People who believe in gun control are ignorant, superstitious or stupid. Violence is not caused by inanimate objects. Criminals, by definition, do not obey laws, including gun-control laws. Therefore, the only accomplishment of gun-control laws is to assure the criminals that their victims will be unarmed.
When the state of Florida was considering a law allowing honest citizens to carry concealed weapons, my liberal colleagues at the newspaper became virtually hysterical. They were certain the murder rate would skyrocket and that there would be shootings on every street corner and at supermarket checkout counters. The law was passed, and the murder rate did not skyrocket. Nor did hundreds of thousands of Floridians apply for concealed-weapon permits. After all, lugging around a pound or so of iron is inconvenient.
What their hysteria revealed, however, was how far removed from reality elitists are. How could any sane person imagine that his fellow citizens would suddenly go berserk if they had access to a firearm? It shows you what low opinion elitists have of their fellow man.
Having been born in the Deep South by the grace of God and having lived in the South, by choice, my whole life, I have lived among people who had access to firearms. In the South, there is a cultural rule: Never insult a man you are not prepared to fight, and never fight a man you are not prepared to kill. Southerners, unlike people in some parts of the country, all have lines they do not allow other people to cross.
I have been blessed to live with such people. I guarantee you that Southerners would not stand around and watch some criminal murder a woman, as happened in an infamous case in New York City.
On one of my visits to Georgia, I heard a local newscast about a man who attempted to rob a store and was captured by the store’s customers. The news story said police planned to charge the man "as soon as he is released from the hospital."
Another point to consider about gun control is that no criminal attacks an innocent person in the presence of the police. Even if the victim can get to a telephone, he has to deal with the criminal until the police arrive. So ask yourself: How do you plan to deal with a violent criminal? The best thing to do is shoot the villain.
A friend of mine, a South Korean tae kwon do master and a former member of South Korean intelligence, was laughing one day about kung fu schools, which teach students the use of the broadsword and the halberd.
"Who is going to walk around carrying a broadsword?" he said. "Besides, if your life is in danger, use a gun."
Some years ago, a store owner in Texas, after several burglaries, decided to sleep in the store and eventually killed two armed burglars who broke in.
"Now I know what a conservative is," the store owner said. "He’s a liberal who’s been robbed one damned time too many."
The gun is the ideal self-defense weapon. It can be wielded by a woman, a child, an elderly person or even an invalid. There was an old saying in the American West: "God created men, but Sam Colt made them equal."
The Supreme Court is about to decide an issue based on the Second Amendment. God only knows how the court will rule, but the Bill of Rights is crystal-clear. It guarantees the people, not the states or the militias, the right to keep and bear arms. Let’s hope the Supreme Court justices understand plain English.
Charley Reese [send him mail] has been a journalist for 49 years.
