The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-05-10
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HASKIN, Director,
Washington, d. c.
DIsARMING A NATION.

| II. -, may "a IleeS-
ure which would make it difficult for
] any citizen of the United States to OBJ
, tain a revolver or pistol without
breaking the law is now proposed by
| Senator Shields of Tennessee as
remedy for the crime wave.
1t is agreed by all that something
must be done. The country is over
run by armed thugs who shoot down
a few citizens every day, take their
cash and jewelry, and escape in four
| thousand-dollar cars which they have
stolen from other citizens without
much trouble.
| Senator Shields believes that the
way to remedy this situation is to
make it as difficult as possible for
any one to obtain revolver, pistol
| or other fIrearm small enough to be
| concealed about the person, and he
| has introduced a bill which is to ac-
complish this by barring such arms
! from interstate commerce The stated
! purpose of the bill is to suppress the
sale of pistols, revolvers" ct cetera-
| that is, to make it as difficult as pos
| sibIe for any one, criminal or other
wise-to obtain such an arm.
This bill has provoked sharp dis
| cussicn. Many legislators favor it.
On the other hand, students of the
crime problem say that it will be
|
the measure say that it is typical of
a whole school of legislation in this
| country, designed to suppress vice and
crime, and which has the opposite eff
| feet.
Senator Shields says that his meas
ure is modelled after the prohibition
law Prohibition, he says, was inef-
! fective as a state or local measure as
| long as liquor could be manufactured
in neighboring states and shipped into
dry territory. In like manner ne says
the efforts of police to control the
sale of firearms in a given city are
futile as long as any criminal can
send away and get a revolver by mall
or express.
! His opponents say that his whole
| theory is unsound. They agree with
him that his law is of exactly the
same type as the prohibition law, ana
! they assert that, while prohibition has
reduced the consumption of alcohol,
which may be a good thing, it has not
prevented any man who really wants
| alcohol from getting it. He can get
! it from bootleggers. Furthermore, here
/ in WaShing ton, one of the most order
| ly of cities, he can buy slightly
medicated port wine containing ~
per cent of alcohol at many small
! stores, and he can buy all the ma
terials for making home brew at sew
| eral places, together with all dlrec..
| lions for the making. The erect OIL
| this law. they contend, has been 70
restrict the consumption by making II
inconvenient to obtain alcohohc pew
| erages, but it has not made it impos--
sible for the man with an abnormal
alcoholic thirst to satisfy it.
Will Not Affect Criminals.
| In like manner, they say, the gum
prohibition law will greatly reduce the
number of persons owning weapons by
making it difficult to obtain them, but
| it will never prevent the man VINO
really needs one from getting 1t.
There will inevitably be bootlegging in
guns, just as there is now bootlegging
| in whisky. A whole new class of
| criminals who engage in this traffic
will be created, just as liquor prohib:-
ton has created a class OF CRIMINALS
| And the taxpayer will be saddled with
another burden of expense to enforce
this law. 1t will disarm the peaceable
citizen, but it will never prevent the
criminal, who needs the gun in his
business, from getting one. He is
used to getting things by theft and
craft He IS well acquainted in the
underworld. He will get a gun under
gun prohibition just as easily as he
| gets liquor under liquor prohibition.
! The law-abiding citizen will be dis
armed by such legislation, but not the
professional gunman.
| Take, for example, they say, a group
! of 100 citizens. Perhaps fifty or more
| of these never thought of owning a
gun. Perhaps about thirty of them
have purchased guns which they keep
in bureau drawers for personal pro-
lection. Many a burglar and high
wayman has been foiled by an armed
citizen. The keeping of arms in the
house for self-protection is a recog-
nized and valuable aid in the suppress
| sion of crime. If there were a loadeG
revolver in every bedroom in the coun-
| q Ia
erly trained in the use of it, burglary
would be greatly discouraged.
In this 100 men there are perhaps
| ten who own revolverS as means of
| get-shooting clubs which encourage
civilian practice with small arms or
they are men who make camping trips
| in wild country and carry side arms
with them.
How 1t Would Work.
Not more than three, probably. of
this 100 men are criminals. Now the
effect of a law like the Shields bill,
say its opponents, is to disarm this
entire 100 men in the hope of disarm-
ing the three criminal members. The
thirty who would otherwise buy re-
volvers for self-defense will be dis
couraged from doing so by the ex-
pense and risk of prosecution. Then
men who use their weapons as means
OF recreation, and VINO are valuable
for their skill in case of war, will be
more reluctant to give up, but they
too are law-abiding men and do not
like to follow hobby which involves
contempt of law.
The only men of the hundred who
will completely and gladly disregard
the law are the three criminals. They
lhabitually disregard law anyway. They
are experts in breaking it. Their
lives depend upon the ownership OF
guns. It is almost certain that they
will succeed in obtaining them. And