Feds to stop short of total handgun ban, sources say, Dec. 7

As much as I would like to see a gun ban put in place in this country, I must acknowledge that the arguments against such a ban are substantially correct.

Any law that prohibits the owning, possessing, or transporting of handguns will only affect law-abiding citizens — the people who follow rules, who pay their taxes and look both ways before crossing the street.

These aren’t the people we are targeting when we talk about a gun ban. The true target, the street thug, gang-banger, career criminal types will be totally unaffected. They will continue to get their weapons through illegal channels, regardless of what happens.

So why bother, you ask? A gun ban would be entirely symbolic, but sometimes symbols matter. It all has to start somewhere, and this seems as good a place to start as any.

I just hope the message doesn’t get lost with the messenger — a government that is all to eager to speak soothing, empty rhetoric and has squandered so much political capital while abandoning other similar, well-intended promises.