By now, everybody in the country knows about the horrific shootings
at a packed theater in the metro Denver area last week. Twelve people
were killed and scores were wounded. Predictably, gun-control zealots
nationwide are shouting for stricter gun control laws. Not only that,
some are even calling for the TSA to set up airport-style screening
devices in movie theaters.
So, if the TSA is going to set up screening devices for movie
theaters, why not grocery stores, department stores, malls, strip malls,
churches, boy scout meetings, girl scout meetings, soccer matches,
little league baseball games, concerts, rodeos, etc., etc. Heck, let’s
just put TSA screeners at any gathering that attracts more than, say,
ten people! What about the cost, you ask? Who cares? It’s all about
being safe, right? If big-government toadies have taught us anything
over the past several years it is that the American people are a bunch
of helpless, defenseless sheep who owe all of their safety and security
to the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-caring federal government, right?
Whether the Denver shooter was a plain old wacko or a product of some
sort of sophisticated MK Ultra-type assassination program, as some are
suggesting, the reason twelve people died and so many were wounded is
because the laws of the city and rules of the movie theater demanded
that patrons disarm themselves. Had only one or two individuals in that
movie theater been armed, the outcome could have been much different.
Twelve people are dead, because the movie theater was a gun-free zone!
Obviously, bad guys do not pay any attention to gun-free zones, except
to note that such zones create a free-killing environment.
Have readers ever noticed that these so-called “madmen” are never
crazy enough to try and attack guys at a gun range? Gee! I wonder why
not?
One thing the national news media will always ignore is the practice
of lawful self-defense. For example, most people are probably not aware
of the fact that American citizens use a firearm to defend themselves
more than 2.4 million times EVERY YEAR. That is more than 6,500 times
EVERY DAY. This means that, each year, firearms are used 60 times more
often to protect the lives of honest citizens than to take lives.
Furthermore, of the 2.4 million self-defense cases, more than 192,000
are by women defending themselves against sexual assault. And in less
than eight percent of those occasions is a shot actually fired. The vast
majority of the time (92%), the mere presence of a firearm helps to
avert a major crime from occurring. That is what Congressman Roscoe
Bartlett (R-MD) concluded after extensive research. According to Rep.
Bartlett, the number of defensive uses is four times the number of
crimes reported committed with guns.
John Lott, senior research scientist at the University of Maryland,
agrees with Bartlett. His book “More Guns, Less Crime” documents the
fact that firearms in the hands of private citizens are actually a major
deterrent to crime–instead of being a cause of crime.
One thing America’s founders unanimously agreed on was the necessity
of free people to keep and bear arms. In light of the Denver shootings,
Thomas Jefferson’s counsel makes even more sense. He said, “Laws that
forbid the carrying of arms . . . disarm only those who are neither
inclined nor determined to commit crimes . . . Such laws make things
worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather
to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be
attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.” If the Denver
killings prove anything, they prove Jefferson’s perceptive
pronouncement.
But civilian disarmament has consequences even greater than those of a
lone gunman attacking people in a movie theater. Some years back, Alan
Rice of the Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO)
wrote, “Since 1900 at least seven major genocides have occurred
resulting in the murder of 50-60 million people:
*Ottoman Turkey, 1915-17; 1-1.5 million Armenians murdered; *Soviet
Union, 1929-53; 20 million anti-Communists and anti-Stalinists murdered;
*Nazi Germany & Occupied Europe, 1933-45; 13 million Jews, Gypsies,
and Anti-Nazis murdered; *China, 1949-52, 1957-60 & 1966-1976; 20
million anti-Communists murdered; *Guatemala, 1960-1981; 100,000 Mayan
Indians murdered; *Uganda, 1971-1979; 300,000 Christians and Political
Rivals of Idi Amin murdered; *Cambodia, 1975-1979; 1 million murdered.”
Rice continued to say, “In all seven of the genocides summarized
above, gun control laws were in force before the genocide occurred, in
some cases decades before. In five of the seven genocides, the lethal
law, the gun control law was in force before the genocide regime took
power.”
Rice also said, “Gun control laws are usually enacted during a crisis
or a perceived crisis.” He then said, “Government officials, not hate
groups or common criminals, were responsible for these seven genocides.
In most of these cases the murder victims outnumbered their murderers;
yet they were powerless to defend themselves because they were
disarmed.”
It should not be lost to the American people that tomorrow (Friday,
July 27, 2012) President Barack Obama is scheduled to sign the UN Small
Arms treaty. See this Fox News report:
http://tiny.cc/wxg0hw
Many people are rightly concerned that this treaty, instead of doing
anything to thwart terrorists, could be a tool of anti-gun politicians
in Washington, D.C., (including Mr. Obama) to try to confiscate the
firearms of the American people.
I really don’t know how to say this gently. And, of course, I cannot
speak for everyone, but I suspect I’m speaking for millions of
red-blooded Americans all over the country when I say that if the
government–any government–tries to disarm us, it had better bring a lot
of body bags, because, treaty or no treaty, law or no law, we will never
surrender our firearms! NEVER!
And, for all of those potential “crazed killers” out there who are
thinking about duplicating the Denver shootings someplace else, don’t
try that in Montana! I promise you, in virtually every public gathering
place of any size in this State, a substantial percentage of the
citizens in the crowd are packing heat–and are well versed on how to
operate their “pocket cannon,” and have the internal fortitude to do it,
and to do it quickly!
So, if there are any lessons from this horrific incident in that
movie theater outside Denver, Colorado, they are that an unarmed
citizenry is a very foolish and vulnerable citizenry, that the American
people cannot–and should not–depend on government to protect them, that
they must be responsible to protect themselves, and that they must not
allow any government–no matter how large or small–to disarm them! In
other words, if you don’t own a gun, go buy one–and learn how to use it;
if you have a gun, carry it; and if you live in a city or State that
will not allow you to carry a gun, MOVE TO A PLACE THAT WILL!
*If you appreciate this column and want to help me distribute these
editorial opinions to an ever-growing audience, donations may now be
made by credit card, check, or Money Order. Use this link:
http://chuckbaldwinlive.com/home/?page_id=19
And follow my updates by liking the following Facebook pages:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chuck-Baldwin/226997970644468
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Liberty-Fellowship-Kalispell-MT/190828020944911
Also, follow me on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/#!/drchuckbaldwin
And please visit my web site for past columns and much more at:
http://chuckbaldwinlive.com
© Chuck Baldwin
