bookmark_borderOur rights don’t come from government

Another post similar to yesterday’s, but with a message that is always worth repeating:

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy)

Banning something that does not, in itself, hurt anyone is morally wrong. And this is true regardless of who is in office, regardless of how people voted, and regardless of the thoroughness of the process.

bookmark_borderYour natural rights do not depend on majorities

The Firearms Policy Coalition reminds us of an important truth that is always worth pointing out:

The fact that an assault weapons ban is backed by a slim majority of U.S. adults is irrelevant. Banning something that does not, in itself, hurt anyone is morally wrong regardless of how many people support it. As FPC points out, rights do not depend on majorities. And as an astute commenter on their post points out, “I don’t recall seeing a ‘popular opinion exception’ clause anywhere in the Constitution.”

bookmark_borderThe idiocy of Martin Heinrich

“There’s no law enforcement application for a bump stock. There’s no military application for a bump stock. There’s no self-defense application for a bump stock. These devices are tailor-made for mass shootings. Ban them.” – Sen. Martin Heinrich

It is exasperating and exhausting to keep seeing statements like this. 

The non-aggression principle, the rule that determines objective right and wrong, states that people have the right to do anything they wish, as long as it does not violate the rights of anyone else. This means that, unless owning a bump stock violates the rights of someone else, each person has the right to own a bump stock. 

Does owning a bump stock violate anyone’s rights? No, it does not.

Does owning a bump stock, in and of itself, hurt anyone? No, it does not. 

Therefore, each person has the right to own a bump stock. It really is as simple as that. 

Why does Heinrich care about the fact that bump stocks (allegedly) have no law enforcement, military, or self-defense applications? Why does he think this fact is relevant to the question of whether or not bump stocks should be banned?

It isn’t.

There is no moral rule stating that if something has no application, then it should be banned. There is no requirement that something have an application in order to be allowed to exist. The only requirement is that the thing not violate the rights of others. Bump stocks meet that requirement. Therefore, people have a right to own them. They cannot be banned. 

Contrary to what Martin Heinrich is claiming, people are not required to prove to him that their possessions have an application in order to be allowed to own those possessions. 

Contrary to what Martin Heinrich is claiming, people do not have a right to do only those things that he has deemed useful or necessary. 

People have a right to do anything they wish, as long as it does not violate the rights of anyone else. That includes owning bump stocks. 

bookmark_borderOne of the dumbest tweets I’ve ever seen…

The below tweet by anti-civil-rights activist David Hogg is one of the dumbest I’ve ever seen:

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Defiant L’s (@defiant.ls)

Does Hogg actually believe that one does not need a license to kill humans? 

This is so obvious that it shouldn’t need to be stated, but in reality there is no available license that makes it legal for a person to kill other people. Killing other people, unless done in self-defense, is illegal. It’s difficult to believe that anyone, let alone an adult living in the US, wouldn’t know that. It’s utterly preposterous that David Hogg would believe that killing other people is legal, let alone that it is legal without requiring any type of license. 

I’m puzzled by how Hogg could possibly have come to hold such a ridiculous belief. Perhaps he is trying to make some sort of rhetorical point about how people, in his (incorrect) opinion, shouldn’t be allowed to own guns? Perhaps he is equating owning guns with killing people? To state another thing that is so obvious it shouldn’t even need to be stated, these two things are not the same, nor even close to being the same. Therefore it is false to equate them. 

Regardless of his motivation, all that Hogg is doing in this tweet is making a preposterous, blatantly factually false statement. And I just don’t get why on earth someone would make such a preposterous and blatantly factually false statement as this one.

bookmark_border“They don’t understand the enormity of the responsibility you’re taking…”

“They don’t understand the enormity of the responsibility you’re taking when you go out there and carry a gun in public.” – NJ Senate President Nick Scutari

(source here)

Actually, Nick, the only responsibility people are taking when they carry a gun in public is to not shoot anyone with it, other than in self-defense. That’s it. And I think pretty much every gun owner understands this concept. 

bookmark_borderGun laws don’t “work” – they violate people’s rights

In the following tweet, California governor Gavin Newsom demonstrates that he doesn’t understand legal or moral philosophy:

Laws can’t “work.” It makes no sense to speak of a law either working or failing to do so.

The purpose of a law is not to achieve any particular result; the purpose of a law is to specify what is morally right and what is morally wrong.

What is morally right is to respect people’s rights, including the right to purchase any product(s) that one wishes, and the right to carry any item(s) that one wishes on one’s person.

Restricting the types of guns that people are allowed to purchase and/or carry – what Newsom refers to as “smart gun laws” – violates people’s rights and is therefore morally wrong.

It’s as simple as that.

Gun rights proponents and opponents frequently debate whether gun laws “work” – in other words whether they achieve their presumed goal of preventing gun violence and saving lives. But in reality, this debate is irrelevant. Gun restrictions violate people’s rights, and that is the only thing that matters. If something violates people’s rights, it is morally wrong, and therefore should not be enacted, regardless of how much violence it prevents and regardless of how many lives it saves.