get them even when it's difficult for you. These young people, foolishly naive, think that more laws mean lower crime; well, then why are people killed with guns in Chicago, where owning guns is illegal? It's a canard that background checks will affect anyone other than law-abiding citizens who will have to pay the price to get one if they desire and to defend themselves against one if a criminal arrives and shoots them. A month ago, my friend's neighbor awoke one morning to find a burglar armed with a gun standing at the foot of his bed and shot him with his own .357, and guess what- the burglar didn't get the gun legally. He stole the gun. That's what usually happens.
False Logic #3: Background checks will reduce violent crime
Even if you keep guns out of the hands of criminals, it will neither prevent them using other weapons nor deter them from violent crime. No criminal says "Crap, can't buy a gun? Now I can't rob the liquor store." In point of fact, in Europe where they have strict gun laws, many of the Islamic facists who attack Europeans are now doing it with knives, axes, ad infinitum. You do not need a gun to kill someone. Wars throughout recorded time prove that. Back in May when I was mugged on the way home, my attacker didn't even have a weapon on him, which is one reason I didn't feel threatened. When he escalated to assault, he used a weapon of opportunity and threw a floor tile fragment at me, hitting me in the back. He is alive because I, as a responsible gun owner, didn't mow him down where he stood, because with a .357mag, I could have certainly put a stop to his crime spree single-handedly. I was robbed because he does not have a conscience. Criminals are criminals. They will do what they do no matter what laws you pass.
CS Lewis criticized this kind of blind naivete. He wrote in Mere Christianity how the world works from the outside in, hoping that changing behavior will lead to the right result without acknowledging human nature. Many of our laws ignore basic human nature, human behavior, and assume that if they DO a certain thing they must BE a certain way. Being begets doing, but doing does not necessarily lead to being. Background checks will not work because they will only work on people who would already obey the law if it were in print; the criminals would ignore it no matter what it says. Criminals do not need guns, and keeping guns out of the way of people sets them up to be easier targets of violent crime. Since being mugged, I have carried my revolver on my hip with me to the store some evenings. My presence alone deters shoplifters, profanity, and jaywalking. I don't brandish it, but the criminals know that if I pull it, if it's loaded, and if I know how to use it, their lives may never be the same.
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