The Verdict: Guns Save Lives

With judicial review of the Washington D.C. gun ban pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, amicus briefs are being submitted to illustrate that not only is the ban unconstitutional, it's simply a bad idea. (Ignoring for a moment the ultimate reason for the Second Amendment: defense against an oppressive government, whether foreign or domestic).

WorldNetDaily features an article highlighting a number of cases that demonstrate how armed citizens can reduce crime without firing a shot.

The brief notes when the Georgia town of Kennesaw decided to require all residents, with exceptions for conscientious objectors, to keep a firearm at home, home burglaries fell from 66 to 26 to 11 in consecutive years.

In Orlando, the deterrence to criminals who simply knew that their victims may have a gun and may know how to use it and may be willing to do just that had a significant impact, because while Orlando's rapes were plummeting, assaults were up 5 percent across the state and 7 percent nationally.

The brief cites a study that discovered, based on interviews with felony prisoners in 11 prisons in 10 states, one third of the felons had been "scared off, shot at, wounded or captured by an armed victim," and nearly four in 10 had decided against committing a specific crime because they thought the victim might have a gun.

Consider the effect that publicity for a firearms safety course had in Florida:

When sexual assaults started rising in Orlando, Fla., in 1966, police officers noticed women were arming themselves, so they launched a firearms safety course for them. Over the next 12 months, sexual assaults plummeted by 88 percent, burglaries fell by 25 percent and not one of the 2,500 women who took the course fired a gun in a confrontation.

Interesting that crime dropped without a shot being fired. This reveals a truth, also applicable in national defense, that liberals either can't or won't understand.

Someone who is armed and capable of defending themselves will likely never have to defend themselves because potential aggressors will likely avoid them, instead seeking the easy prey.

Prior to World War II, Adolf Hitler saw that the rest of Europe and America was weak, mostly disarmed and uninclined to counter his aggression. So he ended up taking almost all of Europe.

The Soviets, through much of the Cold War, saw while the West had at least learned enough not to disarm completely in the face of an aggressor, they lacked the spine to stop indirect Soviet aggression. Thus country after country in Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and South America began falling to Soviet-backed communist incursions. That is, until Ronald Reagan came on scene, and by the end of this two terms as president, collapse of the Soviet edifice was imminent--and did collapse within two more years.

My ten-year-old daughter has been taking Ju-Jitsu for about a year, and has just earned her orange belt in this martial art. She loves it and we plan to encourage her all the way to black belt, if she so desires. In a few short years, I will teach her firearms safety and how to fire accurately (I was certified "marksman" on several weapons in the military). And I will teach her to, as we joked when I was in law enforcement, "aim center-mass to maim." My daughter will not be a soft target.

The lessons of history, both foreign and domestic, should teach us the value of strength and self defense. If they do not, then we do not deserve to be free--and we won't be.