I recently read an article by Thomas Sowell titled The left’s vision. He wrote about how in England, the right to defend yourself is virtually nonexistent. Not only are gun control laws so strict in England that it is virtually impossible for a citizen to own a firearm, people actually get arrested for detaining criminals with toy pistols, or anything that remotely resembles a gun.Now, anyone who knows me or has ever read anything that I have ever written knows that I am all for personal responsibility. I believe that everyone should earn their own money and not take government hand outs. I believe that everyone should pay for the crimes that they commit. And I believe that everyone has the right to defend themselves – a right, which unfortunately is not looked upon favorably by some people.
The British people are some of those who look down upon that right, being forced to rely on the government for protection. Thomas Sowell continued in his article with the following: “To the collectivist mind set, independent self-help of any sort is a threat to their vision of the government as the sole source of protection and direction.” If a citizen knocks down an attacker, they can’t even strike the attacker again, because the attacker is deemed to be defenseless. Even the media in England is going along with this mind set by suggesting to citizens that they no longer call for “help” when being attacked. Instead, they say, you are to yell “call the police”!
According to Sowell, self-defense and assisting others who are being attacked is looked at as a “vigilante” action in England. To me, defending one’s self and coming to the aid of others is a morally responsible thing to do. Personally, I don’t think I could just stand there and watch as a person was being beaten, raped, or murdered. It would sicken me to think that I could have helped that individual, but instead chose to stand there and watch while their life slipped away. Even if I were to call the police, the attacker would most likely have finished attacking the victim, and ran away long before the police had arrived. The sad thing is, if all I did was called the police, I would probably be praised for doing all I could to save the victim’s life.
Even in America, the liberal media views self-defense as a vigilante act. They water down true acts of bravery and self-defense, or choose to not report when the “good guys” win at all. The NRA makes an attempt to combat the watered down reporting of self-defense cases in their monthly magazines and website, by including a section called The Armed Citizen. While it’s good that this resource is available, it will likely reach few people who firmly believe in gun control. More likely than not, its message will reach a predominantly pro-gun audience.
Liberals constantly claim that their policies benefit society, but I see no benefit to a disarmed, defenseless citizenry. Violent crime rates are on the rise in England and elsewhere where restrictive gun laws exist. You can even see the difference in America between regions with lesser restrictions on gun ownership, and regions with higher restrictions. States like Vermont, with very few gun laws has a very low rate of violent crime, when compared to an area like Los Angeles, CA where there are more restrictions on legal gun ownership, and a much higher violent crime rate.
The other problem Americans have with guns is that it has become politically incorrect to be a gun owner – at least from what I’ve observed in my neck of the woods. Whenever I’ve talked about owning a gun to a non-gun owner I always get the sense that they perceive me as either being a bad guy, or a redneck. Even when I explain my many reasons for being a gun owner, they never really see my point. Their minds are so clouded by the notion that gun owners are dangerous, irresponsible individuals. While everyone is entitled to their opinion, the reason why this notion is dangerous to our free society is that once an idea like this becomes main stream, more gun laws will be allowed to pass, without much public resistance.
I don’t care if you choose to own a gun or not. I don’t care if you choose to be a passive individual, who doesn’t care about defending themselves. What I do care about is that my right to defend myself and my family, as well as everyone else’s right to do the same remains a right, and not a crime.
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