According to both statistics and sheer logic, the very notion of gun control is so patently stupid, that only people with too much education could possibly believe it, and it is no accident that for self-described “progressives,” gun control is often at the top of their list. Call me old fashioned, but I much prefer English statesman Edmund Burke’s observation that “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” And when it comes to these random shootings, allowing as many good men possible the ability to shoot back is our only hope for less deadly results in the future.
Jack Hunter
Columnist
December 11, 2007
WTMA commentary broadcast
The Insane Logic of Gun Control
[And good women.–Joe]
I’m pretty sure Burke didn’t say that. It’s a good quote, and all, but it doesn’t match Burke’s form (the man was intentionally long-winded, believing that simple maxims and slogans were dangerous forms of brainwashing), and I’ve never been able to find an exact cite for it.
Part of War and Peace by Tolstoy is often translated to that specific phrase, but the initial Russian didn’t seem quite as perfect. Burke’s Thoughts on the Cause of Present Discontents likewise gets close, stating that “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.”
I’ve never seen the “when good men do nothing” quote in his text straight.