THE USUAL SUSPECTS – AT 10:20 A.M. ET:  Every time there is a tragedy, like the Colorado shootings, the usual suspects emerge to annouce the need for new "gun control" measures.  

As a responsible gun owner – I was at our carefully supervised local range just yesterday – I have no problem at all with a serious discussion about ways to prevent gun tragedies.  I have a serious problem, though, with political grandstanders who never seem to put a moment's thought into what they're proposing, and whether it will have any effect.   From Fox:

The call for federal lawmakers to tighten gun laws has intensified following the mass shooting in Colorado, with New Jersey Democratic Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg urging Congress on Saturday to swiftly address a ban on certain weapons.

“Let's stop wasting time and start saving lives,” Lautenberg, D-N.J. said on his Twitter account. “Congress must prioritize a ban on high-capacity gun magazines.”

At least one other lawmaker has already called on President Obama and GOP challenger Mitt Romney to address the issue.

"Soothing words are nice," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a radio interview, "but maybe it's time that the two people who want to be president of the United States stand up and tell us what they are going to do about it, because this is obviously a problem across the country."

Lautenberg was also among the first on Capitol Hill to comment on the shooting massacre early Friday at a suburban Colorado movie theatre that left 12 people dead and dozens wounded. The alleged shooter, James Holmes, was armed with an AR-15 assault rifle and three other weapons.

COMMENT:  The usual stuff.  Yes, high-capacity magazines may be a problem, and I will concede that buying ammunition on the internet, which the Colorado shooter did, without any background check, might also be a problem. 

As to the first, a high-capacity magazine makes rapid fire easier for the shooter, but magazines in modern weapons can be changed so quickly that a ban on high-capacity mags would probably make little difference to the determined criminal.  A ten-round magazine can be swapped out in a few seconds for another ten-round magazine.  That having been said, I would look with suspicion on anyone buying a high-capacity magazine because it probably has no useful, legitimate purpose.  Even the late Bill Ruger, the legendary co-founder of the Sturm Ruger gun company, made that point.

As for the second, I would give serious study to the way ammunition is sold.  Consistent with Constitutional guarantees, safeguards can be put in place.   Surveys survey show that legitimate gun owners are willing to help in prevention of gun crime. 

But, as we've noted here, there are other steps that can be taken that are far more likely to prevent mass shootings.  An inordinate number of these multiple-victim shootings are done by students, some affiliated with colleges, others with lower schools.  And yet, politically correct privacy policies, and "sensitivity," often prevent institutions from intervening with a troubled youth, or reporting suspicious behavior.  I have to believe that someone noticed that this guy in Colorado had dangerous stuff around and was acting strangely.  We can, consistent with rights, explore mechanisms for intervention and reporting.  There have been some baby steps taken to include mental-health histories in the federal database used for background checks in the purchase of weapons, but they have only been baby steps.

And poor journalistic work has prevented us from understanding that "gun control" measures, even if Constitutional, rarely are effective unless joined by a package of crime-fighting tactics.  Gun control is often reported as an isolated measure, assumed to have some impact on its own.

And yet, we in New York know that local gun-control laws were laughingly ineffective until Rudy Giuliani and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton put into place "stop 'n frisk" policies, giving police greater leeway to question people in high-crime areas whose actions or behavior warranted police attention.  The result was that thousands of illegal weapons were taken off the streets.  But those are politically incorrect policies, often focused on high-minority areas (where most of the crime is committed), and too many journalists shy away from discussing their effectiveness.

So the discussion, begun after each tragedy, will probably be silly, narrow, and ineffective.  I'd begin the counteroffensive with better journalistic reporting of gun issues, reporting that is more detailed, more knowledgeable, less trendy, and more comprehensive.  I'm not holding my breath. 

July 22,  2012