TheAmerican Wisdom Series

Presents
Pamphlet #220

"Gun Laws Don't Make Society Safer"
Contrary to my expectations,
the Bush administration has,
in its short existence,
managed to provide me with some pleasant surprises.

At the top of my list is Attorney General John Ashcroft's stand
that the Second Amendment to the Constitution guarantees
protection of the individual's right to bear arms.

Those who would force everyone to become unarmed sheep
believe that the Second Amendment only guarantees that the states may have militias,
not that individual people may be armed.

That's why the attorney general's new policy
has thrown the gun control movement into a fit of rage.

The reaction to Ashcroft's statement
is what brought me to the website of the organization formerly known as Handgun Control Inc.

They've changed their name to The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence,
apparently in deference to the relentless self-promotion of the group's founder,
Sarah Brady.
The Brady Campaign has a new slogan.
It's "Leading the Fight for a Safer America."
It's a clever choice for a slogan.
You see,
the very existence of the victim disarmament movement
depends on people believing that gun laws make them safer.
But the idea is getting to be a tougher sell these days.

As more and more states have passed laws
allowing law-abiding citizens to carry firearms,
each and every state that did so saw a sharp decline in serious crime.

FBI crime statistics consistently show that people
who resist criminals with a firearm are less likely to be injured
than those who resist by other means or don't resist at all.

Australia banned almost all private firearm ownership
only to see crime skyrocket out of control.

New research by Yale Law School's John Lott
shows that localities allowing concealed carry of firearms
not only enjoy a drop in crime,
but surrounding areas show an increase.
This is further evidence that guns are not the problem but the answer:
Criminals shun a potentially armed victim to pursue the defenseless.

Particularly damaging to the idea that gun laws equal safety
may be a new study reported in the Daily Telegraph of London.
Great Britain has long had some of the world's most restrictive gun laws along with low crime rates.

But gun control fever hit a peak in 1997.
Reacting to the infamous murder in Dunblane, Scotland,
of 16 schoolchildren and their teacher the previous year,
Parliament created laws that essentially banned all private ownership of handguns.
The new restrictions are so severe that Britain's Olympic shooters
have to leave the country just to practice;
their sporting arms are also illegal.

The Centre for Defense Studies at King's College in London
has been conducting a four-year study
designed to assess the effect of Britain's ban on private handgun ownership.

They published the results earlier this month,
and it wasn't good news for anybody except the bad guys.

Crimes committed with handguns have increased 40 percent
since the ban went into effect.
It now seems that even the Brits are discovering
that criminals don't obey laws - that's why they are criminals.

In spite of the fact that I just spent a lot of ink on it,
I grow increasingly weary of the statistical arguments for gun ownership.
No amount of factual information
will ever sway those with irrational fears of inanimate objects like firearms.

However, proof that gun laws don't work is really beside the point.
It's obvious to me that I have the right and responsibility to defend my life,
my property and my family
regardless of any study that either proves or refutes the benefits of firearm ownership.

Self-defense is, by its very nature, an individual responsibility.
Gun laws are an attempt to shift that responsibility to others.
Not only have such attempts proven ineffective, they are inherently immoral.

Police officers, no matter how heavily armed,
cannot provide protection even if they want to.
And if by some magic they could,
I would not ask them to assume the risks of my responsibilities
in exchange for the sorry salaries cops usually receive.

Americans need to become less willing to dial 9-1-1 and pray.
They need to dump the fantasy that gun laws make them safer.
They need to be more willing to assume the obligations of a free person
and learn to hit a target with a pistol.

This "American Wisdom Series" pamphlet

is

Published by:

Rhine Publishing Co.
PO Box 455
Bainbridge, PA 17502

If you would like to have your essay published
as part of the American Wisdom Series
submit your manuscript to Rhine Publishing Co
at the address above for consideration, or e-mail us
at the address shown on our home page.

Click Here to Return to "The American Wisdom Series" home page.