Right Reason on Second Amendment Rights
Springfield, Illinois
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Sangamon
County Rifle Association Right Reason on Second Amendment Rights Springfield, Illinois |
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 You can lead big-city bigots to water, but you can't make them drink Jim Butler, President, SCRA
May 2005 GunNews Chicago and its suburbs have some of the most restrictive gun-control regulations in the State, and indeed the nation. Governmental representatives and media outlets from this region also fight the hardest against passage of any law that would grant law-abiding residents the choice of whether or not they would like to carry a firearm to defend themselves and their families from criminal attack. These big-city leaders effectively endanger their own families and fellow residents with their opposition to "shall issue" right-to-carry legislation. Violent crime plummets most in those urban areas that have the highest crime rates, largest and most densely packed populations after passage of right-to-carry laws in 47 other states -- areas just like the Chicago metropolitan area. Of course, Chicago land politicians and local media ignore proven science regarding the utility of gun ownership for self-defense and crime reduction just as the "elite" in the Middle Ages clung to the notion that flies had eight legs, despite evidence everywhere to the contrary. Demographically, women and blacks tend to be the strongest opponents of firearm rights, yet both gain the most from non discretionary right-to-carry laws in terms of reduced rates of violent crime! Firearms are the great equalizer and represent a greater change in a woman's ability to defend herself from a predatory attack compared to a man. Blacks are most victimized by violent crime, but much less likely than whites to own firearms. Furthermore, evidence indicates that the states with the highest rates of firearm ownership have the lowest crime rates. Urban areas like Chicago experience the most violent crime while at the same time have firearm ownership rates only a fraction of those in rural areas. The great Eighteenth-century Italian criminologist Cesare Beccaria wrote "...an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man. . ." This statement is quite timeless. Criminals are deterred by the possibility that a potential victim might be armed. Those who aren't can often be found at the morgue, their criminal careers abruptly truncated. Those who would deny our law-abiding citizens the right to carry a concealed firearm are endangering others. They embolden criminals, as criminals know prospective victims are unarmed. The gun control position makes as much rational sense as erecting a child daycare center and playground next door to a residential treatment facility for serial child molesters. It's negligent. There is overwhelming evidence to support the positive results of carrying concealed firearms as documented in John R. Lott, Jr.'s book "More Guns, Less Crime", based on his monumental study of all 3,054 U.S. counties over eighteen years. His findings reveal that many of the most commonly held beliefs about gun control and its effect on crime fighting effectiveness are dead wrong. Instead, Lott scientifically demonstrates that "right-to-carry" laws represent a very effective method for reducing violent crime. Isn't it ironic that urban areas like Chicago are the very places that benefit the most from non-discretionary right-to-carry laws, yet politicians and indeed many residents so vociferously oppose it? You know what they say here in Downstate Illinois -- You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. Jim Butler's Commentaries Sangamon County Rifle Association Home Page |