We are told that gun control is meant to impact criminals. While it’s going to make life difficult for ordinary Americans, well, that’s just collateral damage, but isn’t that’s just the price we need to pay if we want to reduce crime, right?

The problem with that is that we know it’s complete and total BS. Criminals aren’t dissuaded by laws. They find ways around them. They’ll buy a stolen gun. They’ll get someone else to buy one or them. No matter what you throw up to prevent them from doing so, they find a way to do it.

Hell, in Europe, they convert non-functional weapons into functional ones, just to have weapons to sell.

But over at our sister site Townhall, Philip Reboli hit on a metaphor to show just how much gun control hurts ordinary folks.

For many Americans, the last 24 months or so have likely comprised the most difficult span of time they’ve ever faced. Our nation was pummeled by a pandemic, economic downturn, and political and social upheaval.Yet when the history of 2020-2021 is written, the most shocking and infuriating aspect should be that federal and state laws prevented Americans from protecting themselves against the violent riots that erupted around the country.

Imagine this scenario. You wake up coughing in the middle of the night. Your house is full of smoke. You rush your spouse and kids out to the street to escape the flames that are licking the walls of your home. You dial 911 and the operator tells you the fire department has been told to stand down and not respond to calls.

Desperate to save everything you’ve built, you run to fetch a hose to put out the fire yourself. But when you turn on the spigot, nothing comes out.

You forgot that the city you live in has determined that if you ever need to put out a fire with your own garden hose, you must first seek permission, and, in order to get that permission, you need to not only wait several days, but also pay several hundred dollars to cover “administrative fees” for your city to process your application. In the meantime, your home and all of the irreplaceable mementos inside go up in smoke and turn to ash.

Does this seem far fetched? To the millions of recent first-time gun owners, it seems far too familiar. That’s because it exemplifies the bureaucratic bloat that’s weighing down our democracy and burying our God-given rights that are enshrined in our founding documents.

He’s absolutely right. That’s exactly what it’s like.

Oh, those who oppose private gun ownership will look at this and roll their eyes. They’ll try and make light of it and point out the differences, but so what?

Yes, there are differences between running water and a gun. Yes, people don’t use water hoses to kill people, for the most part.

However, those differences are irrelevant when it’s you and yours in danger. You just care that the government that’s failing to protect your family is also tripping over itself to prevent you from protecting them.

I’ve always found it interesting that the places with the highest crime rates–our large cities–also are the areas most likely to favor gun control. I’m not shocked by it, mind you. They favor it because they’ve been told it’s the answer to their problems, so of course, that’s what they want.

But we know that criminals don’t obtain guns legally. They get them through illicit means any chance they get. The laws simply don’t do anything to stop them.

Their potential victims, on the other hand, well…we know how that story goes, now don’t we?

These folks can’t get guns without jumping through a whole lot of hoops, and before they can do it, they’re victimized. It shouldn’t be this way, but some really think gun control is an answer when it’s really the problem.