Attribute to L. Neil Smith's The Libertarian Enterprise

The world this week has been so filled with evil that the temptation is strong to turn away from it and not say anything. Given there are plenty of people out there on all sides of the isle with plenty to say about a nation where you have cops shooting the people and people shooting cops and plenty of political hay to be made over the issue of guns on the Left and Right.

In the wake of Orlando nightclub shootings you already had the usual crowd of democrats yelling about gun control and a local republican congressman pushing some kind of bill for background checks and mental health health legislation. And then yet another wave of horrendous events that had me thinking of Kitty Wertheimer's story of the tumultuous times in Austria and Germany during the ascendency of Hitler and the Nazi Party when the people surrendered their guns and their freedom and ultimately the lives of many of their countrymen in a knee jerk reaction based on fear. And it also brings to mind the warnings of the Founders about making changes in the Law in response to transient causes.

And maybe not so transient ones as the "Designing Men" ( and Women) whom they also warned us about have a long standing track record of taking advantage of transient causes in response to traumatic events to push for changes that serve their long term ambitions and agenda. The historic trend has been the erosion of Liberty in response to every war or other national emergency where the politicians take advantage of mass hysteria to manipulate the population. The Founders argued for deliberation to cool off before making important decisions. The modern progressivist mindset will always scream that we cannot afford to delay and that anyone who argues otherwise is either crazy or unpatriotic. Like they did after 9/11 and during the debates that brought us the Obama Care Law. Or the urgency of dealing with climate change. Expect to hear a lot of that in the coming days as everyone from the "Black Lives Matter" crowd to right wing War on Drugs and Terror zealots scramble for the latest grab bag of pet issues and government largesse to be concocted in Congress. People can say I'm heartless to say such a thing in the wake of tragedy—but what about the vultures of media and government who are salivating and champing at the bit to profit from the latest mass shooting or terrorist attack. Muslims were not the only ones who celebrated the destruction of the Twin Towers. I remember the headlines declared that the nation would be changed forever as "Americans returned to Authority"—hallowed be its name. And those who built their lives around government were surely glad that all that anti-government sentiment born of the bygone Clinton Era was fast evaporating and the funding spigots were about to be turned wide open!

Libertarians; be not afraid and don't let them shame you away from articulating Libertarian principles. In the long run we will be proven right by History and in the short run if we stand our ground many others will come to understand how it was gun laws and gun free zones that caused many more people to die in mass shootings. The guy who shot up the night club or the Dark Knight theater shooter would not have gotten as far as theyn did if everyone and their Uncle could pack whatever they want anytime; anywhere—without permission.

Which might even have a very beneficial Darwinian side effect. Those who are prone to be mass shooters would likely become a critically endangered species!