Giving Government and Criminals a Monopoly on Violence

For the last few weeks, America has been greatly saddened by the massacre of innocent schoolkids in Parkland, Florida by a lone gunman using an AR-15 rifle. In reaction to this atrocity, there has been an outpouring of sadness around the loss of innocent life and also a fierce debate around the issue of gun control. Cooler heads have remained silent to give time for those who have suffered to mourn and enable a calm and thoughtful debate concerning public policy as regards guns. Watching the debate unfold, we clearly see how deeply unintelligent or simplistic the arguments for gun control have become. These arguments can be summed up simply as "guns are so bad that only criminals and government can have them" – thus obtaining a monopoly on violence.

The political aftermath of the Parkland shooting has been liberal-led mass hysteria about guns, with many expressing outrage on how the gunman was able to purchase the weapon and calling for stricter gun control, such as better background checks, raising the minimum age to own a gun, an "assault weapons" ban, etc. All of these proposals are based on the idea of "we must do something," which seems to be a misguided and panicky approach to public policy.

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