Posted on 08/29/2006 8:30:46 AM PDT by neverdem
10-YEAR RESULT
Over the past 10 years, South Carolina has become a much safer place to live, work and raise a family. Since the General Assembly wisely chose to allow good citizens to carry guns for self-defense, the violent crime rate has sharply declined. And although the mainstream news media largely avoid reporting such facts, the truth is more guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens equals less crime.
Prior to passage of the Law Abiding Citizens Self-Defense Act, few South Carolinians were allowed the ready means to protect themselves from vicious criminals. In fact, applications for concealed weapons permits were summarily denied unless the State Law Enforcement Division was convinced of the need. Under this outdated and highly discretionary system, money or worldly goods were often given higher priority than personal safety.
That all changed when then-S.C. Rep. Jeff Young of Sumter decided to take up the cause of self-defense. Young's extraordinary leadership bolstered by members of the National Rifle Association and Gun Owners of South Carolina helped persuade more than two-thirds of the S.C, House to advance the concept. The train was on the track and South Carolina was well on its way towards becoming a safer place.
The citizen safety measure passed the House with little disagreement, but when it reached the Senate, opponents of individual rights were waiting. The mostly Democratic opposition, led by S.C. Sen. John Land and his closest allies, immediately began warning about the dangers. According to their confused logic, good citizens could not be trusted to handle firearms in public. They seemed to suggest the mere presence of a gun would somehow turn an honest person into a homicidal maniac.
Thankfully our friends, like then-Sen. Joe Wilson of Lexington, knew better. Again, with strong grass-roots support, Wilson was able to convince the Senate majority to recognize the basic individual right to self-defense. Although the other side predicted that blood would run in the streets, our clear thinking prevailed. And in the closing minutes of the 1996 legislative session right-to-carry became law.
The first permits were mailed out a few months later, around Thanksgiving. Since that time well over 50,000 more have been issued. The best news in all of this is that statewide our violent crime, which had been on a frightening rise, suddenly began to drop. And its decline has continued. Research conducted by various scholars, including professor John Lott of the University of Chicago, suggests that it's no coincidence.
The indisputable conclusion drawn from Lott's research is that in every case liberalized right-to-carry laws have caused violent crime rates to plummet. It's not difficult to understand why this happens. As a whole, street thugs and other criminal opportunists are cowards. They fear an armed populace. And although violent crime will always be with us, the deterrent effect of a reasonable concealed weapons law does indeed benefit society as a whole.
So, on this 10th anniversary of the Law Abiding Citizens Self-Defense Act, we should applaud its common sense approach to crime control and community safety. As more people take responsibility for their own safety, the folks living around them will gain a real and tangible benefit. More guns in the hands of good people clearly makes the streets safer for everyone except those who seek to do us harm.
The writer, former president of Gun Owners of South Carolina, lives in Columbia.
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Other than that it's just like the U.S.. /s
South Carolina.
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Is there any statistics on weapon accidents?
Also, it wasn't me who coined Heinlein's words for him, nor was I the one to post them here. If you can't understand the internal logic of being a bit more nice to people who might be equally, or better, armed than you yourself currently happen to be, then there is no hope for you.
My responses to you have more to do with your seeming approval of limitations of an individual Right.
Being such a fan of Dr. Kleck, you should know better than to equate simple gun ownership with violent crime. But still, you keep trying to find traction with some moronic point about how wide spread gun ownership doesn't necessarily lead to a better, more crime free society.
Keep trying though... if your DNA is "rifling", I think your bore may be shot out.
I know most of the folk I've met down here in Texas are at least "surface" nice. More so than say your average New Yorker...
Especially if any kind of formalized training was to be considered "good manners" again. I've thoroughly enjoyed the tactical classes I've taken over the years.
As to your question; you're taking a metaphor literally so it can only be seriously answered tongue-in-cheek.
Powdered metal rounds. Devestating to soft targets, but won't penetrate sheet metal. Let each airline set up their own requirements in conjunction with their insurance companies. Maybe broker a deal whereby the qualified flyer gets a "security" price cut on airfare for meeting the airlines training guidelines and being willing to act as a "privateer" security person.
'Nice' is relative. If people mind their own business and refrain from attacking me ... that's "nice" enough. A Glock can help smooth out rough situations I'm sure. I don't have one so I travel with a good friend ... like Sam Colt, Bill Ruger or my buddies Smith and Wesson.
Sounds good to me.
My "be nice" self defense tool is Italian. EAA Witness in 10mm flavor. I have others, but this one seems to follow me around a lot.
That sounds quite calming. Out and about I rely on my Ruger .45 decocker to check uncalled-for disturbances. At home a Mossberg with a big mouth keeps any thought of trouble far from my mind. No matter what happens around here it seems peaceful and serene to me.
If we just look at social improvement would the added (or fewer) accidents be acceptable price to pay for the added security?
Iraq is still a lawless society. There aren't any police forces who have weeded out the bad guys yet.
During all of our history until the last century, a criminal who paid his debt to society had his guns returned. If he was a murderer, rapist and/or dangerous, he never made it out of the prison system alive. Today, dangerous criminals and mental patients are routinely freed from jails and hospitals.
Go to any gun range in the country or hunting camp. You can't find a more polite atmosphere.
>>A friend of mine spent a year in Iraq as a reservist doing convoy security. He said that Iraqis don't really see themselves as Iraqis but rather, Shia, Sunni, Kurd, etc. Hence the notion of national identity in Iraq is nothing like it is here in the US. <<
Do you see the evil in the method being used to teach us the acceptance of "multiculturalism"?
We are no longer Americans! In todays politically correct world we are German-Americans, French-Americans, English-Americans, African-Americans, Catholic-Americans, Protestant-Americans, Jewish-Americans, etc.
To top it off we still have the upper-class, middle-class and of course the lower-class.
Our society has been intentionally broken into the smallest cultural groups possible to divide us from each other, not join us together. Each cultural groups now has a politically definative difference from every other group or sector.
It is this politically correct multiculturalism division that is enabling politicians to lead us around like idiot goats. They can do things that might be offensive to one group but not to the the others, such as keeping the borders open.
By defining everyones ancestral nationality, they have once again shown us that there is differences in our nation. Not to long ago we all thought of each other as Americans, not small groups with a hyphen in the middle.
Have you ever read Former Colorado governor Richard Lamms speech on the perils of multiculturalism. Here is a link to it.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/lamm.asp
I didn't suggest that you suggested otherwise. Just asked the two relevant questions regarding right-to-carry. You dd not answer, by the way.
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