Does gun control lower crime?
Let’s start with a quote from the great document we all hold dear. You know the one, The Constitution.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Now, as near as I can tell, the “people” the 2nd Amendment is talking about is you and I, the citizens of the United States. Let’s also realize that the 2nd Amendment is not talking about hunting. As much as I like to hunt, it is talking about the right to carry a own and carry a gun to protect ourselves from all manner of harm. So, how do we answer the question? Does gun control actually lower crime? I have always believed that it doesn’t. After President Reagan was shot and Jim Brady wounded in the same attack, Mr. Brady and his wife have been strong proponents of gun control. They were able to push through the gun control law named after him, The Brady Bill, and it has been widely acclaimed to have reduced the crime rate all across the country. That remains to be seen, but more on that in a moment. Also, before you start raving about how dangerous guns are, they are not. It’s the people who use them that can be dangerous.
There has been something that has always bothered me about gun control laws. The people who write the laws make a big assumption about the laws and about the behavior of criminals and I would like to sit down with any proponent of gun control and ask them just one question. How in the world does taking my gun away or making it nearly impossible for me to obtain a gun slow a criminal down one bit? Excuse me, but they are already breaking the law. What makes anyone think they will pay attention to a gun control law in the first place. I would wager they couldn’t give me a straight answer on that one.
I don’t have TV and I realize this may be old news, but in May 2007, the ABC News show 20/20 aired a program that deals with this very subject. Admittedly, it will probably not be shown much in the main stream media because the results it shows are probably not popular with a lot of people.Watch the segment and it should leave no doubt that gun control does not reduce crime. In fact, owning a gun is what lowers the crime rate. Trust me, if a criminal has a choice between breaking into a house where the owner owns a gun and one where the owner doesn’t, he is going to take the lesser of two evils. Take a look at the following YouTube video and see for yourself. You may be surprised.
That’s my take!
Larry
Gun control does not currently work, it will never work !