U.S.A. – -(Ammoland.com)- “In honor of Andrew R. Black, we ask that you work for legislation that imposes a reasonable waiting period between firearm purchase and possession to provide a cooling off period to guard against impulsive acts of violence,” the grieving parents of a 23-year-old Vermont man who committed suicide requested in their son’s obituary. He had shot himself on the same day he purchased a firearm from a gun store, meaning the transfer had been cleared after the Vermont Criminal History Repository provided background check information to the National Instant Check System.
It’s hard to imagine a grief more agonizing than losing a child, an occurrence that can throw the strongest into the depths of despair, desperate for anything to help make sense of the senseless. Words fail to express the helpless sympathy all decent people should feel for this young man’s parents. That said, their torture is no claim against the rights of others, which is what the way they are channeling their grief makes.
That “cooling off period,” if enacted into law, might be enough to save another person’s life, Black’s father told WCAX. He declined to say what preceded his son’s decision to commit suicide. “Andrew was having a bad day, that’s the easiest way to put it,” Rob Black told the station. “At 11:03 he went and bought a gun. Was out of the store by 11:30 and he was dead by 3 or 3:30.” Had there been a way to guard against his son’s hasty decision, even a delay of as little as 24 hours, Black thinks he might still be alive.
It’s understandable that Black would decline to comment on painful private matters, but if he’s going to channel this tragedy into public infringements, a history of warning signs and motivators becomes relevant to the ensuing conversation. Also, “might” is hardly sufficient criteria to impose prior restraints on unalienable rights. And if the often parroted “If it saves just one life” assertion applies, one could make the case for compulsory background checks and waiting periods before allowing people onto bridges or to buy rope.
But states with highest gun ownership rates have highest suicide rates, the gun-grabbers have argued back, conveniently ignoring the agenda of those promoting that claim. Somehow they don’t find worth mentioning the higher suicides rates in “Gun-free” Japan, and that the U.S. isn’t even in the top 25 “Countries with The Most Suicides in The World”…
Nor do they address higher suicide rates among police, or significantly, among prisoners under total control of the state.
“Black, who identified himself as a veteran who served in combat, insisted he isn’t anti-gun. Firearms in the family’s home are locked and secured,” the Post story continues. That’s manipulative information, to include non sequitur “bona fides” with the proposed infringements. It’s the equivalent of the ubiquitous “I believe in the Second Amendment but”…
It also fails to account for the fact that the estimated 100 million or so U.S. gun owners, like Black himself, will not have to wait. Neither will if affect armed criminals.
“If this is part of a standalone bill, we will be there and talk to anybody,” Black was quoted by VTDigger. “If they are going to tack this onto a larger gun bill, then they don’t even need to call us.”
That’s not the way gun-grabbers work:
One lawmaker, Sen. Phil Baruth, D-Chittenden, has already said he will be proposing new gun safety measures, including a 48-hour waiting period for purchases, this legislative session, which is set to start next month. Also, he has said, the bill will include a tighter gun storage requirement, and banning 3D printed firearms.
They’ll take whatever is surrendered, then come back for another, and another. That’s what they do. And when infringements they impose in one state prove not to work, they’ll place the blame on other states, and demand to impose their edicts nationwide.
No one making such demands will (publicly) consider the possibility of “If it takes one life.” That’s what happened in the inexcusably outrageous story of domestic violence victim Carol Bowne, stabbed to death while waiting for the State of New Jersey to take its sweet time approving her gun permit.
Perhaps the Blacks should ask Bowne’s surviving and grieving loved ones how waiting periods worked out for them. Not that binding decisions on the rest of us should be made one way or another based on anybody’s feelings…
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating / defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament.
He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regular featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.