Gun control
: As the war was underway and we heard reports that Saddam had handed out AK47s to his people like Bush hands out tax cuts, I emailed a gun-control opponent I know (and like anyway) and asked what his position was going to be about gun control in Iraq. Never got an answer. But I could have guessed the stance we’d start hearing. And here it is, in an email and post from Del Simmons, a commenter here:
I am very saddened by the news that we are about to try to disarm the law abiding citizens of Iraq. It’s a terrible idea, and once you think about it, I bet you’ll agree.
Uh, sorry, but no.
The right to bear arms is not unlimited and not universal and certainly not God-given. This is Iraq, where there are no laws to abide by right now. This is a war zone. We’re getting crap for not cracking down on lawlessness. So crack, we will. But we don’t need any Joe, Harry, or Mahmoud pointing a machine gun at our soldiers.
Here’s what’s happening:
Iraqi citizens will be required to turn over automatic weapons and heavy weapons under a proclamation that allied authorities plan to issue this week, allied officials said Tuesday.
The aim of the proclamation is to help stabilize Iraq by confiscating the huge supply of AK-47s, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons that are used by criminal gangs, paramilitary groups and remnants of the Saddam Hussein government.
And while we’re at it, we’ll have them hand over any WMDs they happen to have in the basement.
