How did the defenders of the Second Amendment get into the business of calling for enforcement of gun laws to control street crime?

After all, we opposed the passage of all the federal gun laws now on the books because they are all unconstitutional.

It is beginning to look as if state legislators have set gun owners up for walking into the indefensible position of calling for the enforcement of federal gun laws that should not be on the books.

States have the exclusive jurisdiction over street and domestic crime. It is the failure of states to install judges who are tough on violent criminals that needs criticism. We should not be asking President Clinton and Janet Reno to do a job they have no authority to carry out.

What are we going to say when a teacher is convicted of having a gun for self defense at a school — a federal felony. Should we call for the incarceration of Joel Myrick, then of Pearl, MS, for having pulled his gun from his truck to stop the killer’s rampage?

Do we really want to incarcerate fathers for giving a handgun to their son in another state without going through the federal registration process via a gun dealer?

These are both federal felonies.

Do we really want to call for Bill Clinton to handle those cases with zero tolerance?

Let’s take a deep breath and go back a step or two. Let’s look at England. Guns were registered for decades. Virtually all of them were confiscated two years ago.

England now has 3,000,000 illegal guns in the hands of criminals — on an island! What has happened to the violent crime rate? It has now surpassed that of the United States. And England’s murder rate is also on the rise.

Forcing people to be checked out by the government before they buy a gun is not going to keep criminals from getting a gun. A gun ban in England has not kept criminals from stocking up, so what makes us think a Brady instant check in the U.S. will get any better compliance than a ban in England?

For that matter, the handgun bans in Chicago and Washington have also led to skyrocketing crime rates. Imagine that, criminals on both sides of the Atlantic behave the same. Disarm the victims, and the criminals are more vicious than ever before.

The problem is not that Clinton has failed to enforce the unconstitutional gun laws currently on the books. Let us hope he never does.

The problem is that Clinton wants to take away guns from the civilian population. Clinton is for victim disarmament. That is the issue. Dead, disarmed victims. The issue should not be Project Exile.

Instead of Project Exile, let’s have Project Repeal — of existing gun laws. Let’s have Project Victim Rearmament.

Gun control kills. Guns save lives.