Disarmed in Public: Judges Ponder While Citizens Bleed

Time matters, but judges and law enforcement act as if unarmed citizens have all the time in the world.  That is exactly the problem we have with citizen self-defense in California.

To begin with, the San Diego trial court argued that time didn’t matter.  The court said California citizens should carry an unloaded firearm for self-protection.  After all, ordinary citizens would have plenty of time to load their firearm if they were ever threatened.  Sure we will.. just like police have plenty of time when they feel threatened…?

Really?  You believe that?

Unloaded open carry was the law of the land until the California legislature shoveled out its own load of stupid on us.  The legislature said it was better for ordinary citizens to always be disarmed in public.  The legislature said ordinary citizens like you and me would have plenty of time to run home if they needed to protect themselves.  Maybe that solution works in the fantasy land where politicians legislate, but running home doesn’t work where I live.

Civil rights groups took those laws to court, but it took years to receive a ruling.  A three-judge panel of the ninth circuit finally decided that citizens have the right to defend their lives.  The three judges said time matters.  Citizens, not police, are the first to meet criminals on the street.  In those encounters, citizens don’t have time to call and then wait for law enforcement.  Citizens are the first responders to crime.

That was before the Circuit Court decision was enjoined by a San Francisco judge.  So here we sit.  Open carry is outlawed in California.  Citizens are disarmed.  Judges say ordinary citizens have time to run away.

The sheriff of San Diego County told ordinary citizens they have no right to defend themselves in public.  At the same time, an average of 134 people per day are robbed, assaulted, raped or murdered in San Diego County.  Time always matters.  For 4100 citizens last month, time ran out.  Time matters and more of us bleed each day as judges ponder.  We’ve waited for years for the court to respect the right of armed self-defense.  It might take an equally long time for the appeals process to finally conclude at the Supreme Court.

Would armed citizens be able to stop all crime?  Of course not.  That isn’t the appropriate standard.  Should honest citizens who want to protect themselves and their family be allowed to carry the tools of self-defense without legal threat?  Of course they should!

I don’t know how often a San Diego citizen will use a firearm for self-defense, but think back with me.  Each victim who had their car broken into or their house robbed, each victim who was beaten or had their phone stolen, each victim who was raped or the relatives of those who were murdered, they wish they were armed and protected.  They wish they could defend themselves in time to avoid becoming a victim.  Ordinary citizens would rather defend themselves than fill out a police report after they are victimized.

Judges pretend that time doesn’t matter.  They pretend that their lofty opinion is more important than the violence done to ordinary citizens.  Judges ponder while the citizens of San Diego bleed.. drop by drop.. every day.

~_~_

Rob