Shoot

I’ve lived in remote rural places and edgy urban areas so  I am well aware of and sympathetic to a desire to be able to defend oneself. I understand the comfort of a personal handgun keyed to the owner, limited to a few shots _ although in this day and age surely someone could come up with a more effective form of personal protection.

But war weapons _ assault rifles and the like _ are an adolescent fantasy. Their only real purpose is offense. And they corrupt society by forcing the militarization of the police.

The main fear expressed by supporters is that without access to such armament there would be no recourse against a corrupt government. But unless you have the military on your side there is no recourse anyway. Only in video games does an individual or group stand a chance against a modern state. But daydreams die hard.

I’m not sure banning such weapons would make much difference anyway. There are thousands of ways to die in a dangerous world _ cars being one of the main ones. And massive social damage is more likely to come from electronic sabotage or plague.

But we cringe every time another group of kids is slaughtered by a mad person with a grudge. At least we should try to make such events less likely.