It’s now official. Wisconsinites who have a concealed carry permit – and judging by the surge in downloads of the online application, the figure will likely number in the tens if not hundreds of thousands – are now allowed to carry a concealed weapon into many public buildings, including the state Capitol.
While this issue is serious, at least Stephen Colbert sees the funny side. On last night’s “Colbert Report,” he noted that while guns are allowed in the Capitol building, cameras are not. “Thank God,” he said. “Cameras are dangerous.”
Not as dangerous, however, as the misguided libertarianism that has been canonized as one of the pillars of conservatism and is threatening to take over political discourse across the country. These libertarian conservatives are the same NRA advocates who spew garbage like “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.”
This ridiculous aphorism is, in a way, correct. But if you don’t have a gun, it’s probably a lot harder to kill a person than if you can easily access one. Why, then, give people easy access to guns, when the expected costs far outweigh the possible gains?
At which point gun advocates will adopt a patronizing tone, take you under their arm and gently explain that it all began with the Bill of Rights, which codified “the right of people to keep and bear arms.”
“These people fought for our freedom, son,” they’ll say. “We can’t give up our rights just so the government can control us even more.”
Except that sometimes, a little control is a good thing.
Why is it that America, with its libertarian attitude to gun laws, seems to be the site of the world’s most horrific shootings? Columbine, Virginia Tech, Northern Illinois University, the Washington sniper, the Tucson shooting earlier this year, the list goes on.
Sure, other countries have had their incidents. The massacre in Norway earlier this year, for example, claimed 77 lives. Australia had the Port Arthur massacre in 1996 when 35 were killed, but in the immediate aftermath, its gun laws were significantly tightened and no such events have occurred since.
However, the United States has a disproportionate amount of these slaughters, and there is no doubt it is because of the ridiculously liberal approach to gun laws. Wisconsin’s concealed carry law is illustrative of this dangerous trend.
Thankfully, the University of Wisconsin has the right idea. Concealed weapons are not permitted into any university buildings, except under special dispensation. There is no need to risk a repeat of V-Tech, and it seems the UW Police Department has taken the sensible course and made such an event unlikely.
Obviously, it is my fervent hope that this law doesn’t precipitate any kind of massacre. I wish I could say with absolute confidence that life will continue as normal, that nothing untoward would result from the new concealed carry law. But I can’t.
The chance of a massacre occurring is infinitesimal, less than one percent. But it is that tiny sliver of doubt that is the problem. It could happen. It just takes one unhinged person for everything to go wrong. The law has to legislate for that one person, even if he or she may not exist, and that is why the concealed carry law is a huge mistake.
Until now, Wisconsin was one of the very few states where carrying a concealed weapon was illegal (Illinois is one notable exception). Now, it has accepted the orthodox position of allowing concealed weapons in many public buildings.
It was James Madison, the namesake of this great city, who wrote, “Americans have the right and advantage of being armed ” unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.” If we are to take a lesson from the lives lost throughout American history, perhaps there should be a bit more mistrust when it comes to gun laws.
Shawn Rajanayagam ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in political science and American studies.
