imported post
I find it interesting that there isn't more comparison between speeding laws and gun control laws. To preface, I understand that keeping and bearing arms is a right whereas driving on public roads is a priviledge, but I still believe a comparison is warranted in these days where "rights" rarely, if ever, factor into politics.
First, both speeding and carrying a firearm are victimless acts. Just like a person can be reckless in carrying a firearm, a person can be reckless in speeding. If speeding were so much of a danger, then, given the number of citations handed out every day, our roads should be littered with the carnage of speed-related accidents. But that, in fact, in not the case, just like how the streets aren't littered with the bodies of all the people killed by people who carry firearms. Secondly, the opponants of each rely on fear and misinformation to promote their agenda against peaceable citizens... both are seen as inherently dangerous when, as I've stated, neither is. Thirdly, both rely on individual responsbility and judgement, characteristics that our politicians like to believe that the general public do not possess. And finally, the police are granted almost unquestioningly the right to do both and abuse both, regardless of the situation.
I support a rational person's decision to disregard speed limits and drive at a safe speed. If that means driving at 15mph past a crowded playground where the limit is 35mph, or if that means driving at 115mph through a 55mph zone down a straight stretch of dry, empty, 4-lane highway with vast medians and runoffs with a car that than handle that speed steadily, I can't see a problem with either. But then I would also support a friend's decision to illegally conceal a firearm for protection because he lives in an area that either bans carry altogether or bans carry for his age group.
Which brings it all back to the issue of, one again, how police have a monopoly on breaking the law without consequences. While speeding should not be illegal (and "reckless driving" should be applied correctly), as long as it still is, police should be held to the same standards as the second class of people. Just like how in jurisdictions where the people are judged to be too incompetent or evil to carry firearms, the police should not be allowed to carry firearms either...