No Guns = Safer Society.....Not!

[Templar]

The paragraph in this article comparing DC to Vermont is what really caught my eye. It's so obvious what taking guns away from law abiding citizens does to a society and yet we still have people (unfortuantely in high places) who still think we should be without our guns.

Until they can prove to me that taking guns away from law abiding citizens makes DC is the safest place in the country to live I really don't want to hear about how taking guns from the law abiding citizens makes us safer.
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Taken from The News-Dispatch
Michigan City, Indiana

Criminals don't obey gun laws
Jack Allgood from Michigan City High School wrote a column Tuesday titled "Guns Should Be Outlawed in U.S." I am afraid he needs some education (as opposed to indoctrination) on that subject.

The basic premise that outlawing guns will resolve violent crime is simply wrong. Why not just outlaw violent crime? The answer is the same - it is because criminals do not obey laws. They will not turn in their guns to assist the nation in becoming gun-free. Gun control laws only result in the disarming of the law-abiding public, taking away their right to defend themselves - while the criminals ignore the gun laws along with all others.

Mr. Allgood argues that the circumstances of "the right to bear arms" were different when the Bill of Rights was first written. Perhaps. But at that same time, nobody knew freedom of speech would ever pertain to photocopy machines, television or the Internet. Shall we also rein in the right of free speech on those same grounds, because the circumstances have changed from the 1700s?

It is true that gun crime was much less of a problem in the distant past. However, back then there were almost no gun control laws, either. In fact, a child could buy a handgun through a Sears catalog just by sending in an order blank and the money. The problem is not that there are more guns today, it is that there are more criminals. Please don't think that if you take away a criminal's gun, he will suddenly turn into a gentle law-abiding citizen, watering his flowers and waving "hello" to you as you pass by in safety. Guns do not make people into criminals. Taking away guns does not turn criminals into lawful citizens either.

Washington, D.C., has some of the strictest gun laws, yet amazingly the criminals do not obey them - and their gun violence rate is three times the national average. Vermont has very few gun laws - any 18-year-old can carry a concealed handgun and no permit is needed - and it is a much safer place to live. It's not the guns, it's the people.

Mr. Allgood, we would like very much to live in a safer society. However, your idea won't work, and I am not prepared to have my rights thrown away to try for the hundredth time something that does not work and has been proven not to work. In Nazi Germany the public was disarmed and only the authorities had guns. That is a common first step among dictators and it is utterly foolish to suggest that we do the same here in America. As Benjamin Franklin said, "He who gives up freedom for security deserves neither."

The U.S. Supreme Court has recently ruled that the Second Amendment means what it says, and we can be thankful for that.

Russell A. Spreeman

La Porte

[Rht4162]

well yea we have known this simple fact for years, but since CNN and MSNBC classify all gun owners as some gang banging glock wielding drive by shooting thug then no one is actually going to use their brain on the matter


(disclaimer: no offense to the Glock nation)

[bojeffnc]

Gun controll has nothing to do with guns it is people control, they can not control people as long as they have guns

[tattedupboy]

A very well-written article. He would fit in well here on USA Carry.

[HK4U]

Gun controll has nothing to do with guns it is people control, they can not control people as long as they have guns

+1. That is exactly why there are elements that want to disarm us. All you have to do is look at Germany before WWII started, Cuba or any Communist country to understand the real goal of the gun grabbers.

[gpbarth]

The argument can also be used that there are many laws on the books outlawing the use of a gun during a crime, and those laws cannot be enforced. So if the existing laws are useless, what is the purpose of adding even more laws to the books?

Gun control laws will only make outlaws out of those of us who will not comply. And as the law enforcement society cannot even cover the current laws, anyone who simply refuses to comply will probably not be bothered.

[wuzfuz]

One has only to look at some of our biggest cities to see the fallacy of this kind of thinking. New York City has the most stringent gun laws in the country, dating back to Tammany Hall. I am referring to the Sullivan laws, which can only be called Draconian in nature. Washington DC, just had their handgun ban wiped out by SCOTUS, and Chicago has had strict gun laws for years. Would any sane, sensible citizen consider any of these cities a safe, comfortable place to live? I think not. It takes nothing more than seeing the recent violent crime rates in the UK, Australia and Canada to see how fallacious the reasoning that disarming the citizens makes them safer. Crime rates in these countries is soaring higher than the people Obama fooled into putting him into office. I still say and believe with all my might that an armed society is a polite society. My experiences witht he Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) has led my to my researches to the fact that in the medieval times, when just about every man carried a rapier and knew how to use it, crime was a low priority and chivalry was practiced on a wide level. People in the Old West wore revolvers on their hips, and except for a few well-known alcohol-driven rages, the citizenry was, on the whole, more polite to one another than we are today. If I know you are armed and oyu know I am armed, or if we even suspect that to be the case, we treat each other with respect, not wanting to trigger the awful consequences of a firefight. People who are licensed to carry weapons are not the ones who commit crimes with weapons. Look up the number of people who have had their licenses revoked, and you will see it is a small number compared to the people who are not revoked. No, having citizens armed and ready to defend themselves and others does not make us less safe, it makes us safer, as the bad guys don't know who is packing and who isn't. It keeps the crime rate down, as bad guys generally are cowards who do not wish to get shot. We need more licensed citizens, not fewer.

[Templar]

"We need more licensed citizens, not fewer"--taken from wuzfuz in previous post.

AMEN!

[G30SF]

I found the following that sums up a reply for Mr. Jack Allgood. Perhaps the fact that he is a high school student may explain his lack of mature thought process on the matter. Here is the quote:

I don't carry a gun.. to kill people. I carry a gun to
keep from being killed.

I don't carry a gun to scare people. I carry a gun
because sometimes this world can be a scary place.

I don't carry a gun because I'm paranoid.
I carry a gun because there are real threats in the
world.

I don't carry a gun because I'm evil.
I carry a gun because I have lived long enough to see
the evil in the world.

I don't carry a gun because I hate the government.
I carry a gun because I understand the limitations of
government.

I don't carry a gun because I'm angry.
I carry a gun so that I don't have to spend the rest
of my life hating myself for failing to be prepared.

I don't carry a gun because my sex organs are too
small.
I carry a gun because I want to continue to use those
sex organs for the purpose for which they were
intended for a good long time to come.

I don't carry a gun because I want to shoot someone.
I carry a gun because I want to die at a ripe old age
in my bed,and not on a sidewalk somewhere tomorrow
afternoon.

I don't carry a gun because I'm a cowboy.
I carry a gun because, when I die and go to heaven, I
want to be a cowboy.

I don't carry a gun to make me feel like a man. I
carry a gun because men know how to take care of
themselves and the ones they love.

I don't carry a gun because I feel inadequate.
I carry a gun because unarmed and facing three armed
thugs, I am inadequate.

I don't carry a gun because I love it.
I carry a gun because I love life and the people who
make it meaningful to me.

[tattedupboy]

I found the following that sums up a reply for Mr. Jack Allgood. Perhaps the fact that he is a high school student may explain his lack of mature thought process on the matter. Here is the quote:



I don't carry a gun because I love it.
I carry a gun because I love life and the people who
make it meaningful to me.

Speak for yourself! I love my guns!