It’s quite evident that a tenet of a free society includes the ability of the individual to own property. That property includes a gun. One of the first things Nazi Germany did to secure its power in the Reichstag was seize all weapons from every German’s home. Czechoslovakia was next and, soon enough, the Gestapo became social law. I do believe that we would be living in a safer world if individuals were allowed to carry weapons. Criminals will find ways to acquire firearms regardless of whether they are legal or not. I would rather be ready than dead. Individuals would inevitably learn firearm responsibility because they will understand that using it irresponsibly will result in punitive measures; government does have the obligation to protect an individual’s life and if you start firing aimlessly at a crowd or begin to use your gun for reasons beyond self defense, then government must intervene for the victim’s safety. However, government also has the obligation to protect an individual’s property and that includes my right to own a weapon and land.

Mayor Bloomberg is pushing for this legislation to further limit the capacity to which a gun owner can use his gun. Now they want to “microstamp ammunition” which is basically bullet tracking. If we truly want to crack down on crime, perhaps alleviating taxes on the poor and revamping the New York City welfare system will keep the impoverished off the streets and, instead, working and producing capital for society.

Although “abject poverty” is somewhat of a different topic, it is somehow interrelated in that those unemployed in impoverished neighborhoods tend to find havens in gangs and misconduct to pass the time or provide for themselves (because the State clearly is not facilitating that process anyway…). You can even find this in war-stricken countries. Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, for example, are poor farmers or students who have lost their jobs because of the war and have picked up firearms because a local elite is paying them to do so. Yemen, which has recently gone bankrupt is now a haven for “terrorists” because Al Qaeda is paying the unemployed to do their bidding. Violence is usually a byproduct of poverty.

What is more disappointing is that the Brooklyn GOP has given Mayor Bloomberg an endorsement when he ran for reelection in 2009. Mayor Bloomberg founded “Mayors Against Illegal Guns” in 2006. Something didn’t click in GOP Chairman Craig Eaton’s head; perhaps something clicked in his wallet instead. Luckily enough, the State Senate stopped the bill from passing.