No sooner had news vans arrived to broadcast from Tucson than the lobbyists and legislators began the shameful molding of this massacre into a pawn in their partisan chess match. The chorus sang in unison of the need to confiscate guns and clips so that scenes as heartbreaking as this never need be witnessed again. Guns, they cried, are the cause of this mayhem and the eradication of them will prevent future recurrences.

Is there truth in their message? Would the criminalization of gun ownership have the concomitant effect of decreasing the use of guns in crimes such as the heinous one committed in Tucson? Would mad-men like Jared Loughner be prevented from carrying out the violent ends of their insanity if we remove the means of access to a gun?

Suppose, in arguendo, that all guns could be outlawed. Imagine that laws were passed forbidding the manufacture, the sale, and the purchase of them — a Prohibition for the 21st century. Would that create an atmosphere of peace or a reduction in violence?

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