Happiness is a warm gun
Bang bang, shoot shoot
September 9, 2005
MYTH: The chaos in New Orleans proves that America needs its guns and ammo more than ever
Former assistant district attorney and firearms expert David Kopel writes, ". . . [W]hen a robbery victim does not defend himself, the robber succeeds 88 percent of the time, and the victim is injured 25 percent of the time. When a victim resists with a gun, the robbery success rate falls to 30 percent, and the victim injury rate falls to 17 percent. No other response to a robbery -- from drawing a knife to shouting for help to fleeing -- produces such low rates of victim injury and robbery success."
Americans, in part due to mainstream media's anti-gun bias, dramatically underestimate the defensive uses of guns. Some, after using a gun for self-defense, fear that the police may charge them for violating some law or ordinance about firearm possession and use. So many Americans simply do not tell the authorities. A gunned-down bleeding guy creates news. A man who spared his family by brandishing a handgun, well, that's just water-cooler chat.
-- Larry Elder, “Guns Save Lives: A Fact that Scares the Left,” Human Events Online, 9/1/05
The pilot of a medical evacuation helicopter in the outlying town of Kenner reportedly refused to land because more than 100 people thronged the landing pad and many had guns. Gunfire has been heard throughout the New Orleans area. Several police officers were stranded on the roof of a hotel when they came under fire from armed criminals in the street. One officer was hit in the head but is expected to survive....
The city of New Orleans is descending rapidly into a state of anarchy just when organization and cooperation are most essential. The New York Times reported one scene that is emblematic: "John Carolan was sitting on his porch in the thick, humid darkness just before midnight Tuesday when three or four young men, one with a knife and another with a machete, stopped in front of his fence and pointed to the generator humming in the front yard. [One] said, 'We want that generator.' [Carolan responded] 'I fired a couple of rounds over their heads with a .357 Magnum . . . they scattered. You've heard of the law west of the Pecos? This is the law west of Canal Street.'"
REALITY
Don’t you feel safer knowing that the United States have more guns per household than any other country on earth? Surely these guns prevent crime, right?
It is amazing that given the lawlessness and anarchy in New Orleans over the last couple of weeks that anyone could suggest that Americans need greater access to rifles and hand-guns. Larry Elder wrote about the wonderful role that guns play in America last Wednesday, about the same time that New Orleans was plunging into anarchy and looters broke into a Wal-Mart and swiped the store’s entire content of guns, proceeding to then plunge the city into a greater and more desperate state of lawlessness. Then there was the story of a relief helicopter being shot at from a crowd of survivors at the Superdome. If the United States was not such a gun-toting, gun-loving nation, these situations would not occur. They couldn’t. The simple fact is that while people with guns may be better able to protect themselves in the event of an attack or a robbery, their overall chance of causing harm to themselves increases. For instance, a gun kept in the home is 43 times more likely to kill a member of that household than a robber or burglar. It is also postulated that people who are involved in robberies and injure themselves with a gun are less apt to report this robbery to the police. One must also consider the rate of gun use among robbers. In looking at the United States versus Canada, the US has more robberies and more robberies involving guns. Logic would tell you that if more robberies and attempted robberies involve a firearm, an American with a firearm would be better able to protect themselves against these armed bandits. However, serious gun control would limit the number of guns available to the robbers and therefore decrease the need for private Americans to arm themselves in order to combat this threat.
Using data from 1991, in that year it is estimated that 29% of United States households had a hand-gun. In 2000, it was estimated that 40% of US households had a gun. Compare this to France’s 6% or the UK’s 1% ownership rate and one can begin to see why the United States could have more problems with guns. In fact, this same study included statistics on murder committed with a hand-gun. These statistics are also a little old, from 1992, but it is hard to dismiss the fact that the hand-gun murder rate is 5.28 in the US, but only 0.05 in the UK. The United States also has a much higher overall murder rate.
What all of this suggests is that the United States needs more gun control—not less. Guns should not be available for sale in Wal-Mart and Kmart. We certainly don’t need people to have the right and ability to purchase semiautomatic assault weapons. George Soros’ Open Society published a very worthwhile report in 2000 about gun control in the United States. The report discusses the overall effectiveness of individual states’ efforts at controlling the proliferation of guns. Reading through this report makes clear how deficient gun laws are in many states. For instance, 6 states don’t have an age limit for acquiring a gun. Therefore, one could buy a gun before they are allowed to see an R-rated movie. And 31 states don’t have waiting periods. So, a 14 year-old who is fed up with their mother/brother/teacher/friend could march down to Wal-Mart and immediately get a gun to take care of their problem. That makes good sense, huh? Especially because the constitution guarantees our right to have guns, right?
Well, that's debatable. One of the most cited arguments for why Americans should be allowed to have guns and firearms for their own personal use is the 2nd Amendment of the US Constitution, which gives Americans the right to bear arms:
"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."
Hey, this doesn't say anything about arming bears! Not only that, what does that bit about well regulated militias mean? The amendment was created shortly after the American Revolution when militias were more prevalent and the government had very realistic reasons for wanting to preserve and protect gun rights. But the important qualifier is that the right to bear arms exists within the framework of well regulated militias, not alienated high school students. For information on the 2nd amendment, you can consult the ACLU. However, I doubt the Founding Fathers envisioned a time where men could break into stores and steal guns in order to roam an ungoverned city in order to rape and pillage its unfortunate residents. I don’t think George Washington would approve….
