"Far too often we see attention paid to the firearm and not the criminal"
About this Quote
The line is a neat little act of political ventriloquism: it speaks about guns while insisting it is not really about guns. By shifting the spotlight from “the firearm” to “the criminal,” Miller frames gun violence as a problem of individual moral failure and law enforcement, not of product regulation or market design. The wording matters. “Attention paid” implies a media-and-policy obsession, a kind of misplaced gaze. “The firearm” is rendered inert, almost innocent - an object being unfairly scrutinized. “The criminal,” meanwhile, is singular and archetypal, a bad actor who can be isolated, pursued, and punished. That grammatical move quietly discourages systemic thinking.
The subtext is coalition politics: reassure gun owners and Second Amendment advocates that restrictions are not just ineffective but conceptually backwards. It also positions opponents as distracted, even unserious, for focusing on tools instead of intent. The rhetorical trick is that it turns a policy debate (access, background checks, storage, trafficking, lethality) into a moral clarity test: do you blame objects or people?
Contextually, this argument thrives whenever public attention spikes after mass shootings or surges in everyday gun violence. It’s an evergreen Republican talking point, but it’s also a defensive maneuver against proposals that would inconvenience lawful owners or challenge gun industry practices. What makes it effective is its intuitive fairness - punish the guilty - while sidestepping the uncomfortable reality that firearms are uniquely efficient at turning anger, despair, or impulse into irreversible harm. The quote isn’t trying to solve the problem; it’s trying to define which solutions are allowed to count.
The subtext is coalition politics: reassure gun owners and Second Amendment advocates that restrictions are not just ineffective but conceptually backwards. It also positions opponents as distracted, even unserious, for focusing on tools instead of intent. The rhetorical trick is that it turns a policy debate (access, background checks, storage, trafficking, lethality) into a moral clarity test: do you blame objects or people?
Contextually, this argument thrives whenever public attention spikes after mass shootings or surges in everyday gun violence. It’s an evergreen Republican talking point, but it’s also a defensive maneuver against proposals that would inconvenience lawful owners or challenge gun industry practices. What makes it effective is its intuitive fairness - punish the guilty - while sidestepping the uncomfortable reality that firearms are uniquely efficient at turning anger, despair, or impulse into irreversible harm. The quote isn’t trying to solve the problem; it’s trying to define which solutions are allowed to count.
Quote Details
| Topic | Justice |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Miller, Jeff. (2026, January 16). Far too often we see attention paid to the firearm and not the criminal. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/far-too-often-we-see-attention-paid-to-the-91492/
Chicago Style
Miller, Jeff. "Far too often we see attention paid to the firearm and not the criminal." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/far-too-often-we-see-attention-paid-to-the-91492/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Far too often we see attention paid to the firearm and not the criminal." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/far-too-often-we-see-attention-paid-to-the-91492/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.
More Quotes by Jeff
Add to List
