Concerns Over Iowa Stun Gun Bill Really About Barring Self-Defense

By Tom Knighton

AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File

When we talk about gun control, we really should discuss it as arms control instead. After all, the arguments made against guns are often repurposed to be applied to any other kind of weapon one cares to think of.

The Second Amendment is also clear. It’s the right to keep and bear arms, not just guns. It’s meant to protect our means to fight against attackers with whatever tools we deem necessary. After all, at the time of the Second Amendment’s writing, private citizens owned arms ranging from swords to cannons.

Which is why concerns about an Iowa bill that would allow stun guns on college campuses is really about barring the tools for some to defend themselves.

Not even a week into the fall semester, Iowa State University police responded in August to a call about four armed men near the campus-owned Frederiksen Court Apartments.

The three handguns and one rifle police confiscated — including at least one with an laser meant to threaten or intimidate — were determined to be just BB guns. But they scared neighbors and brought criminal charges.

That episode, according to ISU police Chief Michael Newton, illustrates why all three of Iowa’s public …Read the Rest

Source:: Bearing Arms