The Long Island Frontier
by
Matt Giwer (c) 1994 (2/2)

      The frontier is Long Island and it does not have justice. A crazed, Jamaican racist killed four people and wounded 21 others on the spot and two more have died since then. What could have been done to prevent it.
      The first common nostrum is a waiting period and a background check. Unfortunately this is the Brady Bill and had there been a Brady Bill before Brady was shot it would have made no difference to Brady. It would have made no difference in the Long Island massacre either.
      Next we have the Feinstein approach. As written at the moment it would not have changed a thing. Despite the misinformed words of President Clinton the bill only bans clips with a greater capacity than original manufacture if they protrude from the bottom of the grip.
      I am certain Senator Feinstein will revise her amendment when Congress reconvenes to ban guns with such magazine capacity. As automatic pistols with large capacity first became popular in the early 1970s and since this is the first media event involving one it is difficult to make a case they are overwhelming involved in crime.
      Licensing and training of gun owners will also be proposed next year however it appears rather contradictory that we would want to face a well trained madman next time. It is also difficult to imagine just what training will address the use of a gun in the home against an intruder. Ordinarily training is a prerequisite to a concealed carry permit which would have been extremely helpful in the Long Island Train massacre.
      When shooting down the proposals of others it is incumbent to propose a solution of one's own. I would propose licensing and training not of all gun owners but of those gun owners who would carry them legally. I would propose a nationwide concealed carry permit that would override all local laws on gun ownership and carrying.
      One armed citizen on the train would have ended the shooting spree much earlier and saved lives.
      I will point to the state of Florida which has concealed carry permits that are no more restricted than driver's licenses with a requirement for a background check and training. Florida has achieved a decrease in crime compared to the rest of the nation. In other words, unlike what is being proposed in Congress this will actually do something about crime.
      When it comes to crime control we must do something that works not merely the best sounding something that gains the moment's popularity. The real problem is crime and we need to do something that works.
      Why are the people backing more gun laws? We have become a nation that would rather die than become involved; they might live and have to face the courts. It is easier to be a victim and make no decisions, it is easier to take no responsibility.
      What is the excuse of the people who were not carrying guns while so many died? There is a law against it. What kind of an excuse is that when people are dead? There may be an obligation to obey the law but that obligation does not extend to an obligation to die. It is not a suitable epitaph for a free man that he died to obey the law.
      Laws must be just. Laws must be reasonable. And above all laws must be mutually respected. If one man take a moral stand against theft while surrounded by thieves his reward may be in heaven but he will be a pauper on earth.
      Similarly those who take a stand against guns while surrounded by gun using criminals will find their reward in heaven much sooner than expected although I would not like to be explaining at the Pearly Gates that I died because I refused to defend my own life or that I was foolish enough to expect harsh language to deal with a bullet.
      There is no mutual respect for the laws prohibiting guns. Why do we victims continue to obey a law that relegates us to permanent victim status? In some places the penalty for disobeying that law is quite severe. So I ask why do we put up with such a law? Why are we demanding more laws and greater penalties upon us victims?
      We are truly the nation of cowards we have been called. We are not fit to live as a free people any longer. We have lost `the will to be free.