Dori Monson’s argument far from perfect

The gun debate has dominated the radio. I was listening to Dori Monson on Wednesday when he brought up several recent cases where people have defended themselves with guns.

Republican lies to protect gun rights

In one case, a homeowner shot a man trying to break into his kids’ bedroom. Another guy defended his family during a drive-by shooting. Earlier this week, Seattle police shot a suspect going for his gun.

“There are dozens and dozens of stories every day around the country of good Samaritans with guns who are stopping bad guys and preventing lives from being lost, preventing murders,” Dori said.

He’s making the point that good guys need guns. Right. And if we ask why the good guys need guns, the answer is because the bad guys already have guns, and probably got them pretty easily.

We don’t know whether the burglar in one case had a gun. But we agree that if you’re going to confront a burglar — it would be better if you had the gun and he didn’t, right?

What about people who would like to be free not to arm up? That’s the freedom that’s being lost here.

There are people who don’t want a firearm in their home and for good reason. It’s dangerous, especially with children around.

Another part of this discussion is the number of times a child got a gun and shot themselves or a friend. Or the times when it was a little too handy for someone going through depression.

So you can understand why there are families that just don’t want one around.

But now we’re being told that we have to increase school security. Arm the teachers, do more drills, add metal detectors, analyze social media, and suddenly you don’t have a choice.

That’s a big hang-up for a lot of people. We can’t restrict anything because the Constitution doesn’t allow it. One of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School teachers at the Florida rally pointed out the Second Amendment begins with “A well-regulated Militia.” And she asked Dana Loesch of the NRA what she thinks that means.

“George Mason was one of the founders and he said the militia is the whole of the people. It’s every man, it’s every woman.”

Students walk out of class in support of Florida victims

And she used that definition to argue that every man and every woman — of course back then they actually meant only men — has a right to a gun.

But the word “militia” is preceded by the term “well-regulated,” which I don’t think was accidental. The founders could have left it out. That tells me they intended that the whole militia, which Dana says means everybody, is also subject to regulation.

If you just hand out weapons to both the good guys and the bad guys, your freedom not to be armed is being abridged. That is the point that a lot of the students and parents are making after the Florida massacre.

Also, Wayne La Pierre saying that this tragedy is being shamelessly exploited is a little like saying the NTSB shamelessly exploits plane crashes to make flying safer.

There was a time it was absurd to talk about arming teachers. We were assured that more guns meant less crime. Well, we have between 265 million and 310 million guns. Are we safer yet?

Editor’s note: We changed the headline to remove “pro-gun.” Dori has made it clear he’s not “pro-gun.” Rather he’s pro-Constitution. 

Follow @http://www.twitter.com/thedaveross