On Wednesday, the Indiana Senate signaled support for a bill that would eliminate gun licensing laws in Indiana, in spite of concerns from the Indiana State Police and the Fraternal Order of Police.
ISP Superintendent Doug Carter said this bill would add danger to police officers, who already work a dangerous profession.
The bill’s author, Wadesville Republican Sen. Jim Tomes, argued that criminals already carry handguns while law abiding people must pay for permits.
When deconstructed, this argument boils down to saying, simply, that criminals break the law. If the fact that some people breaking the law renders the law meaningless, then this same argument could be used to abolish every law on the books.
Stop signs and speed limits do not prevent individuals from driving recklessly if they so choose. However, it seems ludicrous to argue that removing all stop signs and speed limits would make our roads safer. After all, why should law-abiding citizens have to follow traffic rules when criminals do not?
Our Second Amendment rights are important, but a careful look at all of our constitutional rights will reveal that they aren’t absolute and certain common sense regulations are in place. Free speech is tempered with libel and slander laws and with restrictions on time, place and manner.
A little-known fact about our Statue of Liberty is that about 75 years after its inauguration, a second statue was proposed by Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl. The proposed statue would be called the Statue of Responsibility and would sit on America’s West Coast to symbolize twin values of liberty and responsibility.
“Freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness,” Frankl wrote in “Man’s Search for Meaning.”
Our lawmakers have the duty of finding that balance between liberty and responsibility. To eliminate licensing laws on sheer principle without considering the consequences falls into the realm of what Frankl called arbitrariness.
Gun licensing requirements provide society a means by which to preserve freedom in a responsible manner.
No, it is not a perfect system, and it doesn’t eliminate gun violence, but it may reduce the frequency of shootings.
How much gun violence does licensing prevent? Well, if this bill becomes law, we may very well find out the hard way.
