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
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