Rearming - The D.C. gun ban gets overruled.

You've put forward a rational case for why less gun control could, in theory, result in more crime. However, this view is purely hypothetical, and the real world does not support it. There is still not a single instance where more permissive carry laws were followed by an increase in crime. There were several large metropolitan areas with neighborhoods that were controlled by gangsters that now allow concealed carry- e.g. Miami, Houston. After concealed carry was allowed predicted spikes in violent crime never materialized. I don't think we should give speculation about "streets running with blood" any credence until there is evidence to support it. Such speculation is certainly not justification for infringing our rights- especially not when all empirical evidence indicates that concealed carry will result in less violence against innocent citizens.

Hopefully, there would be a quick change in courts' attitudes towards criminals, keeping them locked up a long time for first violent offenses, and permanently for repeats. Without that there's a real possibility of a "bloodbath", but only in the city. In suburban and rural areas, and parts of large cities which have little gang activity to begin with, there would be no bloodbath. I just think one should seriously consider the possibility that the criminal element would be very quick to ramp up their carrying and use of guns, while the non-criminal class would be very slow in a city like NYC.

Theoretically, the non-criminal class would get a clue as soon as the trouble started, and run out and buy guns and learn to use them and start carrying them, and that would fix the problem. But I live in NYC Mon-Fri, and my guess is that the deeply entrenched "guns are bad" mentality would result in a huge potitical groundswell demanding a return to "gun control", faster than the common sense idea that "guns will fix the problem", which is an idea that is simply foreign to most non-criminal New Yorkers. I mentioned to our new secretary recently that I always carry a gun when I'm home in Pennsylvania, and her first reaction was to think I was kidding. Many of them simply can't conceive of non-criminals walking around armed on a regular basis.

Believe me, I'm all in favor of lifting all the unconstitutional gun laws, but I think in a city like New York it needs to be done in well thought out steps, beginning with a much harsher crackdown on criminals and an education campaign aimed at non-criminals. Some of the deeply entrenched damage that has been done by "gun control" needs to be reveresed, in order for the Second Amendment to work here the way it should, and the way it should have been all along.

As for the BB-predicted bloodbaths that never materialized, 1) big cities were a small part of the stats both before and after in most of those states, and 2) more importantly, those states did not suddenly go to full no-infringement 2A rights. They require permits (in all cases including fees and the need to fill out lots of forms), some require training (also incurring significant expense), and have various other restrictions that are really impermissible under the 2A. Only a tiny percent of non-criminals have actually jumped through these hoops, and police are still running around arresting people for not having all these things, thus maintaining the chilling effect on unlimited gun-carry by criminals. This incrementalism is probably a good idea for big cities (despite the fact that it extends unconstitutional practices), though is totally unnecessary for other settings.

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