Consent of the Governed

Guns guns and more guns

According to John Lott, a well-respected researcher in the effectiveness of Gun laws, and author of More Guns, Less Crime, the gun grabbers have gotten their hats handed to them. Gun control is a losing issue. The fat lady is warming up.

From his Fox News Article

This month, the Million Mom March in Washington drew an anemic showing of only 2,000 people, while this year, all of the Democratic presidential candidates— however unenthusiastically— spoke of Americans’ Second Amendment right to own guns. These are just a few of the signs that the facts finally seem to be catching up to the movement. The future for the movement looks even worse.

Whether the subject is concealed handgun laws  or bans on semi-automatic so-called “assault weapons,” gun control debates have been filled with apocalyptic claims about what will happen if gun control is not adopted. One common prediction is that laws allowing the carrying of a concealed weapon will result in crime waves, or permit holders shooting others. However, with 37 states now having right-to-carry laws, and another nine states letting some citizens carry, permit holders have continually shown themselves to be extremely law-abiding. It is becoming more and more difficult to attack those laws.

Gun control does not work. Proponents of banning guns says that it will reduce crime. In England, where handguns were banned in 1997, crime has rose an average of 29% in the period of 1997-2002.

In Australia where guns were also banned, violent crime rates averaged 32% higher in the six years after the law was passed (from 1997 to 2002) than they did the year before the law in 1996. The same comparisons for armed robbery rates showed increases of 45%.

All gun control laws do is remove guns from the hands of law abiding citizens who merely wish to defend themselves. Criminals will continue to break the law and carry guns.

Gun control supporters say we should rely on the police for protection. For the majority of Americans though who don't live 5 minutes from police, waiting for police to arrive could mean the difference between being killed, injured, or assaulted by people entering their homes, or bothering them on the street.

Many gun grabbers who tend to be liberal call themselves pro-choice. They are for the woman's right to choose, and believe that the government should keep it's hands out of a woman's womb. But when it comes to the choice of carrying a weapon to protect themselves, they are all for taking that right away. And it is a right.

Just read the Second Amendment.

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

The "Right of the People". People you and me. Just like the right of the people peaceably to assemble. People like you and me.

This entry and more can be found at The Nap Room

Posted by TomCat at July 14, 2004 10:55 AM