I like to imagine that I have the power to recast the gun control debate to proscribe any argument that depends on the fact that we've made it too easy for evil people to get guns. Yes, maybe it will be painful when we enter that period when "only criminals have guns," but the current policy is just not working, and every day we continue to make guns freely available makes any other solution a little bit harder.

What bothers me most, though, is that no one really has the "right to bear arms" promised by the Bill of Rights anymore. One of the most powerful weapons used in the War of 1812, the privateer America, was not owned by the United States military. Now, I can't even buy a brand new machine gun, let alone an F-16 or a nuclear warhead. To the extent that the second amendment is founded in a need for our civilians to be an effective militia, it has completely failed.