Truth - Casualty of Newton Tragedy

By Tom Rhodes, 12/18/2012

The biggest casualty of the Newton tragedy is the truth. Liberal statist hoplophobes are using the actions of a psychotropic drug addled madman to eviscerate the truth and the bill of rights. They are playing on the emotional turmoil that such an evil act created to attack any who would laud the truth about guns in the USA.

One month ago, the Congressional Research Service released a 113-page report titled, "Gun Control Legislation," authored by William J. Krouse, a "specialist in domestic security and crime policy." The report cites the National Institute of Justice, which indicates that by 2009, the estimated total number of firearms available to civilians in the United States had increased to approximately 310 million, approximately one gun for each person in the country: 114 million handguns, 110 million rifles, and 86 million shotguns. The fact that we have seen a dramatic increase in firearms ownership accompanied with an equally dramatic decrease in violent crime, is ignored by gun control zealots. The objective truth is that our "gun culture" has resulted in less violent crime and a safer society.

Basically we've doubled the number of guns posses in our culture and decrease the number of murders by half. Guns are used regularly by victims of crime to defend themselves. Mass murders happen in "Gun Free Zones," The Aurora Colorado shooter chose the only theater in his area that posted signs prohibiting the lawful carry of concealed weapons, as his preferred shooting gallery. Compare that to the number of mass shootings at gun ranges.

The truth about laws restricting arms is self evident and long recognized. "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." ~ Thomas Jefferson

The most devastating and massive murder at an American School happened in Bath, Michigan, where 38 children and 7 adults were murdered on May 27, 1927. The school district's treasurer, Andrew Kehoe, detonated a series of improvised explosive devices. At this time the murderer could order a variety of fully automatic machine guns by mail. Obviously readily available guns were not the cause. Both Newton and Bath mass murders of children were the result of the actions of evil men. Lanza and Kehoe are solely responsible for those mass murders, not the tools they chose to do their evil deeds, explosives or guns.

Gun control nuts, are totally disingenuous, the let their hoplophobia and desire to disarm the general public, cloud them from reality. They ignore the other causes of death, or accept other methods of murder, but single out guns not based on empirical evidence but on emotional fear. The cries and wailings of gun control nuts and their objective silence on the two deaths of others recently committed by professional football players is a prime example. Belcher of the Chiefs murdered his girl friend and then shot himself, and the statist left demanded more gun restrictions, but when Price-Brent committed manslaughter using both his car and alcohol killing Jerry Brown Jr. they remain silent. No call to ban booze or cars. You see those same statist lefties like their booze and their cars, but are scared of guns.

When more people drink and drive, more people die. But as the newly released Congressional Research Service report, "Gun Control Legislation", clearly shows as Americans have increased gun ownership, and increased the number of concealed weapons we carry, actual violent crime and murders has gone down. So it is plain that Gun Control Zealots don't actually care about people dying, what they care about is any excuse to increase the scope of government and reduce Americans ability to be self reliant, which depends on their ability to defend themselves.

John Lott, author of "More Guns = Less Crime", has issued a challenge to hoplophobes who are calling for more gun control laws; put a sign on your lawn or in a window of your home: "This is a gun-free zone." To date nobody has taken up his challenge, why?

The truth is rural America has more guns and less violent crime than urban America. Cities like Chicago with severe restrictions and prohibitions on having a gun and using it for self defense, have murder rates higher than many third world countries; even Mexico City has a lower murder rate than Chicago. Gun Control Zealots have no respect for the facts. There have been too many peer reviewed factual studies over the years to leave any serious doubt. Gun control laws are not only futile, but have proven to produce problems and more difficulties instead of helping to achieve a goal.

Here is a fact that the press won't cover and is very politically incorrect. White America owns guns at a far greater rate than Black America, but the murder rate is higher among blacks. If you exclude black on black crime, the crime and murder rate in the USA is amongst the lowest in industrialized nations. If you seriously want to address violent crime in the USA, then the place to look is at inner city black culture which is responsible for the majority of violent crime in the USA. Hundreds of black youth have been murdered with guns in Chicago this year alone, the city where laws already prohibit anybody from having a gun. Drive by shootings don't happen in Kennesaw GA, where every head of household is required by law to have a gun. They happen in inner city black neighborhoods, where the community won't rat out black thugs, and vigilante justice not the rule of law reigns. Another ignored fact is that more people have been murdered in the past year without any weapon but with the murder's bare hands than with any rifle, much less a so called "assault" weapon. Where is the call to outlaw people's hands.

Dr. Kleck did some peer reviewed research that showed that regular people use firearms 80 times more often to protect themselves and stop violent crime than firearms are used to commit crime. Gun Control zealots ignore those results, when even their fellow gun haters who are honest about the facts and don't don't like the conclusions, agree with the findings that Dr. Kleck reached. They cannot argue with his impeccable research and methodology. In "A Tribute to a View I Have Opposed," Marvin E. Wolfgang writes that, "What troubles me is the article by Gary Kleck and Marc Gertz. The reason I am troubled is that they have provided an almost clear-cut case of methodologically sound research in support of something I have theoretically opposed for years, namely, the use of a gun in defense against a criminal perpetrator. . . . I have to admit my admiration for the care and caution expressed in this article and this research. Can it be true that about two million instances occur each year in which a gun was used as a defensive measure against crime? It is hard to believe. Yet, it is hard to challenge the data collected. We do not have contrary evidence." Wolfgang wrote that in an article of The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology titled, "A Tribute to a View I Have Opposed."

Of the more than a dozen national polls, including one conducted by The Los Angeles Times,that have found figures comparable to the Kleck-Gertz study. Even the gun hating Clinton Justice Department found there were as many as 1.5 million defensive users of firearms every year. Those studies are over a decade old, newer studies are finding trouble getting funding because those controlling the purse strings, big government statists, won't fund them unless they guarantee pro-gun control results. So unless researchers are willing to suffer the fate of Michael Bellesiles, the Professor of History at Emory University who was forced to resign, when his anti-gun book, "Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture," was found "willingly misrepresented the evidence," they no-longer conduct gun research with pre-conceived conclusions. A three-person committee, composed of scholars from Princeton University, Harvard University and the University of Chicago, concluded that Mr. Bellesiles' work showed "evidence of falsification," "egregious misrepresentation" and "exaggeration of data." Bellesiles' work is evidence that statist left hoplophobes promoting more gun control not only ignore the truth, but will lie to get their desires.

Yes we should keep guns out of the hands of the criminally insane. But the same people who want to disarm America, refuse to lock up crazy people. The perpetrators of 90% of the mass shootings in recent history are known or reasonably suspected to have been prescribed and using psychotropic drugs for mental illness. The research and warnings show that the side effects of psychotropic drugs can be violent unpredictable behavior. The increase in the use of psychotropic drugs on young developing adolescent males closely correlates with the increase in that same group committing evil acts of violence. The side effects of these drugs are known to induce thoughts of suicide, and increased impulsive behavior, yet we continue to use them on our youth. Uninhibited violent behavior is a known and proven side effect of psychotropic drugs. If the goal was less mass murder behavior, and less children murdered, then this not guns, would be the subject of the press and those who care.

More than any other issue, gun owners have proven that they will vote out those in office who attack our right to keep and bear arms. To all our elected officials, remember more gun control laws will result in a loss at the poles regardless of your party. The best example of that is Al Gore, whose anti-gun record cost him his home state of Tennessee, and probably the 2000 election.

Israel's response to terrorism and mass murder directed at schools, was to make sure that there were people voluntarily armed at schools, not every teacher, but enough teacher's, admins, and other private volunteers, so that terrorists and madmen know that they will be confronted with deadly force. Thus Israel eliminated the safe shooting gallery that "gun free schools" create. The truth is, the evil actions of Lanza, do not justify disarming or further restricting guns in America. A determined evil person planning on and willing to take their own life, cannot be stopped by mere laws. Lanza, continued his murder spree until he was confronted by armed law enforcement, where he then killed himself. If he'd been confronted when he first shot his way into the school, not much later when law enforcement finally arrived, he'd have either killed himself or been shot then, not after being given the time to kill 20 innocent children. The truth is "Gun Free Zones" are responsible for the effectiveness of mass murderers who routinely choose these places to commit murderous evil.

The facts don't justify more gun control laws. But then the hoplophobes don't care about truth, and they are supported by statists as their goal is a dependent society who doesn't have the means of self reliance or defense. This country was created by rebels who went to war because the Government actively tried to take away their guns. That's right the first shots fired in the American Revolution were a direct result of the British trying to take away our arms, not taxes, not freedom of religion, not freedom of speech, not the right to vote, but the active assault on private and community arms. This country has attracted and been expanded by people who wanted to be self reliant, and exercise their right to succeed on their own, not on the dictates of some government official. Gun control zealots are horribly mistaken if they think they can legislate away American guns. The people of this country will not willingly relinquish the 310 Million guns we own.