Wednesday, March 14, 2007

I'll Always Be A Kid 

In today's Washington Post Courtland Milloy says he secretly roots for the Cato Institute and that the kid in him likes the idea that the gun ban in D.C. was overturned. However, he concludes his amusing column:

The inner child notes that FBI statistics show that nearly 40 percent of U.S. households reportedly have at least one gun, and the kid figures that this must deter some burglars. But the adult knows that other burglars might be attracted by the prospect of finding a gun in the house and that many firearms end up on the streets after being stolen from someones home.

Nevertheless, my inner child wants the illusion of power and security, and maybe a 40-ounce cold brew to go with that .44-caliber cold steel. The adult says no way.
Actually, he has it backwards. It is children who need to be protected from things like guns, alcohol, and drugs. But being an adult means that we use reason to determine what choices to make. The idea that the government should set moral choices in a Republican paternalistic way diminishes our use of our mind and detracts from the idea that we are completely responsible for our actions. In a free society, Mr. Milloy, we can made decisions that are not necessarily good ones, and as long as they do not harm anyone else, we become stronger because of what we learn along the way.

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