Whenever there's something terrible, someone will say we should embrace gun control because the rest of the world has and they don't have our problems. The truth is that many places have it worse than we do despite their gun control laws, they just opt to exclude them for some inane reason. Further, I've seen too many reports of guns being recovered throughout the so-called developed world to actually believe their gun laws do all that much.
Take Dublin, Ireland, as just one example.
It seems that police recovered several firearms, along with drugs — because those two never show up together, do they? — in a recent arrest that landed three people in handcuffs.
A woman and two men have been arrested in Dublin city centre in connection with the seizure of a submachine gun, two pistols and cocaine worth about €2.5 million.
The Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB) carried out the operation in Dublin’s north inner city in the early hours of Monday morning.
Two men, both in their 30s, and a woman (20s) were arrested on organised crime charges, under section 72 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006.
I'm more than a little disappointed that there was no "little Armalite" recovered, since that's the traditional firearm of Ireland.
Yeah, they had gun control during the Troubles, too, but that didn't stop the IRA from getting AR-180s aplenty nor using them. I mean, if you can't keep terrorists and drug dealers from getting guns, what the hell are those gun laws actually supposed to be doing?
As it stands, someone in Dublin who wants a firearm has to give a reason they want one, and self-defense isn't considered a valid reason. They can get bolt-action rifles, .22 handguns that hold five or fewer rounds, or shotguns with a three-shot capacity.
Meanwhile, these jackwagons were sitting there with two pistols and a submachine gun. At least one of the handguns is a 9mm semi-auto too.
Bad people do bad things and they want the tools to do more bad things. They'll use these weapons in every illicit way, and no one can stop them from making threats or hurting innocent folks. Self-defense isn't a valid reason to get a gun in Ireland, after all, but the bad guys will get them just the same.
Much of my life was filled with stories of Irish defiance, of not just the IRA but people like Brian Boru, people who refused to bend the knee to those they saw as invaders.
Now they'll bend the knee to themselves.
It was never about freedom. It was always about who got to be the masters. Ireland is nothing but another European country that has lost its sense of courage, its sense of liberty, its sense of anything good. They'd rather create a nation of victims than actually let the Celtic fires within people find a useful purpose in dealing with those who would threaten them and theirs.
Such a shame.
The country that sang "My Little Armalite" is now ready to kneel to the next invader like history never happened.