Boy do I not miss Cincinnati

True... my time there allowed me to meet my beautiful wife and take in a few Reds' games, but that place is a cesspool of crime, violence, and racial tension.

A July 27th editorial in the Cincinnati Enquirer entitled “Cincinnati Should Ban Handguns” called for legislation to do just that. The editorial states,

“We need a gun control ordinance like they have in Morton Grove, Ill., that bans the possession and ownership of handguns. We need a buy-back program where the city will buy back handguns. We need the churches to go out in the neighborhoods and beg people to bring their handguns and anonymously drop them off at the church office. We need to get some of those for whom guns are important symbols and means of livelihood to come on our side and preach the way of Jesus and Mohammed and Abraham, and not the way of the gun. We need to create a sense of community that says we don't need guns and we don't need murder…

A lot of killings have occurred because someone decided for the first time to use a gun - a first-time convenience store robbery or drug-related killing. The bad act is obtaining the gun and then using it.”

Amidst this editorial’s many other illogical conclusions, it neglects to clarify one important point: How would the enactment of a city-wide ban of handguns convince criminals that are robbing, raping, and murdering the citizens of Cincinnati to finally turn their lives around and abandon their weapons? If current laws forbidding the illegal use of firearms are not a deterrent to those criminals (even if it is their first time), why would this legislation be any different? The article implies that the threat of being convicted of murder is not sufficient, but the threat of being convicted of a simple city ordinance would be an effective deterrent. That just does not add up. By definition, criminals break laws and this ineffectual handgun ban would only be one more that they disregard.

If not criminals, who would be affected by the proposed ban? The answer is law-abiding citizens that have come to the conclusion that no matter how many laws are enacted, an element of society will still exist that ignores them and preys on the innocent. Millions of citizens have taken the necessary steps to influence the most important crime statistic of all: The Personal Murder Rate of Their Family. This statistic can be positively influenced by becoming a responsible, legal, and well-trained firearm owner for the purpose of self defense.