The mayor of Seattle, Greg Nickels, has banned guns on city property.
The mayor cites the incident in Seattle last month, when a criminal shot two people on city property. While the mayor’s goal of preventing innocent citizens from being shot is a noble one, it will not be served by this ban. That is because gun control laws are doomed to fail, since criminals don’t obey laws (in fact, that is what makes them criminals in the first place).
A criminal who wants to murder, rob, or rape will not be deterred by some city ordinance that prohibits the carrying of a gun. To a criminal who is facing capital punishment or life in prison for murder, a misdemeanor (or lesser) gun charge won’t even make them think twice.
On the other hand, law abiding citizens, who wouldn’t commit murder in the first place, will obey the ban on carrying a gun. They will obey the ban because they don’t want their good name sullied with a gun possession charge, and because they are simply law abiding citizens. This will leave them vulnerable to criminals and those bent on mass murder, as we have seen happen in other gun free zones lately.
Hopefully the good people of Seattle will recognize the inherent problems with the Mayor’s order banning guns on city property, and will take action through the political process to remove him from office and install a mayor who believes in the right to self defense.