The Justification for Guns in Modern America

It ought to be apparent to the intellectually honest that civilization is thin and easily swept away by a variety of forces, among them natural disasters, power outages, civil unrest. You needn’t look any further than Katrina, the NY blackouts, and the Rodney King riots to see that the almighty cell-phone with 911 preprogrammed is of limited usefulness.

The Human condition will always include war, conflict, poverty, injustice, bigotry and a host of other evils. Speaking of evil, haven’t you noticed that while there’s no shortage of evidence of evil at work, there is a distinct shortage of folks willing to label it as such? While we may have advanced materially and technologically, mankind is every bit as wicked and depraved as he was in the days of Noah.

I am a free man, and the mark of a free man is the ability to protect home and hearth. I fervently believe that the responsibility for self defense is legally and morally vested in the individual, NOT the state. As has been pointed out herein, the courts have repeatedly confirmed as much. Americans are being programmed to rely on the government for everything these days, not just self defense. Our children are being taught to look to the government for the solution to every problem, and I see in this trend the seeds of our own national destruction. We were once a hardy breed of folks. But I wouldn’t be so quick to apply that description to the most recent generations of my countrymen!

One of the popular techniques of rebuttal, when it comes to a discussion of gun ownership is the myth of the Wild West. Know this dear reader: The Wild West has been portrayed in movies and books as a place where murder and mayhem were common. It is true that dangers from Indian attacks and wild animals were an every day threat at times. But it is untrue that every western town was a completely lawless place where you took your life in your hands walking down the street. There are studies that show the crime rates of even places like Tombstone and Dodge City were virtually insignificant to that of modern day Detroit or NY. In fact, there is much about the frontier era that we would do well to emulate today! It is beyond the scope of this missive to prove this particular point, but anyone making the argument that they don’t want things to go back like they were in the Wild West has merely bought into a fantasy view of that time in our history.

The real point being made when someone brings up the Wild West argument is the degree of danger present, and the extent and appropriateness of the response. Personally, I believe that the degree of danger is unprecedented in our modern society. With drug abuse so widespread, the victim mentality being fostered by our politicians, with liberal judges on the bench, and with a complete moral vacuum in the public schools, is it any wonder that an increasing number of people seem to lack the ability to discern right from wrong? To walk down the street of Tombstone in 1880 was to know that a) nearly every male you passed was armed, and b) that most people took it for granted that they would defend themselves – and aggressively - if attacked. In other words the appropriate response was not to cower in fear and wait for the Marshal to come to your rescue. It’s been drilled into our heads in this era that we should NOT resist, but instead be compliant and give your attacker whatever he wants. The highwayman of 1880 was generally only after your watch or wallet. The crack-head who accosts you in central park may well be interested in what it looks like to see someone bleed to death.

What is an appropriate response today? Take the VT shootings for example. Those young people apparently died like sheep. There was a 76 year-old concentration camp survivor who DID have the courage to resist. Yes he died, but better to die on your feet than your knees in my opinion. He had a chance of success and he took that chance. To cower on the floor in quivering fear ensures that you would have NO chance. If there had been even one person with a gun, there would have been some chance of ending the carnage before the death toll reached such heights. As it was, there was NO chance of stopping the madman on his rampage.

Someone has said that even if there had been armed students in classroom 207 it wouldn’t have mattered; that the suddenness of the attack would have nullified any chance of pulling out a gun and returning fire. I will concede that’s a possibility. Will you the reader concede that there was at least an equal chance that the shooter, with 30 or so “targets” to choose from, would have been an easy target himself for the one student with a gun?

Another common response from the anti-gun crowd is that the common ordinary citizen lacks the training to handle a gun in such situations. Would it shock you to know that studies have shown that Police shoot the wrong person about 11% of the time, whereas armed citizens only err about 2% of the time?

If I am in the convenience store, over by the soda machine, and an armed robber comes in and yells at the clerk to “Give me all your money!” just how much training do I really need to determine that this guy needs to catch a bullet? Do you suppose the clerk is worrying about the thief with a gun in his face, or is he worrying that the customer by the soda machine will start shooting? I would take bets he’s HOPING the customer will start shooting!

Guns and kids: This is an area that deserves careful wording. Even one child who dies accidentally by ANY method is too much. Children are precious in the eyes of God, and they are our greatest resource. Statistically there is a FAR higher chance that children under 14 will die from drowning, poisoning, fire, choking, or motor vehicle accidents. Most, if not all, states allow children of 16 to be licensed to drive a car, and few parents are willing to tell little Johnny or little Susie that they can’t get their license and begin the time-honored ritual of driving a car. But how many thousands of them will perish on the highways each year, and yet there in NO national outcry to raise the legal driving age? Cars, like guns, are tools that have their uses, and apparently we as a society will never give up our mobility even for the sake of our kids.

Our response to that situation is, and should be, to train and educate our kids to drive safely. We encourage them to wear their seatbelt. We nag at them to slow down and not tailgate. The response to guns being around children should be the same. Instead of injecting hysteria about guns into their young skulls, they should be taught what to do and what NOT to do. If a child is old enough to mow the grass, he/she is old enough to learn gun safety. The NRA has an excellent program for training children about gun safety. But the mass media prefers instead to vilify the NRA and demonize guns and gun-owners instead.

On the topics of “smart guns” and gun locks I just want to say this: The more complicated the machinery, the more likely it won’t work when it’s needed. One hundred years from now my dumb Glock will function completely normally. And a locked or unloaded gun makes a great paperweight. My children grew up around guns, lots of guns. They were taught from about the age of three what a gun does and how it works. There was absolutely no mystery surrounding them. Consequently they had about as much curiosity about guns as they did about toasters. I never worried about my sons playing with guns when I wasn’t around.

John Lott, an economist who has taught at places like Yale and Stanford, did a groundbreaking and very extensive study on the effect private gun ownership has had on crime rates. His book, More Guns, Less Crime proved conclusively the premise of its title. There are hundreds of thousands of instances each year where armed citizens prevent violent crimes with a gun. But unless you know where to look you’d never know that. The MSM seldom publishes such stories.

I’ve heard it said by people that they wished for a world without guns? When Christ comes again that will be the case, but not one day earlier.

It has also been said by many people that they don’t want a lot of people running around with concealed weapons. Ever hear of Switzerland? That’s a country where EVERY household maintains a fully loaded assault rifle. The national pastime is going to the gun range. The Swiss still have the attitude that the citizenry is responsible for its own defense, and their entire population is trained and willing to mobilize in times of national emergency. Hitler was very covetous of Switzerland, but his generals warned him that taking it would be costly. They weren’t referring to the mountainous terrain being the biggest obstacle! They were referring to the armed population. By the way, mass shootings in Switzerland are rare, as is violent crime. Most crime committed there is done by non-Swiss visitors.

Freedom? Think of its purchase price. How is it that we enjoy the freedoms we have today? We have what we have because once upon a time, men with guns threw off British oppression. Men with guns defeated German and Japanese aggression. Men with guns defended their homes against bandits or Indians. Have we as a country become so soft and forgetful? Do Americans want freedom, or the ultimate nanny state? I’m afraid to ask that question too loudly!