The issue of gun control has arisen once again. With the Million
Mom March taking place this past Mother’s Day, the line was
drawn for a nationwide debate. Those in favor of gun control
finally had something to rally behind. The demonstration that took
place in more than 60 cities showed Congress the power of a
grass-roots anti-gun movement. But what are the gun supporters
rallying behind? The answer is Front Sight, Nevada.
While the Million Mom March protested in favor of trigger locks,
a national gun registration and licensing program and mandatory
training classes, gun-rights supporters are eagerly anticipating
the creation of a city that is more demented than Irvine, and in an
entirely different way.
Front Sight, Nevada, is located 48 miles west of Las Vegas and
it is being billed as the nation’s first “gun-resort
city.” According to the April 18 issue of USA Today, when
this resort is finished it will come complete with 12 shooting
ranges, an assault tower, 400 yards of training tunnels, 177 home
lots, a convenience store and a private K-12 school. Well, if there
wasn’t a better place for me to take my family.
You know, some might think that Disneyland would be a better
place for a family outing, but Ignatius Piazza, the city’s
founder, calls Front Sight “a Disneyland or a Pebble Beach
for the nation’s 80 million gun owners.” Sure
it’s like Disneyland. Maybe if Goofy guarded It’s a
Small World with an Uzi.
I can’t believe that after all that has happened in the
past year, people would actually believe a place like Front Sight
is an ideal family environment. From Columbine to the Granada Hills
Jewish Community Center, how many children have to have a gun
pointed at them before stricter laws are enacted? I wouldn’t
want to imagine what would happen if a shooting broke out at the
school in Front Sight. Think about the melee of random gunfire that
would ensue after the first shot was fired.
Personally the very thought of the words “gun” and
“school” in the same sentence make me sick to my
stomach, but I guess other people feel differently. Chris Fisher,
who just recently purchased a home in Front Sight and likes to take
his 10-year-old son target shooting, said, “It’s a
sport, no different than a father-son golf tandem.”
He’s right; it is no different ““ except for the fact
that if you shank your drive someone probably won’t die. When
was the last time that a missed four-foot put had the same result
as an errant gun shot?
Front Sight is cleverly named after the part of the gun barrel
that is used for aiming. With this in mind, I really hope that
Nevada starts creating towns surrounding Front Sight. I hope it
names them after all the children who have died as a result of gun
shot wounds in order to constantly remind the people who live in
Front Sight of the damage they could potentially cause.
Of course, guns don’t kill people. People kill people. At
a local Web site titled “Justin’s Pro Gun Page”
(www.shade.k12.pa.us/students/justin/progun.html), Justin argues
this point by saying that, “Guns are tools, just like knives,
hammers, screwdrivers, paintbrushes, etc.” Yeah, guns are
tools. But knives, hammers, screwdrivers and paintbrushes all serve
purposes other than killing. What purpose does a gun serve other
than taking some form of life?
Justin follows by asking, “If a few thousand people killed
with cars, should we start to heavily regulate automobile sales,
ownership and operation?” I wonder if Justin remembers a
little movement that started in the 1980s called Mothers Against
Drunk Driving. The issue of guns is no different than that of cars.
MADD forced Congress to look not at the car, but at who was using
it. This is what the government has to do with guns. Who
shouldn’t be using them? Criminals and children. The gun
locks and registration and licensing procedures that gun control
advocates are in favor of would make sure of that.
Strangely enough, it is the people gun control advocates
aren’t worried about that do the most protesting. If you
really wanted to use your gun for target practice and teach your
son how to use it, what would be wrong with registering and
licensing your weapon? Chances are, if these are your reasons and
you are still against these regulations, you are hiding
something.
And don’t tell me it is your constitutional right. The
Second Amendment was enacted in the day of the musket. If everyone
wants to carry a weapon that takes three minutes to reload after
every shot, then carry all the weapons you want. I will have plenty
of time to run away if someone misses. But don’t ask me to
just trust that someone who can get their hands on an assault
weapon will be trained in how to use it, or be rational enough to
know not to use it.
The visionaries of Front Sight are calling it “the safest
town in America” because they believe that they won’t
have any crime if everyone is trained in firearms and almost
everyone owns them. How asinine do you really have to be to believe
that if everyone owned guns, then there would be no violence?
All I know is that the house in Westwood that I live in was shot
at recently. And whether or not I owned a gun would have had no
bearing on the fact that two shotgun blasts were fired through our
front windows. When I stop and think about that moment, it becomes
clear that I would rather have Congress pass a law to keep the guy
driving by from not having a gun than to own a gun myself.
If you disagree, then by all means move to Front Sight. Get as
far away from me as possible. In fact, they are having a special
right now. It’s called their Platinum Membership. It includes
unlimited use of the shooting ranges, free gun cleaning, a leather
holster and a heavy silver card to carry in your coat pocket (so
when you all want to relive your Wyatt Earp fantasies, the weighted
coat swings back further so you can draw your weapon).
The kicker for me, though, is if you make your payment in full,
Front Sight will throw in a free Uzi. And I thought the free
T-shirt I got on campus for signing up for my VISA was a deal!
Front Sight? “No sight” is more like it.