Wouldn’t you feel safer with a gun?

The Times ^ | September 8, 2007 | Richard Munday

[holymoly]

Common sense from across the pond.

[ConorMacNessa]

"Virginia Tech reinforced the lesson that gun controls are obeyed only by the law-abiding. New York has “banned” pistols since 1911, and its fellow murder capitals, Washington DC and Chicago, have similar bans. One can draw a map of the US, showing the inverse relationship of the strictness of its gun laws, and levels of violence: all the way down to Vermont, with no gun laws at all, and the lowest level of armed violence (one thirteenth that of Britain)."

Concealed carry laws save lives! Vive le Deuxieme Amendment!

[SteveMcKing]

Granted, but it’s not just about feeling safe. It’s about doing what’s right and best.

One might even feel less safe when armed, depending on many things, but it’s still the right thing to do in this world.

[WorkingClassFilth]

Not only that, but basic economics would deny the ability of gub’mint to totally control arms. I own all the tooling neccesary to produce reasonable firearms. If sufficient market incentive existed, I could meet certain needs that went unmet.

Of course, any complete ban on firearms will also neccessitate a complete confiscation of machine tools, information and critical materials. Skilled machinists, craftsmen and motivated patriots would have to be rounded up, too.

[ccmay]

Sounds perfectly reasonable to me, but in today's Britain, this man risks being locked up as a lunatic or terrorist.

-ccm

[sageb1]

“Gun controls disarm only the law-abiding, and leave predators with a freer hand. Nearly two and a half million people now fall victim to crimes of violence in Britain every year, more than four every minute: crimes that may devastate lives. It is perhaps a privilege of those who have never had to confront violence to disparage the power to resist.”

Great article!

[SpaceBar]

Gun controls disarm only the law-abiding, and leave predators with a freer hand.

And there it is. The truth laid bare.

[doc1019]

The mindset of Americans would have to be changed (unfortunately, a work in progress) just as has happened in England and Europe in general. They have the skilled craftsmen and the necessary tools but no desire to manufacture arms on the sly … mindset change.

[Teflonic]

Great article

[sarasmom]

Refreshing to see in print.

None of the weapons I have owned have ever been fired in self-defense.
Part of the reason this is so, is that merely having the weapon, constantly reminds me to avoid situations where it is likely to be needed, and to be aware of any threats in my surroundings, at all times.

[WorkingClassFilth]

Their taxes are killing the ability to acquire the tooling and their obesience to global markets is doing in their pool of skilled talent.

I suspect, though, that they have been narcotized by their dependence on Big Brother to the point where the desire to be free is long gone.

[umgud]

Gun control is like trying to reduce drunk driving by making it tougher for sober people to own cars.

[L98Fiero]

“Wouldn’t you feel safer with a gun?”

“Feeling” safe will get you killed. I am able to defend my life and property with a firearm. It makes me no safer, just more prepared.

[rabscuttle385]

It is with a measure of bitter irony that we recall Thomas Jefferson, founder of the University of Virginia, recording the words of Cesare Beccaria: “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.”

Ironically, here at Mr. Jefferson's University, it is illegal for private citizens to possess guns of any type on University property, irrespective of licensing.

[sionnsar]

On my profile:

[S]edentary life becomes the last stage of civilization and the point where it begins to decay. It also constitutes the last stage of evil and of remoteness from goodness.... [S]edentary people have become used to laziness and ease. They are sunk in well-being and luxury. They have entrusted the defense of their property and lives to the governor who rules them, and to the militia which has the task of guarding them.... They are carefree and trusting, and have ceased to carry weapons. Successive generations have grown up in this way of life. They have become like women and children, who depend upon the master of the house."
-- Ibn Khaldûn, Muqaddimah, 1377

[JoeGar]

Sig Sauer ping

[USNBandit]

“Feeling” safe will get you killed. I am able to defend my life and property with a firearm. It makes me no safer, just more prepared.

Bingo. I heard it put this way.

Killing a person in self defense is way at the bottom of the list of things I want to do in this lifetime. It comes right above me or my family getting hurt or killed.

[TXnMA]

"One might even feel less safe when armed, depending on many things..."

I have been llegally armed for many years. I have never experienced that feeling; not even once.

OTOH, on the rare occasions when I was disarmed and in public, I invariably felt less safe.

[Max in Utah]

ping

[JSteff]

Richard Munday will be looking for a new job by Monday.