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This is an idea that we've heard before; making gun owners personally responsible for the harm done with their guns should they fall into the wrong hands.
It's an error almost as large as the deodand.
It's all about tangents. How many layers before I am absolved of the sin of the murder?
The killer is responsible, but often anonymous and absent.
We must punish someone! The person whom this gun was stolen from is someone. We must punish them!
Why stop at the legitimate owner? The gun shop who sold me the gun should have known that it would be stolen and used to kill someone. They share the blame!
The distributor should have known that the gun shop was going to sell it to someone whom would be a victim of theft. They share the blame!
The maker of the firearm should have known that it would ultimately be stolen and used for murder! They share the blame!
The foundry that made the steel from the raw iron should have known that grade was used in guns and that a gun made from it would be stolen and used to kill someone. They share the blame!
The many intermediate steps involving shipping the materials, components and finished item all have guilty people as well.
But it's all bullshit.
The person who stole the gun is the first responsible criminal in this chain. The owner of the gun is a victim, not an accomplice. The thief might not even be an accomplice to the murder. They don't necessarily know that the gun will be used for ill. Their connection to the crime of murder has to be determined on an individual basis.
It's all part of that whole individual responsibility thing we gun owners talk about. The very idea that one is only responsible for one's own actions is entirely alien and incomprehensible to the collective pushing anti-gun types.
The gun owner is not responsible for the murder because they did not kill anyone. They are a victim of crime, not a perpetrator. If there had not been a theft, there would have been no murder with that gun (but almost assuredly there would still have been the murder in question).
We keep thinking we can explain it to them because they seem to understand the point when you're talking about rape and how it's wrong to blame the victim. It's merely the stopped
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