Ok, maybe not. . .
Hotair:
Gun sales surge, violent crime drops
posted at 9:13 pm on December 21, 2009 by Cassy Fiano
When Obama was voted into office as president, the gun surge began. People started stocking up on their guns and ammo, mostly out of fear that Obama would start instituting anti-gun laws. The right to bear arms is one of our most cherished rights, and also one of the most attacked. Liberals just hate the thought of someone owning a gun and being able to defend themselves from a criminal… or from a tyrannical government. Part of this is because liberals are big wussies who are terrified of any thought of manly force. Another is because they can’t get the idea out of their head that holding a gun doesn’t automatically make someone a criminal. They just can’t understand that guns do not spontaneously fire without someone willingly pulling the trigger. A gun laying on a desk is harmless, until someone picks it up — but they just can’t get that.
Another thing I wonder about is if liberals don’t like the idea of people being able to protect themselves. Libs want people to be completely reliant on the government, so does that maybe factor into their paranoia about ordinary citizens owning guns? Who knows, but it’s an interesting thought.
Despite the fact that Obama has always been extremely in favor of gun control, he quickly spun that around during the election last year and has pretty much left it alone. It didn’t convince many Americans, and the gun surge continued.
Unlike what liberals would assume, though, there was also a drop in violent crime… at the same time as gun sales were skyrocketing.
Preliminary statistics released by the FBI for the first half of 2009 show
that violent crime continues a downward trend that began in 2006. The figures
show crime falling in all categories–robbery, aggravated assault, motor vehicle
thefts, etc.–with murders down a remarkable 10 percent from the previous year.
The FBI statistics undermine a favorite argument of anti-gun groups and
some mainstream media that “more guns equal more crime,” especially when you
consider that the decrease in violent crime from late 2008 through the first
half of 2009 occurred at the same time that firearm sales were surging.
The most popular firearms selling at that time were handguns and modern
sporting rifles (AR-style rifles)–two types of firearms that anti-gunners never
miss an opportunity to demonize.
This goes against everything you hear about handguns. Liberals seem to think that banning handguns would make crime disappear. In a tragic moment of irony, last year a notorious anti-gun activist was stabbed to death. It just goes to show that banning guns does nothing, nor does banning any other weapon. If someone wants to kill someone, they will find a way, even if you can’t use a gun. Heck, just look at the board game Clue. There are multiple weapons in that board game, and only one of them was a gun. So what good does banning guns really do? Even if banning guns meant that no one would use them, there are still plenty of ways that criminals could kill you. But the sad thing is, banning guns doesn’t mean that people stop using them. It means that criminals keep using them, while law-abiding citizens don’t.
A few weeks ago, someone broke into my house. I was there alone. I live with a Marine, but he can’t be there every hour of the day. In the one hour window between Matt’s departure time and mine, someone broke in. We have an alarm system and a rottweiler (who very enthusiastically tried to protect me), but he still got in, and if the burglar had a gun, what good would my rottweiler have done? Matt and I have a shotgun, and I was prepared to use it if necessary. Thankfully, I didn’t have to (my dog scared him away), but what if we didn’t have Ripley? What if we didn’t have that shotgun? When there is someone inside your house, you don’t have the luxury of waiting the five to ten minutes it takes for police to arrive. You don’t know what their intentions are or what they want to do to you. People owning guns to protect themselves is a good thing. You never think someone will actually break into your house, but trust me, it happens. And being caught defenseless is not a good thing. Owning a gun certainly does not mean you’re about to go on some sort of insane shooting spree.
But if what liberals believed about guns was true, and banning guns was necessary, then why hasn’t violent crime risen proportionately with the gun sales? Why is it that rising gun sales happened at the same time as lower crime rates?
It looks like perhaps liberals need to get their facts straight.
6 comments:
Dude, you got "Christmas Wrapping" stuck in my head...
And if they'd paid proper attention to that Muslim shrink they sent to Fort Hood, the stats would be even better. Not that we'd ever get them to admit it.
Yeah, that's one of those songs that gets jammed in my skull, too.
:)
As a former liberal, I can't tell you what goes on in others' heads re guns, but can share what went on in mine. Guns are scary because our association with them is with violent crime (from TV and movies). Most of us seem to come from nice neighborhoods and didn't grow up hunting, so there is no other association. It's also my opinion that aggression/anger/violence have replaced sex as the thing that society regards as nasty, secret, something you don't want your kids to do. Parents in the circles I've been familiar with most of my life don't give their sons toy guns, thinking that doing so will cause them to become violent, not realizing that aggression and the capacity for violence are innate and natural, part of our self-defense and survival mechanisms, and must be channeled properly, not suppressed.
My dear sister is a wonderful mom and an intelligent person, but she freaks because her ex is teaching their son to handle guns and shoot. She doesn't try to prevent it, nor does she impose her reaction on my nephew, but she has told me how she feels. It's not rational, it's an emotional reaction from the way we were raised.
My husband and I are going out on the range with a gun-experienced friend this Sunday to learn the basics of gun safety and eventually, hopefully, to do some shooting. I would like to be able to defend myself or others if need be, hoping that it will never come up.
Rachel's comment is the Comment of the week, as far as I'm concerned.
What do you think, MR?
I'm good with that.
Rachel -- when you finally start shooting I think you will be surprised how much you enjoy it. Not just because of the skill you're learning (and a damned important one) but just the satisfaction of being able to learn to control something powerful and put it on target. The competativeness (even if it's only against yourself) and challenge of learning to handle a firearm.
Here's your first lesson. Integrate these into your thinking before handling a gun.
The four rules of gun safety:
EVERY gun is always loaded, period. Even if you know it's not you handle it as if it were.
Never point a gun at anything you are not willing to have immediately destroyed.
Keep your finger off the trigger and out of the trigger guard until you are ready to fire.
Know your target and bulletstop (what's beyond the target).
You're going to have a blast. Pun fully intended.
Every responsible shooter and gun carrier hopes they never have to use the weapon for it's purpose but is always aware they may very well have to.
Your safety is your responsibility. No one else's. Yours alone.
Thanks for your kind words of encouragement, Pastorius and Midnight Rider, as well as the helpful safety tips. I wish you and your families every blessing on the Christmas holiday.
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