Blaming the Tools

"You're blaming a tool," I tell him for the bezillionth time. "That's absurd. It's bad people you have to worry about."

"But this is one hell of a destructive tool," he counters, also for the bezillionth time. "One that needs to be kept out of the hands of those 'bad people' of yours, the criminal and the insane."

"Which is no reason to penalize the rest of us."

There is no good answer to that, but he plows on anyway. "Doing nothing is what penalizes the rest of us."

I shake my head, not for the first time, at his obtuseness. "The law-abiding have to be able to defend themselves - ourselves - against the bad guys," I explain patiently. "Your ... rules and laws and things aren't going to deter them. Your way, only the rogues and maniacs will be armed."

"Utter horse manure," he sighs.

"Anyway," I continue, following up my logical advantage, "you are attempting to curb a divine right that is beyond our authority to tamper with. And your limitations would be impossible to enforce."

"So, by you," he says, "it's perfectly fine for Iran and North Korea to have nuclear weapons."

"Sure," I reply, "as long as the rest of the Middle East and East Asia are also nuclear-armed. Only way to ensure peace. Well known fact."