Right now, there's a lot of discussion about so-called assault weapons. The shooting earlier this week in a Manhattan office building by a gunman wielding one was always going to spark such a debate.
Undoubtedly, you've heard someone, either now or in the past, use the phrase, "You don't need that to hunt deer." They might be referring to the type of weapon, the magazine capacity, or anything of the sort.
For Fudds, that's ample reason to support some gun control measure or another. After all, their old, trusty bolt-action or lever gun isn't up for banning. They'll keep all of their guns, so it doesn't matter.
Doing so, however, is a terrible mistake.
First, there's the age-old argument that the Second Amendment isn't about hunting. It's not. I've talked about how it's not countless times, and I'm just one of a legion of voices saying so.
Yet there's another reason why this argument should be rejected outright beyond the text of the Second Amendment.
See, if we use the idea that what we need for hunting deer or other game animals is the criteria to be considered for what should be legal or not, then absolutely no firearm will survive.
Those trusty bolt-actions and lever-action guns? You don't actually need those to hunt deer, elk, bear, or anything else. Archery exists, and really, how many mass killings do we see with those? I mean, I can only think of one, and that wasn't even here, so sure, archery is a much safer option for hunting, and then those sniper rifles and cowboy guns can be taken off the streets where they won't harm anyone.
After all, didn't you guys already agree that if you don't need it for hunting, it's OK to ban it?
The problem with "don't need it for hunting" is that someone will decide to ramp that up to the next degree. And, since archery equipment can be considered "arms," they could even use that to argue that they're not violating the Second Amendment at all with a total gun ban since you still have access to arms that can be used for hunting.
Hell, back in the day, spears were hunting weapons. Would we like to see a world where archery equipment was too cutting-edge and capable of being used for a massacre?
We can make the Second Amendment argument until we're blue in the face. It's absolutely true, but it doesn't convince a lot of people predisposed to accept limits on constitutionally protected rights. What we have to do is address the problems with arguments as they're presented, including the slippery slope on something like this.
While there is a slippery slope fallacy, it's not a fallacy when there's an actual slippery slope, and this is potentially it.
See, it's easy to say that no one would do that, but we've seen too many times when the mask slipped. Gabby Giffords famously said, "No more guns." Her aides tried to play it off, but the truth is there. Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens called for a repeal of the Second Amendment. California Gov. Gavin Newsom wants a new constitutional amendment that codifies certain gun control laws into the Constitution, thus negating the Second Amendment as a whole.
Time and time again, gun control advocates have made their actual goals clear.
To say they won't do it means you have to both take them at their word and believe that absolutely nothing would ever change. If they're already willing to accept even some limitations on the Second Amendment in the name of safety, where will it stop when they keep moving the goalposts on what they want?
Once you accept the premise that what's needed for hunting is all that we should have, then you've set the stage for that argument eventually being used to disarm everyone, because you can absolutely hunt without a firearm at all.
It's not like people aren't already doing it, after all.
Editor's Note: The Second Amendment protects the right to hunt with a gun, but that's not why the Founders believed it was so important to enshrine the right to keep and bear arms in the Constitution.
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