Hand Grenades Don't Kill People

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"Guns don't kill people: people kill people."

You know the words. You know the tune.

OK.

Machine guns don't kill people.
Hand grenades don't kill people.
Land mines don't kill people.
Improvised explosive devices don't kill people.
And nuclear bombs never killed anybody.

People did.

I suppose you could say the same thing about cars.
Cars don't kill people: people kill people.

So we register and license cars, so we can identify them.
We license drivers, so they can show that they have been trained.
Not everyone gets to drive a car.
There is an age limit.
You can lose your license if you do things we agree
would make you a danger behind the wheel.

But we don't think guns should be registered.
We don't think people should have a permit to own and use a gun.
God, we seem to think, created index fingers for firearm purposes.

Maybe we should require a license to be stupid, too.

It isn't about "taking away some sacred right" to own
land mines, or hand grenades, or hunting rifles.
It is about doing sensible things to make it safer to go to church,
and school, and to the store.

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