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发帖数: 2710 | 1 Reasons Why We Need to Preserve Our 2nd Amendment Right to Keep and Bear
Arms
The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil
interference. They deserve a place of honor with all that is good. When
firearms go, all goes. We need them every hour. — George Washington,
Founding Father in his address to the 2nd session of united States Congress.
Steve Nolan, Contributor
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and survivors of the Aurora,
Colorado shooting as well as to their families and the brave first-
responders.
Such a senseless tragedy leaves us all saddened and speechless for a brief
moment . . . but then inevitably we find ourselves being drawn into the
national debate over gun control. The timing of the shootings combined with
the rabid media attention has seemingly diverted national attention from
President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder’s Fast and Furious debacle
, as well as the upcoming United Nations Gun Treaty vote in two weeks —
both of which are blatant attempts to restrict our God-given rights to bear
arms.
Thomas Jefferson, himself a liberal in the truest sense of the definition,
stated,”The strongest reason for people to retain the right to keep and
bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in
government.”
Now contrast that to what New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has made a
career calling for stricter national gun laws, stated . . .
“There’s so many murders with guns every day. It’s just gotta stop. And
instead of these two people, President Obama and Governor Romney talking in
broad things about, they want to make the world a better place. Okay. Tell
us how. And this is a problem. No matter where you stand on the Second
Amendment, no matter where you stand on guns, we have a right to hear from
both of them, concretely, not just in generalities, specifically, what are
they going to do about guns?”
Already we are seeing anti-gun advocates and liberal Hollywood icons
attacking the Second Amendment from every corner, each calling for greater
gun control. It’s deeply unfortunate that none of the moviegoers attending
that premier of The Dark Knight Rising were packing a legally permitted
concealed weapon. God only knows how many lives one armed law-abiding
citizen may have saved.
It is truly sad that we only hear in the media about tragic incidents like
Aurora and never hear of the cases where firearms are legally used in the
defense of life and liberty. In February of this year, the libertarian think
tank, Cato Institute, published a report entitled “Tough Targets, When
Criminals Face Armed Resistance From Citizens.” The report cites
approximately 5,000 news reports from October 2003 to November 2011
involving defensive gun usage. According to the authors, “tens of thousands
of crimes are prevented each year by ordinary citizens with guns.’ Both
authors, Clayton Cramer and David Burnett, openly admit the actual number of
cases is much higher because many of the instances are simply not covered
by the media. “Many defensive gun uses never make the news,” the report
said. “After all, ‘Man Scares Away Burglar, No Shots Fired,’ is not
particularly newsworthy.”
The purpose of this study was to investigate “When ordinary Americans are
forced to use guns in self-defensive situations, what is the nature of that
situation and how frequently do these events occur and what are the
consequences?” Of the 5,000 incidents reported between October 2003 and
November 2011, 488 home burglaries and there were 1,227 incidents where
intruders fled when confronted by armed inhabitants. There were 34 incidents
where pizza delivery drivers defended themselves, and 172 incidents
involving animal attacks.
There were 25 attempted rapes stopped by armed victims and 201 incidents
reported where attacks were neutralized by armed senior citizens (over age
65, according to the authors). The oft-mentioned “concern about an attacker
taking a gun away from an armed victim” was statistically proven invalid
as there were 227 incidents reported where the intended victim actually
disarmed the attacker, while only 11 attackers disarmed the victim.
It should also be noted that the authors cited an often overlooked statistic
that:
Moreover, it is important to note that when a gun owner kills an
attacker or is able to hold a rapist or burglar until the police arrive, it
is very likely that more than one crime has been prevented because if the
culprit had not been stopped, he could have targeted other citizens as well.
Most Americans don’t realize that carrying a concealed handgun in public is
permitted for non-law enforcement officials in 49 states as of July 13,
2011. Thirty-five states have “shall-issue” laws where police do not have
discretion in issuing concealed weapon permits as long as individuals meet
minimum requirements, such as a minimum age, no prior felony conviction, and
no recent commitments to a mental institution. As of now, Illinois and
Washington, DC do not allow concealed carry except by active and retired law
enforcement officers.
No big surprise, but the National Rifle Association (NRA) gave then-
Presidential candidate Barack Obama an “F” rating based on his voting
record on guns. Ironically, The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence also
gave President Obama an “F,” in part because he signed the Credit Card
Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 which included an
amendment to allow the carrying of firearms in national parks.
Despite what the anti-Second Amendment pundits claim about gun violence,
between May 2007 and March 24, 2010, at least 9 law enforcement officers and
142 private citizens were murdered nationally by concealed handgun permit
holders (approximately 0.003% of all murders in that time period).
The basic reality is that today, the government cannot guarantee the safety
of its citizens, and is in fact not legally responsible for doing so. Having
the ability and the capability to protect yourself, your family and/or
other members of the general public from armed attackers should be seen as a
personal responsibility and the government has no right to deny responsible
adults the ability to do so legally. The criminal elements of our society
carry concealed weapons despite laws designed to prevent that. If our laws
do not deter illegal use of firearms in the commission of a crime, they
certainly should not prevent or deter the lawful use of firearms to prevent
such crimes!
A Deeper Look at the Right to Carry
It is important that we illustrate how important it is for everyday citizens
to have the fundamental right to bear arms in order to defend themselves.
According to Gary Kleck and Marc Gertz, co-authors of “Armed Resistance to
Crime: The Prevalence and Nature of Self-Defense with a Gun,” law-abiding
citizens use guns to defend themselves against criminals as many as 2.5
million times every year — or about 6,850 times a day! This means that each
year, firearms are used more than 80 times more often to protect the lives
of honest citizens than to take lives. Of the 2.5 million times citizens use
their guns to defend themselves every year, the overwhelming majority
merely brandish their gun or fire a warning shot to scare off their
attackers. Less than 8% of the time, a citizen will kill or wound his/her
attacker. If those facts are not enough to make the case for the Second
Amendment, consider that as many as 200,000 women use a gun every year to
defend themselves against sexual abuse.
Another factoid lost in the mainstream news is that armed citizens kill more
crooks than do the police. Citizens shoot and kill at least twice as many
criminals as police do every year (1,527 to 606). And readers of Newsweek
learned that “only 2 percent of civilian shootings involved an innocent
person mistakenly identified as a criminal. The ‘error rate’ for the
police, however, was 11 percent, more than five times as high.” As a matter
of fact, nationwide every year, as many as one-half million citizens defend
themselves with a firearm away from home.
Those who swallow every misconception shoveled by the mainstream media
regarding guns and crime should consider an experiment that took place in
1982 in Kennesaw, Georgia. This suburb of Atlanta passed a law requiring
heads of households to keep at least one firearm in their home. The
residential burglary rate subsequently dropped 89% in Kennesaw, compared to
the modest drop of 10.4% in Georgia as a whole. Ten years later (1991), the
residential burglary rate in Kennesaw was still 72% lower than it had been
in 1981, before the law was passed.
This effort in Kennesaw clearly supports the fact that 3/5 of felons polled
agreed that “a criminal is not going to mess around with a victim he knows
is armed with a gun.”As a matter of fact, according to U.S. Department of
Justice, National Institute of Justice’s report entitled “The Armed
Criminal in America, A Survey of Incarcerated Felons,” 74% of felons polled
agreed that “one reason burglars avoid houses when people are at home is
that they fear being shot during the crime.” And if that wasn’t compelling
enough, 57% of felons polled agreed that “criminals are more worried about
meeting an armed victim than they are about running into the police.”
Thomas Jefferson once quoted Cesare Beccaria, an Italian philosopher and
politician best known for his treatise On Crimes and Punishments:
Laws that forbid the carrying of arms…disarm only those who are neither
inclined nor determined to commit crimes… Such laws make things worse for
the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage
than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater
confidence than an armed man.
In the spirit of that quote, let’s look at twenty-five examples from just
this year of why we need to preserve our Second Amendment:
#1: Gun Carrying Attorney Shoots and Kills Assailant: An article published
by MSNBC told the tale of a nervous armed gunman attempting to rob some
citizens in Columbia, South Carolina who confronted attorney Jim Corley
demanding he give him his wallet. Corley agreed to comply and reached around
to his back pocket and pulled a small Kel-Tec .32 pistol hidden in a wallet
holster loaded with six hollow-point rounds. Unfortunately for Kayson Helms
, 18, of Edison New Jersey, Corley gave him more than he bargained for. The
attorney fired once into the robber’s stomach. The young would-be robber
turned and ran. Corley fired twice more, hitting him the neck and torso.
Bleeding profusely, Helms ran into the night and later collapsed and died on
a railroad embankment 100 feet away.
#2: Female Marine Kills Attacker in Self-Defense: Marine Cpl. Rayna Ross
bought a gun (in a non-waiting period state) and used it to kill an attacker
in self-defense two days later. Had a 5-day waiting period been in effect,
Ms. Ross would have been defenseless against the man who had been stalking
her.
#3: A Pastor Shot and Wounded a Man Who Broke onto his Detroit Church:
Lawrence Adams went to Westside Bible Church on Sunday evening and found the
intruder inside the building, said Detroit police Sgt. Eren Stephens. The
man began swinging an object at the retired police lieutenant, who pulled
out a handgun and shot him in the abdomen, he said.
#4: Minneapolis Good Neighbor Apprehends Robbery Suspect: Seeing an armed
criminal rob a woman of her purse at gunpoint and pistol-whip her, a
Minneapolis CCW holder pursued the robber in an attempt to capture him,
which resulted in a confrontation in which the citizen had to shoot the
robber, who later died of his wounds.
#5: North Dakota Senior Citizen Stops Burglary With Gun: Hearing a loud
noise and seeing an intruder in the house at 4:00am, a woman alerted her
sleeping husband, who armed himself with a pistol and went to investigate.
The 82-year old husband found the 26-year old burglar in the home, and held
him at gunpoint until the police arrived. Both the burglar and would-be
victims were unharmed and the criminal faces felony charges.
#6: Temple University Student Fights Off Armed Robbers: A 21-year old Temple
student and friend were accosted by a 15-year old armed robber and two
accomplices about 2:00am near the university. When the armed assailant fired
on the student in the course of the robbery, the student drew his legally-
carried pistol and returned fire. The student sustained gunshot wounds to
the stomach, and the robber was shot in the chest and leg. Philadelphia
Police will place felony charges against the 15-year old assailant upon his
release from the hospital.
#7: Ohio Woman Shoots Ex-Boyfriend That Restraining Order Failed to Stop: An
Ohio woman who feared that her ex-boyfriend and father of their two
children was not going to be deterred by the restraining order requiring him
to stay away armed herself with a pistol and was glad she did when the ex-
boyfriend broke into her home and assaulted her with a crowbar. Fearing for
her life, she shot and killed the intruder. Under Ohio’s newly-adopted
Castle Doctrine, there is a presumption of self-defense in circumstances
such as these.
#8: Armed Naples Florida Clerk Foils Robbery and Kidnap Attempt: A 22 year-
old clerk was changing shifts at a family-owned convenience store when an
armed man entered and demanded money. He also grabbed a stroller holding one
of the clerk’s two babies and tried to flee with the year-old child. That
cost him his life, as the clerk pulled a gun kept behind the counter for
protection and shot the would-be robber and kidnapper, wounding him and
causing him to flee the store empty-handed. Tackled outside the store by an
arriving employee who saw what had happened, the robber was held for police
and later died of his injuries.
#9: Released Inmate Shot Dead During Redding, CA Home Invasion: 37-year-old
Jesse Theis was released early Thursday morning from the Shasta County Jail
and before sun-up Friday, he invaded a Redding, CA home. The 66-year-old
female homeowner fired warning shots when she heard someone trying to force
entry into her home. When the invader tried a short time later to climb into
her window, she shot him dead. Theis had been released due to a county
prison policy designed to ease over-crowding by requiring the daily release
of those inmates prison officials deemed “low-risk.”
#10: Beaumont, TX Homeowner Fights Off Two Young Home Invaders: Two Texas
youths picked the wrong house to try to invade. Both armed, the two forced
their way into a Beaumont home about 2 a.m. on a Sunday morning and demanded
money of the owner. While tussling with the armed intruders, the homeowner
was able to get to his own gun, and fatally shot one of his attackers and
drove off the second one. The dead robber was found in an adjacent field by
responding police. No charges have been filed against the homeowner, who was
acting in self-defense.
#11: Armed Houston Dad Foils Attack on 14-Year-Old Daughter: Hearing a
commotion shortly after his daughter had left for school early one morning,
Richard Goodie left his house to see two men, one of them armed, accosting
his daughter. Goodie’s warning shot failed to frighten off the assailants,
one of whom put the daughter in a choke hold and a pistol to her head while
threatening to kill the girl if her father did not back off. While the
assailant was dragging the daughter away, some space opened up between the
daughter and the bad guy, allowing the father to shoot the suspect in the
stomach, ending the encounter and putting the second suspect to flight. No
charges are expected against the father, who says he did what he had to do
to save his daughter.
#12: NC Woman Defends Family Members: A North Carolina family was returning
to their vehicle at 1 a.m. after some Black Friday shopping at a Myrtle
Beach, SC Walmart when they were set upon by armed robbers. One of the
robbers shot a woman in the foot, even though she had surrendered her purse
on their demand. The woman’s son attempted to protect his mother, and was
shot at and pistol-whipped for his efforts. The woman’s sister, hearing
shots fired as she entered her vehicle, picked up her own loaded pistol from
the vehicle’s console and confronted the robbers. Not wanting to shoot
directly at the robbers for fear of hitting her family or bystanders, she
fired two shots over the heads of each robber, scaring them off. Her family
credits the legally-armed woman with saving the lives of her sister and
nephew.
#13: Ohio Woman Fights Off Sex Offender: An Ohio woman had her concealed
pistol permit for three years, but wasn’t sure whether she could actually
use the gun if needed. She found out recently that she could when a 23-year-
old sex offender accosted her at a bank and forced his way into her car
while making sexually suggestive remarks. The woman was able to reach her
pistol in her car console but couldn’t bring it to bear against her
attacker while struggling with him in the confined space of her vehicle. Her
warnings of having a gun had no effect on the assailant, so she stuck the
gun out the open passenger door and fired one shot in the air, scaring him
off. Police apprehended him a short time later in the same area. The woman
now knows she is capable of defending herself, and urges other women to take
heart from her experience and prepare to defend themselves. Police said her
use of the gun was appropriate, and was exactly the reason law-abiding
people get carry permits.
#14: A Wisconsin Crime Stopped by Legally Armed Citizen: Undeterred by the
presence of unarmed security guards, two armed robbers entered a Milwaukee
convenience store. The attempted robbery was successfully foiled when a
store customer pulled his legally-carried pistol and shot one robber who was
armed with a shotgun. The customer held both robbers at gunpoint while
waiting for police to arrive. This is the first known instance of a legally-
armed citizen stopping a crime following the recent passage of Wisconsin’s
shall-issue carry law. The legally-armed citizen is not expected to face
charges. Ironically, the convenience store door bears a small sign declaring
, “Weapons of any kind are prohibited.”
#15: A Tennessee Man Stops Burglar: A Knoxville man got out of his shower to
investigate strange noises in his house. Arming himself with a 12-gauge
shotgun, he found a 21-year-old local man had broken into his home. Two
rounds from the shotgun put the burglar to flight with a wound to his
backside. An accomplice drove the burglar away from the crime scene and
reportedly pushed him out of the car at a McDonald’s restaurant. The
burglar will face felony charges upon his release from the hospital. Police
reported that evidence of the break-in was consistent with the homeowner’s
version of events. The defending homeowner is not expected to be prosecuted.
#16: A South Carolinian Kills Armed Restaurant Robber: Two masked robbers
entered a Spartanburg Waffle House Restaurant, ordering the employees into a
back room and the customers to lay down on the floor. Not content to take
matters lying down, a customer confronted the two robbers with his legally-
carried pistol and ordered them to disarm and await police. Instead, one of
the robbers pointed his pistol at the customer, who promptly shot him dead.
The second robber was later apprehended after fleeing the scene. Police say
the armed customer acted lawfully in self-defense.
#17: A Pregnant California Mom Flights Off Two Intruders: Seeing two strange
men entering her home in Fortuna, a young pregnant woman pointed a pistol
at them and ordered them out. When they refused to leave, she fired on the
men, missing them, but scared them off. Needless to say, she is thankful she
had a gun.
#18: An Oklahoma Man Foils Daylight Home Invasion: Alerted by his dog
barking at 7:45 a.m., a Midwest City man grabbed his handgun to investigate
two loud kicks to his front door. Leaving his bedroom, he encountered an
armed man in his living room. One shot from the homeowner’s pistol felled
the intruder, who later died in hospital of the single wound to his chest.
The burglar had a criminal history that included illegal possession of a
firearm. Police say the defensive shooting appears to be justified.
#19: A Pennsylvania Cyclist Ends Teen Robbery Spree: Several teenage robbers
accosted a Reading, PA senior citizen while he enjoyed a morning bike ride
in a public park. Two of the youths knocked him from his bike and demanded
money while beating him. The 65-year-old biker pulled his legally carried
pistol and shot two robbers, killing one. Police have determined that this
was the third robbery the teens committed that morning while they were
skipping school. The local district attorney ruled the shootings justified,
and that the cyclist had no choice but to shoot in self-defense.
#20: A Texas Mother Defends Home and Child: A Fort Worth mother came home
from picking up her young son at school to find an unwelcome surprise: a man
in the act of burglarizing her home. Taking up her legally-owned pistol,
she shot the intruder in the leg and put him to flight. She then chased him
at gunpoint out of her house and down a nearby street, where she lost him.
Responding police found the wounded intruder hiding in a creek not far from
the scene. Charges are pending the suspect’s release from hospital.
#21: An Armed Colorado Physician Rescues 50 Bystanders from Hostage
Situation: When an armed Colorado Springs man entered his facility and took
two female employees hostage, a doctor with a carry permit took up his
pistol from its storage place in the office and covered an exit while 50
people escaped from the building and the potentially deadly situation.
Police arrived a short time later and entered into negotiations with the
gunman, attempting a peaceful resolution. Unfortunately, it was not to be,
as police later shot and killed the gunman after negotiations ended in a
confrontation. The two hostages were unharmed. The 50 people able to escape
the building were thankful that the physician was armed as well as willing
and able to use the weapon in their defense.
#22: An Early-Morning North Carolina Home Invader Shot and Killed by Armed
Woman: A Gastonia woman will not face charges for shooting and killing a 28-
year-old home invader. The 911 tape of the homeowner’s call to police
detailed the incident, which happened at 1:15 a.m. The woman heard people
outside her home, and then glass breaking as they forced their way into her
home. She was holed up in her bedroom with a pistol while speaking with the
911 dispatcher. When the intruder entered her bedroom, she fired one shot.
When the intruder kept on coming at her, she fired again, killing him.
#23: An Alert, Armed Texas Neighbor Ends Burglary: Hearing odd noises next
door, a concerned Longview resident took up his legally-owned pistol and
investigated. Looking into his neighbor’s unoccupied home, he saw two
strange men inside, one with a handgun. In the ensuing brief gunfight, one
of the burglars was wounded in the ankle and was captured by police. The
other burglar fled. The armed neighbor will not face charges.
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#24: A Michigan CCW Holder Stops Knife Assault: A wanted parole violator
armed himself with a knife and tried unsuccessfully to rob a man in a car in
the parking lot of a Royal Oak convenience store. Scared off by someone
shouting at him from a nearby vehicle, the knife-wielding bad guy turned on
a young couple with a baby and demanded money. Hearing the commotion, a
carry permit holder in the parking lot drew his weapon and confronted the
would-be robber, ordering him to drop the knife. The robber reluctantly
complied, and the armed citizen successfully held him at gunpoint for police
. Investigators praised the armed citizen for his quick action.
#25: A South Carolina Convenience Store Owner Stops Armed Robber: A Conway,
SC convenience store owner was leaving his closed store for his car one
night when he was accosted by a man brandishing a gun and demanding money.
The owner pulled his own legally-carried pistol, and in the ensuing exchange
of gunfire, the 29-year-old robber, who had a long criminal record, was
killed. The robber’s female get-away driver was arrested and charged with
attempted murder and attempted armed robbery. Authorities ruled the shooting
by the store owner justified.
#26: A 15-Year Old Georgia Boy Stops Home Invasion, Kills Burglar: Two men
broke into a Martinez, GA apartment and attacked the tenant. Hearing the
commotion and seeing his father under attack, the 15-year-old son took up
his .22 rifle and shot the attackers, killing one and putting the second to
flight. No charges will be filed against the boy, who was defending his home
and family.
#27: A California Senior Citizen Shoots and Routs Home Invaders: California
Senior Citizen Shoots and Routs Home Invaders: A 62-year-old former Marine
heard a loud noise as two men broke into the Modesto, California home he
shared with his stepson. Seeing the burglars accosting the stepson, the
homeowner retrieved a .357 Magnum revolver and fired on the intruders twice,
striking one in the leg and putting both to flight. The injured burglar
will face criminal charges on his release from hospital. His accomplice
remains at large. The homeowner will not face charges for the shooting.
Law abiding citizens should not have to justify our God-given and
Constitutionally-protected rights to not only protect themselves, loved ones
and/or innocent bystanders from violent crime. Our rights to bear arms
still are our rights –despite the existence of those who abuse them.
So, just imagine if these incidents were not resolved with the legal
defensive use of a firearm?
Until next time, keep your powder dry and your faith strong! | T*********I
发帖数: 10729 | |
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