Lessons from Armed Defense and Gun-Control

I saw these news stories of armed self-defense and needed to share them. They are critically important if we want to understand the political world around us today. We have millions of new gun owners in the US. Armed defense is both effective and common. Many existing and many proposed gun-control laws put us at greater danger rather than making us safer.

The first story I saw was out of Albuquerque, New Mexico. A grandmother was at home at night. She was also taking care of her young grandson. Grandma heard a strange sound in her house. She went to investigate. It was about 9:30 pm when she saw a stranger in her home. The male intruder demanded grandma’s keys. She pointed to a bowl of keys near the front door. The intruder went one way and grandma ran the other way. It isn’t clear if grandma moved her grandson into her bedroom or if the grandson was already there. Grandma also armed herself.

The intruder came to the bedroom and demanded more keys. Grandma shot the intruder when he tried  to enter the bedroom where her 4 year old grandson was hiding. The wounded intruder stopped advancing and Grandma stopped shooting. She called 911 and asked for help.

The 32 year old attacker was charged with burglary, attempted burglary and auto theft. The attacker was out of jail on pretrial release after he was found in a stolen vehicle in possession of fentanyl, cocaine and heroin. He broke into grandma’s home after the police used spike strips earlier that evening to stop him and the truck he’d stolen.

You might be surprised that grandma did such a good job at defending herself and her family. I”m surprised that Democrat billionaires want grandma disarmed.

Our second story was from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A woman came home early Saturday morning and found two intruders in her apartment. The two male intruders attacked her. The female defender used her firearm and shot 13 rounds before the attackers ran away. The story says that she was a legal gun owner but it doesn’t say if she had her carry permit and was carrying concealed that morning. One of the attackers was found dead in her bedroom. The other was arrested at the local hospital after he ran away from the scene. The victim said she doesn’t know the men or know why she was targeted for the attack.

We don’t know why the criminals followed the victim to her bedroom. Resource predators want what we have. They are after our money or the drugs in our bathroom medicine cabinet. Process predators want to establish dominance. They want to assault and rape their victims. We do know that armed victims are seldom sexually assaulted.

National crime statistics help us understand if these two examples were typical or if they were unusual. Criminals commit about a million violent crimes a year. (robbery, aggravated assault, sexual assault, and murder). Criminals use a firearm in the commission of those crimes about a quarter million times. In contrast, about 100-million ordinary citizens own firearms in the US. Those honest citizens legally used a firearm in armed defense over 2.6-million times a year, or over 7-thousand times a day. That means we legally used a firearm for defense over ten times for each time a criminal used a gun illegally.

What do those statistics mean? They say that armed defense is common. About one in a dozen adults in public are legally carrying a concealed firearm. They tell us that most gun owners use their firearms with restraint. Most of the time, the criminal runs away when he finds out the victim was armed. When the victim had to shoot, the attacker usually lives. Because we’ve studied them so carefully, we know that ordinary citizens who have their concealed carry permits are more law-abiding and non-violent than the ordinary person. Those carry permit holders are even more law-abiding and non-violent than the police. That leads us to the next obvious question?

If ordinary people are so responsible with firearms,
then why do Democrats want them disarmed?

A bill proposed in Colorado would turn almost all public spaces, and many private spaces, into so called “gun-free” zones where honest citizens would be prohibited from carrying firearms. Disarming the good guys was advertised as crime control.

A law recently passed in New York City requires a gun owner to submit an application explaining how they have “good moral character”. This requirement is routinely used to disarm minorities, extort kickbacks, and reward politicians’ friends. Similar state laws have already been found unconstitutional.

A New Hampshire bill demands a mental health background check before an ordinary person could buy a firearm. Democrat politicians told us that these background checks would weed out the crazy people from getting guns. They said the background checks would prevent mass murder. That isn’t what we see.

Instead we see states like California. California has mandatory background checks AND mandatory waiting periods. They also have the highest rates of mass shootings. The reason is simple. Background checks look back at our history. In contrast, mass-murder is a one-and-done event and not a long term choice. California also has shocking rates of violent crime in its Democrat controlled cities.

It is easy to forget that armed defense is common. We forget that we have over 23-thousand firearms regulations today. Criminals ignore those laws just as they ignore the laws against burglary and robbery. Gun-control laws that keep honest citizens disarmed lead to more victims.

I’m sorry that ordinary people are attacked and forced to defend themselves. As long as they face those threats, I’m glad that innocent victims are well prepared and armed. Until we reach a crime-free utopia, the fantasy of gun control is dangerous.

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