With guns, it works either if everyone has them or if nobody has them. But when some people have it and others do not, the people who don’t have guns place themselves at a disadvantage.
In Switzerland, everyone is required by law to have a gun. Violent crime there is low. In Netherlands, everyone is banned from having a gun. Violent crime there is also low. But in America, we have some places where guns are easy to get and some places where guns are hard to get. So it’s very easy for a criminal to get guns in a state with lax regulations, carry it to a state with strong regulations, and become the king of the hill.
I do not believe that it would be realistic for America to go the way of Netherlands. There is the Second Amendment, and there is a strong gun lobby. In addition, there are some places where guns are necessary. If you live in the country and the police station is three hours’ drive away, you better have a gun. If you live in a place where there’s gangs and crack and the police don’t know what they are doing, you better have a gun. Instead we have a mess situation in which criminals find it easy to get guns and non-criminals do not. And the criminals terrorize the non-criminals.
My proposed solution to the problem of school teachings is for the teachers to carry guns. Teachers and schoolchildren shouldn’t have to put up with being terrorized by idiots. The idiots need to be met with greater force. Teachers should be able to defend themselves and their students; and school should be a safe learning environment. This is as true in dealing with school shooters as it is with school bullying. A parent shouldn’t have to worry that his child is going to get shot. And the only way to make sure of that is for the teachers to be able to defend the children.
The real danger with guns is that some people might use them for wrong things. A man might use a gun to intimidate his wife and children. But that of course can also be done with a fist, a knife or a whip. More women should take self-defense classes so that they can stand up to these kinds of abuses of power. And if man has a gun, the woman should know how to use it as well should he do wrong things with it.
Therefore Switzerland’s solution would work better for America than that of the Netherlands. Nobody recommends repealing the Second Amendment. Let law-abiding people in liberal states be able to defend themselves from the likes of the mafia or the gangsters. And see violent crime rapidly decrease.