A Simple Lesson about Gun Control

February 10, 2024 by Dan Mitchell @ International Liberty

Because of moral, constitutional, and cost-benefit reasons, I’m not a fan of gun control.

 So I don’t like proposals to restrict the right to keep and bear arms.

That being said, some anti-gun initiatives are dumber than others. The most foolish (and the easiest to mock) is the notion of “gun-free zones.”

At the risk of stating the obvious, a bad person who is thinking of committing a crime with a gun surely isn’t going to care that the government has posted a sign prohibiting guns.

I’ve already cited some examples of this. Today, let’s look at another.

With considerable publicity, New York City decided to make Times Square a gun-free zone. They even spent taxpayer money to post signs.

How did that work out? Did the criminals obey the signage?  According to an Associated Press report from Jake Offenhartz and Michael Sisak, the signs are ineffective.

A 15-year-old accused of shooting a Brazilian tourist in the leg in Times Square Thursday night, then firing at a police officer while fleeing, was arrested just outside of New York City on Friday, police officials said. The teenager was taken into custody at a residential house that police believe may be linked to a family member in Yonkers nearly 24 hours after the shooting that began in a sporting goods store and spilled out onto the bustling streets of Midtown Manhattan. …police identified the suspect as a resident of a migrant shelter in Manhattan… He is also considered a suspect in an armed robbery in the Bronx and a separate shooting in Times Square last month, police said.

To be fair, it’s possible that the suspect does not understands English, so he may have not have been able to read the signs about Times Square being a gun-free zone.

However, does anybody think that he would have been deterred if there were Spanish signs?

Consider that question as an another version of my gun-control IQ test.

P.S. Criminals, like taxpayers, respond to incentives. So if you actually want to reduce crime, increase the chance of getting caught and/or increase the severity of punishment.

P.P.S. It also would be a good idea to lower crime by ending the War on Drugs.