Gun Control

There are a number of “hot button” issues that are virtually guaranteed to generate a heated debate every time they come up, and the one that baffles me the most is “gun control”.

On one side you have those who believe that a civilized society should be a disarmed society, with only the police and members of the military carrying firearms. And there are even a few misguided individuals who believe that the police and military should be disarmed as well!

On the other side you have the folks who believe that the right to bear arms is not only guaranteed by the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but that our citizenry would indeed be considerably safer if there were no restrictions whatsoever on the right of law abiding citizens to bear arms.

I happen to fall into the second camp. I believe that each and every natural-born or naturalized citizen of the United States should be allowed to carry a firearm, convicted felons excepted.

Why do I think we would all be safer if we were all allowed to carry guns? Well, first of all, the vast majority of law-abiding citizens would use their weapons for legal purposes only – primarily self-defense and hunting. Criminals on the other hand do not respect or follow the laws of the land. After all, that’s why they’re called criminals. And as we all know, most criminals already carry weapons on them.

You’re not so sure about that? Well then think about this for just a moment: How many times have you heard news reports about people being arrested for a serious offense when they did not have a gun in their car, in their residence, or on their person? Maybe three? Four?

This issue really just boils down to plain common sense. I know it’s a cliché, but it really is true: If guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns!

Criminals, by definition, break the law, and one of their favorite laws to break is carrying a gun when they are not legally allowed to do so. Does it really make any sense to have a nation full of law-abiding citizens who cannot legally protect their lives and property with deadly force when those who are perfectly willing to kill them over a $10 watch routinely thumb their nose at the law and carry a gun anyway? Of course not.

So far I have been speaking more or less in the theoretical realm, but now let’s look at it from a practical, real-life point of view using a few real-life example situations:

1 – Do you remember the horrible attack by a lone gunman on the campus of Virginia Tech that resulted in 33 innocent students and faculty members being senselessly murdered? Just imagine for a moment what might have happened had one of the victims been carrying a handgun in his pants pocket. There is a very real possibility that the perpetrator could have been stopped after the very first shooting – perhaps even preventing all 33 of those murders.

2 – How about the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 which resulted in literally thousands of innocent people being mercilessly slaughtered? If even one law-abiding person on each of those planes had been carrying a gun, the terrorists might well have been stopped before they could complete their evil mission of mass death and destruction. The twin towers would probably still be standing today, and we most likely wouldn’t be in the midst of such a costly war on terror either.

3 – Now let’s consider the January 16, 2002 shootings at Grundy, Virginia’s Appalachian School of Law. Even though the circumstances were quite similar to those at Virginia Tech, the shooter was stopped fairly quickly and only three people were killed. Why such a different outcome? Because at the sound of the first gunfire, two students ran out to their cars to retrieve their weapons, then ran back into the school and subdued the shooter.

Just think, if they hadn’t had to waste precious time running to their cars to retrieve their weapons (in other words, if they had been carrying them), there is a good possibility that no one would have been killed at all!

Do I carry a gun myself? Maybe, maybe not. But as long as there is uncertainty in the mind of anyone who would like to break into my house, then my family and I will certainly be a lot better off.

Let’s face it, we live in a dangerous world, and it makes no sense whatsoever for the good people of America to have to live day-by-day at the mercy and whim of their evil counterparts. The right to bear arms (no, it’s not a privilege - it’s a right) is indeed guaranteed by our Constitution, and every rational thinker in the country should be fighting relentlessly to make sure it stays that way.