eXistenZ
10-14-09, 05:59
This was originally posted on GlockTalk by HerrGlock and I thought it was an article that warranted some attention.
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http://albanyherald.com/Main.asp?Sec...ArticleID=8013
10/12/2009 12:01:00 AM
Weapons not necessary in daily life
Carlton Fletcher
Metro Editor
Within an hour the news had reached the media machine: A male Caucasian with a gun has gone berserk in Queens. The area has been sealed off, the kids sent home from school. Fourteen people lying dead in a bar they call the Kicking Mule.
- Elton John
While trolling the news wires the other day, I came across a couple of stories the likes of which I'm afraid we're going to see more of in the coming days.
One told of a soccer mom notorious for strapping her pistol on her hip when she attended her daughter's youth soccer matches being shot and killed by her estranged husband, and the other offered the heartbreaking account of a man who, in the heat of an argument with his best friend, pulled his gun and shot and killed the person he was closest to in the world.
In both instances, the people involved were carrying their weapons legally.
Those stories brought back the frightening images sent over the news wires recently of people at "peaceful, tea-bag protests" sauntering around with semi-automatic weapons on their person. Of course, these individuals were only demonstrating their Second Amendment right to bear arms.
If these instances - and a growing number of others like them - don't scare you, then you're probably one of those people who has fooled himself into believing the NRA types who are calling for "right-thinking, God-fearing Americans" to arm themselves against ... well, that's the part they're not so clear on.
I grew up with guns, spent a good portion of my youth wandering the woods of Irwin County with a weapon in hand, dreaming of taking down that trophy buck that always seemed to elude me. Yet I don't remember any time in my life that I've felt the need to keep a weapon strapped to my side.
I've heard the arguments before: Crime is rampant in this city, and the only way to feel safe is to arm yourself as well as the bad guys. And I've also heard the inane boasting of well-strapped citizens who proclaim, "I just wish one of those gangsters would mess with me or my family."
But you know what? No you don't.
Sure, it angers all who obey the laws when lawlessness is allowed to run rampant, seemingly without consequence. And, yes, I've been in situations where I was angry enough to ... well, kill certain perpetrators if I'd had my hands on a weapon.
I'm about as mild a person as most of you will meet, but it scares me to think that I've gotten mad enough at times to want to do bodily harm to people who have angered me. And, in all honesty, it scares me most to think what I might have done at those times - some of which were, incidentally, trivial at best - if I'd had a weapon on me.
NRA- and gun-nuts who scream about our rights to weapons don't seem to get too worked up when something happens like the stories above, when individuals with carry permits lose their tempers and express their anger with bullets. I haven't noticed any of their propaganda that offers remorse for victims killed in the heat of a moment, that mourns families whose members were killed over the most insignificant incidences.
Do gun owners given carry permits really think they're any safer when they strap on their weapons like the cowboys of the Old West? Do they really think they're imbued with some power that makes them more of a man or woman?
Here's what I'd do if I were at a soccer match and I noticed one of the soccer mom's packing heat. I'd pick up my kids and get the hell out of there, stat. Because oftentimes the victims of some minuscule family squabble turn out to be innocent people in the wrong place at the wrong time.
E-mail Carlton Fletcher at carlton.fletcher@albanyherald.com.
After reading this I had a profound need to write the Albany Herald, maybe some of you will also. Posted below is the letter I sent, maybe you'd like to write and send one of your own also?
I recently read your article titled "Weapons not necessary in daily life" and felt it was my duty as a well-informed citizen to issue a response.
Let's start off simply with you saying "I don't remember any time in my life that I've felt the need to keep a weapon strapped to my side." I hope you never reach a point where you feel you need a weapon because by that point it will sadly be too late. May you then rest in peace.
I, like many, legally carry a firearm for protecting my loved ones and myself. I take personal responsibility for my safety and strongly advocate self-reliance. What about police you may ask? Law enforcement is there for a purpose, however as ruled by the Supreme Court in 2005 police do NOT have a constitutional duty to protect someone. So, if the police aren't there to protect me then who is? The answer: no one.
Your personal choice to walk around defenseless is yours and yours alone. The first law of nature is self-defense. Is there some reason I shouldn't be allowed to protect myself and my loved ones?
In 2006 (the latest data available through the CDC) there were 30,896 firearm related deaths, including unintentional, violence-related, homicide, suicide, and undetermined intent. Big number. Out of that number 16,883 were suicides, leaving 14,013 deaths aside from suicide. Estimates place that there are 70-80 million gun owners in America. So we have 70-80 million people owning firearms with 14,013 dying from firearms in one form or another where they didn't take their own life.
What people fail to realize when they see the headlines of "Gunman goes crazy and kills X many people" is that one, just one, legally-armed citizen could have ended the whole thing and saved many lives.
Charles Whitman in 1966 started shooting people from the top of a tower in Texas. Who responded? Police and armed citizens. The armed citizens were able to help with suppressive fire that kept Charles Whitman down and cutting off his ability to effectively kill people. Who finally ended the deadly situation? Officers McCoy, Martinez, and armed citizen Allen Crum, confronted Charles Whitman atop the tower, engaging in a gun fight and killing him.
People who don't have the courage will find ways to attack the ones who do. Instead of running away, these brave individuals drew a proverbial line in the sand and stopped an incident that could have been much, much worse.
It's a personal choice whether to carry a firearm or not. I respect your choice, why don’t you respect mine? Instead of respect for my rights, I get labels like right-wing extremist, and gun-nut. Labels do not add to reasonable dialog.
In closing, I leave you with a final point for your consideration.
I can't take credit for this as I heard it from Penn and Teller. Take every woman in the world and give her a gun and training, she can even have a pink gun. Now let's say that half of those women throw the guns away. How many women will be attacked and raped when the potential attacker knows there's a 50/50 chance that woman is armed and has had training?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://albanyherald.com/Main.asp?Sec...ArticleID=8013
10/12/2009 12:01:00 AM
Weapons not necessary in daily life
Carlton Fletcher
Metro Editor
Within an hour the news had reached the media machine: A male Caucasian with a gun has gone berserk in Queens. The area has been sealed off, the kids sent home from school. Fourteen people lying dead in a bar they call the Kicking Mule.
- Elton John
While trolling the news wires the other day, I came across a couple of stories the likes of which I'm afraid we're going to see more of in the coming days.
One told of a soccer mom notorious for strapping her pistol on her hip when she attended her daughter's youth soccer matches being shot and killed by her estranged husband, and the other offered the heartbreaking account of a man who, in the heat of an argument with his best friend, pulled his gun and shot and killed the person he was closest to in the world.
In both instances, the people involved were carrying their weapons legally.
Those stories brought back the frightening images sent over the news wires recently of people at "peaceful, tea-bag protests" sauntering around with semi-automatic weapons on their person. Of course, these individuals were only demonstrating their Second Amendment right to bear arms.
If these instances - and a growing number of others like them - don't scare you, then you're probably one of those people who has fooled himself into believing the NRA types who are calling for "right-thinking, God-fearing Americans" to arm themselves against ... well, that's the part they're not so clear on.
I grew up with guns, spent a good portion of my youth wandering the woods of Irwin County with a weapon in hand, dreaming of taking down that trophy buck that always seemed to elude me. Yet I don't remember any time in my life that I've felt the need to keep a weapon strapped to my side.
I've heard the arguments before: Crime is rampant in this city, and the only way to feel safe is to arm yourself as well as the bad guys. And I've also heard the inane boasting of well-strapped citizens who proclaim, "I just wish one of those gangsters would mess with me or my family."
But you know what? No you don't.
Sure, it angers all who obey the laws when lawlessness is allowed to run rampant, seemingly without consequence. And, yes, I've been in situations where I was angry enough to ... well, kill certain perpetrators if I'd had my hands on a weapon.
I'm about as mild a person as most of you will meet, but it scares me to think that I've gotten mad enough at times to want to do bodily harm to people who have angered me. And, in all honesty, it scares me most to think what I might have done at those times - some of which were, incidentally, trivial at best - if I'd had a weapon on me.
NRA- and gun-nuts who scream about our rights to weapons don't seem to get too worked up when something happens like the stories above, when individuals with carry permits lose their tempers and express their anger with bullets. I haven't noticed any of their propaganda that offers remorse for victims killed in the heat of a moment, that mourns families whose members were killed over the most insignificant incidences.
Do gun owners given carry permits really think they're any safer when they strap on their weapons like the cowboys of the Old West? Do they really think they're imbued with some power that makes them more of a man or woman?
Here's what I'd do if I were at a soccer match and I noticed one of the soccer mom's packing heat. I'd pick up my kids and get the hell out of there, stat. Because oftentimes the victims of some minuscule family squabble turn out to be innocent people in the wrong place at the wrong time.
E-mail Carlton Fletcher at carlton.fletcher@albanyherald.com.
After reading this I had a profound need to write the Albany Herald, maybe some of you will also. Posted below is the letter I sent, maybe you'd like to write and send one of your own also?
I recently read your article titled "Weapons not necessary in daily life" and felt it was my duty as a well-informed citizen to issue a response.
Let's start off simply with you saying "I don't remember any time in my life that I've felt the need to keep a weapon strapped to my side." I hope you never reach a point where you feel you need a weapon because by that point it will sadly be too late. May you then rest in peace.
I, like many, legally carry a firearm for protecting my loved ones and myself. I take personal responsibility for my safety and strongly advocate self-reliance. What about police you may ask? Law enforcement is there for a purpose, however as ruled by the Supreme Court in 2005 police do NOT have a constitutional duty to protect someone. So, if the police aren't there to protect me then who is? The answer: no one.
Your personal choice to walk around defenseless is yours and yours alone. The first law of nature is self-defense. Is there some reason I shouldn't be allowed to protect myself and my loved ones?
In 2006 (the latest data available through the CDC) there were 30,896 firearm related deaths, including unintentional, violence-related, homicide, suicide, and undetermined intent. Big number. Out of that number 16,883 were suicides, leaving 14,013 deaths aside from suicide. Estimates place that there are 70-80 million gun owners in America. So we have 70-80 million people owning firearms with 14,013 dying from firearms in one form or another where they didn't take their own life.
What people fail to realize when they see the headlines of "Gunman goes crazy and kills X many people" is that one, just one, legally-armed citizen could have ended the whole thing and saved many lives.
Charles Whitman in 1966 started shooting people from the top of a tower in Texas. Who responded? Police and armed citizens. The armed citizens were able to help with suppressive fire that kept Charles Whitman down and cutting off his ability to effectively kill people. Who finally ended the deadly situation? Officers McCoy, Martinez, and armed citizen Allen Crum, confronted Charles Whitman atop the tower, engaging in a gun fight and killing him.
People who don't have the courage will find ways to attack the ones who do. Instead of running away, these brave individuals drew a proverbial line in the sand and stopped an incident that could have been much, much worse.
It's a personal choice whether to carry a firearm or not. I respect your choice, why don’t you respect mine? Instead of respect for my rights, I get labels like right-wing extremist, and gun-nut. Labels do not add to reasonable dialog.
In closing, I leave you with a final point for your consideration.
I can't take credit for this as I heard it from Penn and Teller. Take every woman in the world and give her a gun and training, she can even have a pink gun. Now let's say that half of those women throw the guns away. How many women will be attacked and raped when the potential attacker knows there's a 50/50 chance that woman is armed and has had training?