Rep. Lucy McBath has a bone to pick with gun culture.

In fairness, her son was shot and killed during an argument about a loud stereo. She’s got a reason to be a little touchy.

She doesn’t have a reason to try and restrict our rights, however, and that’s pretty much what she’s tried to do during her entire tenure in Congress.

Recently, talking about passing gun control, she made an interesting statement.

After hitting a wall in Congress, gun control advocates are increasingly saying they’ll need to change the country’s culture before they can change its laws.

• That was the message from advocates and experts in conversation at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado on Wednesday.

…

What they’re saying: “It’s not just laws,” said Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Ga.), a leading voice for gun control in Congress and survivor of gun violence herself.

• “You have to look at this cultural crisis really holistically, organically,” she said, “just like we’ve changed any other culture.” She compared it to past societal movements away from cigarettes or towards support for same-sex marriage.
• “It doesn’t happen that way when you’re dealing with a cultural shift and change.”

Well, OK, that’s certainly a take.

However, I can’t help but wonder.

I mean, if we’re talking about changing the culture, why not change the culture so as to reduce people trying to kill one another instead of changing it to accept infringements on our constitutionally protected rights?

In fact, McBath brings up a much better example than she probably realizes: Cigarettes.

The culture changed to where fewer people were smoking rather than regulating away cigarettes so people had no choice in the matter. Sure, there have been some additional regulations here or there, but the cultural shift had more to do with personal choices than additional legislation.

So why not put that same energy into shifting the culture away from seeing violence as a solution to disagreement in the first place?

That would have some added benefits, too. People wouldn’t shift from guns to some other weapon in order to kill people, which would happen if they couldn’t get guns.

Take away the desire to kill people, create a culture where that’s not remotely considered a possibility, and you can give people rocket launchers without worry.

Why isn’t that part of the discussion?

McBath almost touched on the real answer to our issues with violent crime, but she’s so blinded by her anti-gun animosity that she just doesn’t see it. It’s a shame, too, because I happen to think she’s in a unique position to affect significant change in that regard.

Instead, she continues to push gun control as some kind of answer and likely won’t come around to understanding that the universal constant in all homicides isn’t the type of weapon–there are guns, knives, hammers, pillows, and anything else under the sun–but people.

Focusing one’s attention there and changing that would do far more good for far more people than gun control could ever hope.