The Ideal Self-Defense Weapon
by
Charley
Reese
by Charley Reese
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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.
December
3, 2007
Charley
Reese [send
him mail] has been a journalist for 49 years.
©
2007 by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
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