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.
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If guns cause crime, mine are defective.
Criminals are basically cowards. That why they run in gangs to cover the individual members’ failings. The criminal also attacks the weak among us, because they know that the weak will crumple under. They never go into an area where there are people who are willing and able to stand up to them. If the intended victim is armed to the teeth, with a firearm, they run like hell. Sure sometimes they goof and enter a place where there is a gun around and a person that is willing to use it. It usually comes out bad for the cowardly criminal. Mostly the criminal is laying on the floor dead. An excellent example of this thesis, it the recent terrorist attack at Ft Hood. The terrorist knew that no one on base carried a firearm. It took a female cop, carrying a sidearm to stop him. one wonders what would have happened if one of the victims had been carrying heat that day.
And the other shoe drops – the Obama guns ‘n’ ammo surge…
Don't know how tightly coupled this cause and effect are but it is still interesting. From Cassy Fiano: Gun sales surge, violent crime dropsWhen Obama was voted into office as president, the gun surge began. People started stocking up on……
>It looks like perhaps liberals need to get their facts straight.
You’re rashly assuming that liberals have facts which they might be able to get straight.
I still remember a week after Columbine, the front page of the local lib clap-trap newspaper was entirely devoted to week old news. On page eight, in a tiny, unobtrusive section, was a small, three paragraph blurb about a man intentionally running his car through a schoolyard, killing two and injuring many others.
That couple sentences should be enough to point out the irony to anyone but a lib. Strangely enough, if there was someone else there with a car they wouldn’t have been able to protect the kids, but in Columbine, if there was a trained individual there with a gun…
Gun Sales Surge, Violent Crime Drops…
Cassy Fiano has the details; Fox Butterfield could not be reached for comment.
……
>> 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.<<
10 ring Cassy. That is EXACTLY the point. It's why the Second Amendment exists.
Look at everything else liberals hate – free enterprise, general aviation, private property, etc. Same idea. It's the DEFINITION of modern liberalism.
I think it was just yesterday the Instapundit reminded us:
“When seconds count, the police are just minutes away!”
I live in CT. The mass murder in Cheshire CT recently (home invasion, 3 dead) reminds us that the police are not minutes away, but spectators. Upper class suburban town, two bad guys rampaged all night inside the house (rape, murder, robbery, rape) while the cops “surrounded” the house. The bad guys were caught the next morning, not when the police stormed the house, but when the bad guys crashed their getaway car.
The job of the police is to keep the police alive (can’t fault them for that). Note I didn’t say first job, I said job.
If you want someone to defend your home, buy a gun. If you want to die while the cops watch from a crouched position behind their cars, buy a liberal.
If there is a Natural disaster, such as KATRINA, or another terrorist attack of a more severe magnitude then 911, you WILL NEED firearms to defend yourself against the ensuing chaos and civil dysfuntion UNITL the National Guard can be mobilized to restore order.
That is a very,very good reason to own a firearm.Consider it an Insurance Policy…
If you were a law abiding citizen in New Orleans when Katrina hit, you were able to DEFEND yourself as the thin Blue line was strained, or actually fled the City themselves.
If you were NOT armed, you became a VICTIM.
The PRIME rteason and Numero Uno is: It is YOU RIGHT as an AMERICAN citizen.
There is NO FURTHER explanation required.
Ronald Reagan put it (as usual) so well: “It isn’t that liberals are ignorant. It’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.”
That is really interesting. I wonder if the relationship holds if we look at the data by region and by type of crime? If I remember John Lott looked at shall issue permits and crime rates by county and found the relationship between concealed weapons and crime rates as strongly negative (i.e., more guns, less crime). Do the states with the highest gun sales have the greatest decreases in crime?
There were a couple of things that were strange if I remember. We should see the crime rates drop the most for the kinds of crimes that are deterred by citizens bearing arms, no? So some things, like drug use and sales should be unaffected. Other things, like stranger on stranger property crimes or any crime where the assailant fears encountering an armed victim, should show the largest drop, no? Do we see that in the data? Has anyone looked?
Let’s be honest. Liberals hate guns because it makes it more difficult for them to shove socialism down your throat. They need a helpless society to achieve their dreams.
Those who hold anti-gun beliefs are blinded by ideology and cannot be swayed by mere facts. Strong ideology makes otherwise smart people act stupid and reach stupid conclusions. Having wasted valuable hours of my life gently trying to offer logic and evidence to persuade folks who simply dig their heels in when confronted with the contradictions inherent in their assertions, I realize that it is a fool’s errand.
By now nearly everyone who can be persuaded by facts has already come over to our side. The rest simply have to be outnumbered and defeated in the political process and at the voting booth.
@ DoctorOfLove – I too live in CT and remember the tragic Cheshire home invasion. Because of that event and with Obama the liar in office, I legally armed myself. I will never give up that right.
The run of the mill Liberal sheeple doesn’t understand the real reason
behind what they have been taught to believe about guns. Guns are bad
icky things that will jump up and shoot you without warning and for
no reason. Those behind the anti-gun sentiment want it that way to
conceal the real reason for gun prohibition. Those devious villains
who are voted into power by the Liberal sheeple want to disarm the
citizenry because they want to use the police powers of the state to
take your money and your stuff. It’s hard to steal from an armed man,
especially when his armed neighbors are there to back him up.
[8~{} Uncle Monster
Just want to show the world that gun owners have a sense of humor.
1. Don’t pick a fight with a retired military man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.
2. If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.
3. I carry a gun because a police officer is too heavy.
4. A gun without bullets is a club, and an expensive one at that.
5. When seconds count, the police are just minutes away.
6. A reporter did a human-interest piece on the Texas Rangers. The reporter recognized the Colt Model 1911 the Ranger was carrying and asked him “Why do you carry a .45?” The Ranger responded, “Because they don’t make a .46.”
7. An armed man will kill an unarmed man with monotonous regularity.
8. The old sheriff was attending an awards dinner when a lady commented on his wearing his sidearm. “Sheriff, I see you have your pistol. Are you expecting trouble?” “No Ma’am. If I were expecting trouble, I would have brought my rifle.”
9. Beware the man who only has one gun. HE PROBABLY KNOWS HOW TO USE IT!!!
10. I was once asked by a lady visiting my home if I had a gun in the house. I said I did. She said “Well I certainly hope it isn’t loaded!” To which I said, “Of course it is loaded. It doesn’t work without bullets!” She then asked, “Are you afraid of some evil person coming into your house?” My reply was, “No, not at all. I am not afraid of the house catching fire either, but I have fire extinguishers around, and they are also loaded.” To which I’ll add, having a gun in the house that isn’t loaded is like having a car in your garage without gas in the tank.
11. The Course Director on the rifle range at a local Scout camp was approached by a reporter and asked if he was not afraid that he was equipping the next generation of school shooters. “No Ma’am” he replied. “Teaching how to safely handle and use guns responsibly doesn’t turn boys into killers. After all, you have the equipment to become a prostitute, but that doesn’t mean you are one.”
12. Those who live by the sword risk being shot by those who don’t.
13. The accurate definition of gun control is hitting what you aim at.
14. Sign in a Chicago restaurant.
ATTENTION CRIMINALS !!!
THE CHICAGO CITY COUNCIL HAS DECLARED THIS A GUN FREE ZONE
ALL LAW ABIDING CITIZENS HAVE BEEN DISARMED FOR YOUR
CONVENIENCE.
f I remember John Lott looked at shall issue permits and crime rates by county and found the relationship between concealed weapons and crime rates as strongly negative (i.e., more guns, less crime)
Although his book is titled More Guns, Less Crime, it’s conclusions are a bit more nuanced. What his study actually concluded was a decrease in violent crimes (i.e. crimes against people) and a corresponding increase in property crimes following the passage of “shall-issue” permit laws in a given community.
That is the criminals don’t stop being criminals altogether; rather, they go into a safer line of work. Following passage of shall-issue laws, the indications are that the criminals do the math and conclude that folks are more likely to be armed, so they don’t attack them as often. This is actually more interesting because it shows that criminals respond (reasonably) to stimulus, which has implications for other types of crime fighting measures. Essentially, if you make crime less attractive, you get less of it.
IIRC, Virginia saw something similar when they began sentencing those convicted of gun crimes to out of state prisons where the criminals friends, family, and associates wouldn’t be able to easily visit. Once the work got out, they saw a decrease in gun crimes.
“…violent crime continues a downward trend that began in 2006.”
Remember that the Assault Weapons Ban expired in 2005.
[...] December 2009 by hamerdinger Blogger Casey Fiano deconstructs one of the lefts favorite theories: Despite the fact that Obama has always been extremely in favor of gun control, he quickly spun [...]
SkydiverRick: “If guns cause crime, mine are defective.”
Oh, they work just fine. You see, you are an obvious Thought Criminal.
I have been a gun dealer for 28 years. If guns cause crime, gun shows should be mahem, with murders, robberies, rapes. Lets face it, you have 1000′s of guns, millions of clips and rounds of ammo, 1000′s of knives and swords, Millions of Dollars. Yet I have never seen or heard of a single shooting, robbery, rape, or any violent felony every happening at them. You know, crowded aisles, hot July weather, all the excuses for crimes, but nope, none.
Ain’t hard to figue out it is BS and here is your proof.
Don
[...] for example, that gun sales surged after Obama was elected. In 2009, after the surge in gun sales, violent crime dropped in every category: armed robbery, assault, vehicle theft, and even murder, which dropped an astounding 10%. You can [...]
[...] for example, that gun sales surged after Obama was elected. In 2009, after the surge in gun sales, violent crime dropped in every category: armed robbery, assault, vehicle theft, and even murder, which dropped an astounding 10%. You can [...]
[...] for example, that gun sales surged after Obama was elected. In 2009, after the surge in gun sales, violent crime dropped in every category: armed robbery, assault, vehicle theft, and even murder, which dropped an astounding 10%. You can [...]