Popular Solutions for Gun-Crimes?

"[Y]ou cannot possibly subscribe to the idea that only social sanctions,well-designed law-enforcement penalties and a more equitable welfare policy stand between us and a nearly-crime-free utopia."
        Megan McArdle, writing in the Bloomberg <spit> View

Megan McArdle
(Wikipedia)

There's hardly been a better description of what many actually DO believe. Add "bans of scary-looking guns" and it would be the perfect description of the populist beliefs behind anti-gun laws. It's so simple, direct and appealing... and wrong. Encouraged in their misconceptions by the intelligentsia, politicians, celebrities and media one more law, ban, common sense solution, another "do something", just one more abridgement of rights,  and all will be fixed.

Ms McArdle continues slowly towards why there is crime:

"That’s because many people are … well, something that’s not printable on a family blog. Let’s just say that a troublesome minority of people will ignore basic decency and morality and do terrible, wrong things to get what they want."  

Ms McArdle (BTW: a center-right/libertarian blogger of some note) has stumbled upon a basic truth. One that many of us know innately. There are bad, even evil, people out there. They exist largely outside of societies rules and norms. They're literally lawless: Homo Praedatorias, Preying Man, violent actors. Call them what you will.

The lawless are fortunately a small percentage: scientists estimate about 2 - 5% of the populace. Why? Science now knows there's a genetic predisposition to behaviors, add family (or lack of same), micro-culture norming, education, expectations and companions, etc and sometimes you get evil. This has been true since Cain bagged his limit of Abels. The stupid, lazy, crazy and evil, have always been with us - and always will.

     

The key is how society manages their aberrants. Their lawlessness set them apart from society as a whole. The Ivory Towers have no idea how little their laws effect them; they're outside that. Occasionally, they get caught, tried and punished. However, this is seen as just the cost of doing business.

Where is this going? Back to McArdle's paragraph at the top. All the laws in the world are not going stop the lawless. Expecting that after 30 millennium is crazy. Pushing laws as solutions is disingenuous at best.    

Yet, laws are usually the preferred "solution" to a perceived gun-violence problems. And the reason we have to continuously fight for our rights. 

HT: Ian Argent in the Shall Not Be Questioned uberblog