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Armed Citizenry is the Best Deterrent/Prop. Crime
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
An Armed Citizenry is the Best Deterrent Toward Property Crime
By John Orendt, 5/9/2002 6:29:00 AM
Libertarians, like other Americans, want to be able to walk city streets safely and be secure in their homes.
We also want our Constitutional rights protected, to guard against the erosion of our civil liberties.
In particular, Libertarians want to see all people treated equally under the law, as the U.S. Constitution requires.
America's millions of gun owners are people too. Law-abiding, responsible citizens do not and should not need to ask anyone's permission or approval to engage in a peaceful activity. Gun ownership, by itself, harms no other person and cannot morally justify criminal penalties.
Constitutional Rights
America's founders fought the Revolutionary War to throw off British tyranny. Most of the revolutionaries owned and used their own guns in that war.
After the war in 1789, 13 American states adopted the U.S. Constitution, creating the federal government. Before ratifying the U.S. Constitution, the people demanded a Bill of Rights to prevent government from depriving them of their liberties as the British had done.
One of the most important protections Americans have against government tyranny is the presumption of innocence of any crime until proven guilty, before a jury, in a proper trial.
However, gun control advocates would declare all gun owners guilty without trial, simply for owning guns, although millions of them have never used their guns to harm another person. Such blanket condemnation is immoral, unfair and contrary to the principles on which America was founded.
The Prohibition Lesson
Gun control advocates are much like the prohibitionists of the early 20th Century. By making liquor illegal, they spawned organized crime, caused bloody, violent turf wars and corrupted the criminal justice system.
Today's war on drugs has exactly the same results.
Prohibition didn't stop liquor use; the drug laws can't stop drug use. Making gun ownership illegal will not stop gun ownership.
The primary victim of these misguided efforts is the honest citizen whose civil rights are trampled as frustrated legislators and police tighten the screws.
Banning guns will make guns more expensive and give organized crime a great opportunity to make profits in a new black market for weapons. Street violence will increase in new turf wars. Criminals will not give up their guns. But, many law abiding citizens will, leaving them defenseless against armed bandits.
The Right of Self Defense
Libertarians agree with the majority of Americans who believe they have the right to decide how best to protect themselves, their families and their property.
Millions of Americans have guns in their homes and sleep more comfortably because of it. Studies show that where gun ownership is illegal, residential burglaries are higher. A man with a gun in his home is no threat to people not breaking into it.
The police do not provide security in private homes, businesses or on the street. They show up after the crime to take reports and do detective work. The poorer the neighborhood, the riskier it is for peaceful residents.
Only an armed citizenry can be present in sufficient numbers to prevent or deter violent crime.
Interviews with convicted felons indicate that fear of the armed citizen significantly deters crime. A criminal is more likely to be driven off from a particular crime by an armed victim than to be convicted and imprisoned for it. Thus, widespread gun ownership will make neighborhoods safer.
Foolish politicians and police now seek to ban semi-automatic "assault rifles." They ignore the fact that only honest citizens will comply; criminals will still have them. Such a ban will only increase the criminals' ability to victimize the innocent.
Personal Responsibility
Guns are not the problem. They are inanimate objects. Gun control advocates talk as if guns could act on their own, as if human beings cannot control them, so the uncontrollable guns must be banished. Let us put the responsibility where it belongs, on the owner and user of the gun.
If gun owners act responsibly, without attacking others or causing injury negligently, no crime or harm has been done. And they should be left in peace. However if a person commits a crime with a gun, then the severest penalties for the injuries done to the victim should be imposed on them. Similarly, the negligent gun user should be held fully liable for all harm his negligence does to others.
Rather than banning guns, the politicians and the police should encourage gun ownership, as well as education and training programs.
A responsible, well-armed and trained citizenry is the best protection against domestic crime and the threat of foreign invasion. America's founders knew that. It is still true today.
We find it particularly offensive that in Hawaii it is illegal to own or wear a bullet proof vest (unless you are Mayor Jeremy Harris). It is not as if someone could harm someone else with it.
Although provisions for Concealed carry permits are on the books, licenses are seldom granted.
In fact, nobody can remember anyone, except one police department civilian worker, ever receiving one.
As a natural result of this policy, criminals become fearless because they know their intended victims cannot defend themselves. As shown by the following stats verses the national averages.
Property Crime - 123 percent
Burglary - 117 percent
Larceny - 143 percent
Motor Vehicle Theft - 108 percent
An armed citizenry is the best deterrent toward property crime.
John Orendt is a Vice Chair of the Libertarian Party of Hawaii, the webmaster of the Libertarian Party newsletter, which can be reached at http://www.hi.lp.org/ and is often at the state Legislature testifying on issues key to liberty, privacy and the free market. He owns his own computer consultant business. He can be reached at HI-LP@despammed.com
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?8e7d1c0b-0569-4a34-ac8b-b3177208ca62
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
By John Orendt, 5/9/2002 6:29:00 AM
Libertarians, like other Americans, want to be able to walk city streets safely and be secure in their homes.
We also want our Constitutional rights protected, to guard against the erosion of our civil liberties.
In particular, Libertarians want to see all people treated equally under the law, as the U.S. Constitution requires.
America's millions of gun owners are people too. Law-abiding, responsible citizens do not and should not need to ask anyone's permission or approval to engage in a peaceful activity. Gun ownership, by itself, harms no other person and cannot morally justify criminal penalties.
Constitutional Rights
America's founders fought the Revolutionary War to throw off British tyranny. Most of the revolutionaries owned and used their own guns in that war.
After the war in 1789, 13 American states adopted the U.S. Constitution, creating the federal government. Before ratifying the U.S. Constitution, the people demanded a Bill of Rights to prevent government from depriving them of their liberties as the British had done.
One of the most important protections Americans have against government tyranny is the presumption of innocence of any crime until proven guilty, before a jury, in a proper trial.
However, gun control advocates would declare all gun owners guilty without trial, simply for owning guns, although millions of them have never used their guns to harm another person. Such blanket condemnation is immoral, unfair and contrary to the principles on which America was founded.
The Prohibition Lesson
Gun control advocates are much like the prohibitionists of the early 20th Century. By making liquor illegal, they spawned organized crime, caused bloody, violent turf wars and corrupted the criminal justice system.
Today's war on drugs has exactly the same results.
Prohibition didn't stop liquor use; the drug laws can't stop drug use. Making gun ownership illegal will not stop gun ownership.
The primary victim of these misguided efforts is the honest citizen whose civil rights are trampled as frustrated legislators and police tighten the screws.
Banning guns will make guns more expensive and give organized crime a great opportunity to make profits in a new black market for weapons. Street violence will increase in new turf wars. Criminals will not give up their guns. But, many law abiding citizens will, leaving them defenseless against armed bandits.
The Right of Self Defense
Libertarians agree with the majority of Americans who believe they have the right to decide how best to protect themselves, their families and their property.
Millions of Americans have guns in their homes and sleep more comfortably because of it. Studies show that where gun ownership is illegal, residential burglaries are higher. A man with a gun in his home is no threat to people not breaking into it.
The police do not provide security in private homes, businesses or on the street. They show up after the crime to take reports and do detective work. The poorer the neighborhood, the riskier it is for peaceful residents.
Only an armed citizenry can be present in sufficient numbers to prevent or deter violent crime.
Interviews with convicted felons indicate that fear of the armed citizen significantly deters crime. A criminal is more likely to be driven off from a particular crime by an armed victim than to be convicted and imprisoned for it. Thus, widespread gun ownership will make neighborhoods safer.
Foolish politicians and police now seek to ban semi-automatic "assault rifles." They ignore the fact that only honest citizens will comply; criminals will still have them. Such a ban will only increase the criminals' ability to victimize the innocent.
Personal Responsibility
Guns are not the problem. They are inanimate objects. Gun control advocates talk as if guns could act on their own, as if human beings cannot control them, so the uncontrollable guns must be banished. Let us put the responsibility where it belongs, on the owner and user of the gun.
If gun owners act responsibly, without attacking others or causing injury negligently, no crime or harm has been done. And they should be left in peace. However if a person commits a crime with a gun, then the severest penalties for the injuries done to the victim should be imposed on them. Similarly, the negligent gun user should be held fully liable for all harm his negligence does to others.
Rather than banning guns, the politicians and the police should encourage gun ownership, as well as education and training programs.
A responsible, well-armed and trained citizenry is the best protection against domestic crime and the threat of foreign invasion. America's founders knew that. It is still true today.
We find it particularly offensive that in Hawaii it is illegal to own or wear a bullet proof vest (unless you are Mayor Jeremy Harris). It is not as if someone could harm someone else with it.
Although provisions for Concealed carry permits are on the books, licenses are seldom granted.
In fact, nobody can remember anyone, except one police department civilian worker, ever receiving one.
As a natural result of this policy, criminals become fearless because they know their intended victims cannot defend themselves. As shown by the following stats verses the national averages.
Property Crime - 123 percent
Burglary - 117 percent
Larceny - 143 percent
Motor Vehicle Theft - 108 percent
An armed citizenry is the best deterrent toward property crime.
John Orendt is a Vice Chair of the Libertarian Party of Hawaii, the webmaster of the Libertarian Party newsletter, which can be reached at http://www.hi.lp.org/ and is often at the state Legislature testifying on issues key to liberty, privacy and the free market. He owns his own computer consultant business. He can be reached at HI-LP@despammed.com
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?8e7d1c0b-0569-4a34-ac8b-b3177208ca62
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Comments
lately?Have you asked them how they came to that conclusion?I have
and most don't have a clue,initially,where they got that idea!Some point to the evening news,but most really don't know!
We can speculate,or accuse the liberal media.But,I think prominent
American gun owners and 2nd ammendment advocates must make themselves
more publicly recognized.
I have seen an ad on Fox News Channel dramatizing a woman defending
herself,with a revolver,against a home-invader.The ad also explained
that 2 million violent crimes were thwarted by gunowners in 1999 or
2000.We need more such ads.In fact, I think the image of the average
American gunowner,needs a makeover.The media,Hollywood,etc.have been
allowed to create,without any negative repecussions or rebutle,a
negative image of US! YOU and ME!