Merriam-Webster definition of fault is: a moral weakness less serious than a vice. a physical or intellectual imperfection or impairment, responsibility for wrongdoing or failure. So, let’s suppose a major league baseball pitcher throws a pitch that hits the batter in the head and kills him.
Where is the fault? The pitcher because he threw the ball? The batter because he didn’t move or was standing too close? The catcher because he held his glove in the wrong place causing the pitcher to have an errant throw? Can the pitcher even be at fault since he lost control of the ball as soon as it left his finger tips? Who do we blame? Well if the pitcher was holding a gun and shot the batter we all know it would be the fault of the gun. So the fault lies with the baseball. It was the baseball that hit the batter and killed him. It was the baseball that allowed the pitcher to throw it at over 90 miles an hour and hit the batter. So if a person were to kill someone with a baseball shouldn’t baseballs have to be regulated and only be purchased at a Federal Baseball Dealer?
Ok, Ok, sounds absurd. That’s the point. When a person is injured or killed with a gun it cannot and is not the FAULT of the gun. A gun like a baseball is an inanimate object incapable of moral weakness, or responsibility. For that matter so is an automobile. that is why no one calls for automobiles to be banned when a drunk driver kills someone.
When you consider that guns are constitutionally protected where autos and baseballs are not why do guns get “blamed” when autos and baseballs do not? IMHO it is the educational system. Students at all levels are not being taught proper and accurate American Constitutional history.
So we need to keep up the fight. Be vigilant. Join pro second amendment organizations. NRA, Gun Rights, etc, Every chance you get you must educate friends, relatives, elected officials etc. It must be from an educational perspective not a confrontational one. Don’t let them paint you as a “right wing fringe kook”. Educate yourself and pass it on.
