Monday, September 12, 2005
(c) Copyright
2005, Marilyn MacGruder Barnewall, All Rights Reserved Axiom: If you
avoid truth, you will likely meet it on the day when, for you,
there is no sunset and no dawning.
Grammy's Axioms, Special to the Free Press
By Marilyn MacGruder Barnewall
There are approximately two million
defensive gun uses (DGU's) per year by law abiding citizens. That
was one of the findings in a national survey conducted by a
Florida State University criminologist.
There is talk in the Gulf Coast area
hit by Hurricane Katrina about removing guns from the hands of
legal owners. It would be a mistake -- set a dangerous precedent
-- if this happens. In truth, New Orleans was a perfect example of
why law-abiding citizens need access to legally-owned guns for
self protection.
It was not legal gun owners shooting
at rescue personnel. It was people in the Super Dome without
guns that allowed rape and murder to occur. Anyone who thinks
about it has to conclude that law enforcement -- local, state,
federal -- is unable to protect large numbers of people when
disasters occur.
Close to my home on Colorado’s
West slope, we read about a recent DGU… a man in DeBeque. In his
home (and after helping three young men with a stalled vehicle),
he was stabbed over and over again by the violence-prone intruders
he had aided. The man was able to get to a 44-Magnum pistol he
kept in his desk drawer. He pointed the gun and fired… and it
saved his life.
“If I’d had a trigger lock,
I’d be dead,” he said. “If my pistol had been in a gun safe,
I’d be dead. If the bullets were stored separate, I’d be dead.
They were going to kill me.”
Each year, firearms are used about
60 times more often to protect the lives of potential victims than
they are used to commit crimes.
According to the Gun Owners Foundation, conceal carry laws have
dropped murder and crime rates in the states that have enacted
them. From 1977 to 1992, one comprehensive study says states that
passed conceal carry laws reduced their murder rates by 8.5
percent, rapes by 5 percent, and aggravated assaults by 7 percent.
Robberies were reduced by 3 percent.
People are generally surprised to
hear how many more times people use guns to save themselves from
harm than they do to cause harm to others. If defensive gun use
occurs so often, why do we hear so little about it? If violence
sells media news, what difference does it make whether the
violence results from a victim or a perpetrator? It matters when
someone has an anti-gun agenda.
It is estimated that guns are used
for protection more than 6,000 times a day. During the first two
weeks of May 2004, only 20 cases were publicized. Less than 8
percent of the time an attacker is wounded or killed in the name
of self defense. Brandishing the gun or firing a warning shot
scares attackers and stops the intended crime.
Vermont is one of the safest five
states in the nation. There, you may carry a gun without getting
permission or paying a fee and without any waiting period. Vermont
has remained one of the safest states in America. It twice
received the “Safest State Award.”
During the ten years (1987-1997)
after Florida passed conceal carry laws, 478,248 people got
conceal carry permits. The homicide rate in Florida fell 39
percent during that ten-year period, according to FBI reports.
In 1976, Georgia and Wisconsin both
passed conceal carry legislation. Georgia’s law made it easier
to get permits immediately; Wisconsin’s law required a 48-hour
waiting period. Georgia’s homicide rate dropped by 21 percent,
Wisconsin’s rate rose 33 percent during the same period.
Criminals, it seems, find using guns on innocent victims less
appealing when innocent victims may themselves be armed.
A 61 year-old man who lived in a quiet, remote canyon in Yucaipa,
California, had a Winchester Defender 12-ga. Shotgun for home
defense. One night he had an intruder. He cocked the shotgun,
chambering a shell, and the burglar almost died of fright. Larson
called 911 and held the intruder until police arrived.
Two burglars broke into a woman’s
home in Decatur, IN. She saw the intruders outside before they
broke in and told her stepson. He grabbed a 20-ga. shotgun. The
intruders began to beat the woman with a fire extinguisher. The
stepson shot one in the chest. The second fled, but was caught.
In Albuquerque, police got a 5:30
a.m. call saying someone was trying to break into a man’s home.
According to the police, while the man waited for help the
homeowner shot the intruder in the arm in self defense.
In Toledo, Ohio, a store employee
wounded one of two robbers. The employee had received his
concealed handgun permit just three days earlier.
The truth is: The primary job of
police is to protect society. It is impossible for them to respond
to each crisis call even when there are no disasters. For each
police officer, there are close to 2,000 citizens needing
protection. The truth is: Criminals do not want to be shot to
death any more than their victims do. The truth is: it took over
an hour for police to respond to over 150,000 violent crimes last
year. The truth is, almost 200 New Orleans police officers went
AWOL when the public most needed them.
The biggest truth: If you are a gun
owner, everyone in your household needs proper training on how to
use, secure, and care for firearms.