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Although Sen. Pat Pascoe's proposed firearms law is quite reasonable, our legislature will doubtless do the right thing this week and kill the bill.
Her bill, similar to laws already in effect in 21 other states, requires a waiting period for gun buyers, whose police records would be checked. It is hard to make a case for impulse gun purchases, or for dispensing firearms to felons or the feeble-minded.
However, reasonable gun regulation must be defeated because, when it comes to regulation, our society does not stay reasonable. American history demonstrates that as soon as reasonable restrictions take effect, the empowered do-gooders will start imposing unreasonable restrictions.
The most recent example is the regulation of tobacco smoking, a filthy, noxious addiction which rightfully offends many people. They initially sought sensible restrictions, such as smoking sections on airliners and in restaurants, or office arrangements that allowed non-smokers to breathe freely while smokers could light up and go about their work, instead of fidgeting and yearning.
But did the anti-tobacco regulators stop there? Of course not. Now smoking is banned on all flights, cities often forbid smoking in any restaurant, or indeed, even outdoors except in designated places, and many companies won't employ smokers at all. There is now no such thing as your own time; the company controls your activities for 24 hours a day though it usually pays you only for eight.
That is regulation which passed from rational to berserk, and it's typical.
At the turn of the century, addictive drugs were common ingredients in many products. Coca-Cola contained cocaine, as did wares from chewing gum to tooth powders. Cough syrups and other tonics soothed with tinctures of heroin.
First came the reasonable Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, which required that all products containing cocaine or opiates be so labeled. But naturally, the do-gooders couldn't rest there; now they demand to examine your blood and urine.
The temperance movement started as just that -- a movement to advocate the temperate consumption of alcoholic beverages. They succeeded at raising public consciousness about the costs of a nation of drunkards. Thus emboldened, though, they didn't stop until they had installed their very own amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
It isn't just drugs. A century ago, American railroads held tremendous power, which was flagrantly abused. Instead of just regulating the abuses, the reformers so throttled the industry that they ruined an efficient transportation system.
William F. Buckley once argued in favor of some censorship by pointing out that a society which bans Deep Throat is not going to ban Milton or Shakespeare. But he was wrong; American do-gooders, once they gain a bit of power by fighting for something sensible, are never content to leave it at that.
A reasonable gun bill this year means that next year, they'll push it a little further, maybe with an extended background cheek -- interviews with neighbors and coworkers, all at your expense, of course. The year after, it'll take a two-month psychiatric evaluation before you can get a new deer rifle.
Then they'll discover that guns aren't the only lethal tools. The rigorous purchase requirements will be extended to compound bows and kitchen knives, and that will be just a start.
Given a choice concerning personal protection, would you rather rely on your own gun or on a society which has so far demonstrated not a whit of common sense? The answer is obvious, and that's why the Pascoe bill should be defeated. It isn't a bad law in itself, but if it passes, it will open the door for all manner of increased meddling.
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