Arguments:
-In Ottoman Turkey, gun control was enacted from 1866-1917.
1.25 million Armenian minorities were massacred between 1915 and 1917.
-In the Soviet Union, gun control was enacted from 1918-1991.
20 million people of various backgrounds were killed between 1929 and 1945
-In Nazi Germany and occupied Europe, gun control was enacted from 1928-1945.
20 million people of various backgrounds, significantly Jews, were exterminated between 1933 and 1945.
-In Nationalist China, gun control was enacted from 1914-1949.
10 million people, largely political opponents, were murdered between 1927 and 1949.
-In Communist China, gun control was enacted from 1949-Present Day.
Approximately 27 million "Enemies of the State" were executed between 1949 and 1976 and even beyond.
-In Guatemala, gun control was enacted from 1932-Present Day.
Approximately 150,000 Mayan Indian minorities were eliminated between 1960 and 1981.
-In Uganda, gun control was enacted from 1955-Present Day.
300,000 Christians and political enemies were killed between 1971 and 1979.
-In Cambodia, gun control was enacted from 1938-Present Day.
2 million "Educated Persons" were annihilated between 1975 and 1979.
-In Rwanda, gun control was enacted from 1979-Present Day.
800,000 Tutsis were massacred in 1994.
Humans need certain things to survive. They need to eat, to sleep, to have shelter, to defecate, to remain healthy, to fend off predators, and to reproduce.
Refrigerators help us to eat, allowing us to save excess food, thus saving time not having to hunt.
Beds help us sleep, because they are more comfortable than hard soft ground, which allows them to sleep less, thus getting more work done.
Premade housing helps us have shelter, because it is sturdy enough to be there in the long term, making shelter no real issue. Plus it's darned comfortable to have central heating.
Toilets help us to defecate without waste, allowing us to both remain healthy and to save time by not having to clean up poop.
Medicine helps us to remain healthy. Vaccines help us to avoid being sick, thus saving us the bedridden time.
Gun help us to be able to fend off predators without having to take a martial arts class and devote the time to true mastery (which takes far more time than a simple two hour class twice a week) as well as the workouts that are needed to keep in shape to effectively use said art.
Humans are amazing creatures. Why? We're all different. All lions are hunters. All horses are good runners. All spiders are excellent trap-setters. All humans are... doctors, lawyers, businessmen/women, teachers, designers, artists, the list goes on ad infinum. We need almost all the time we have to accomplish all those basic needs. Almost all. In order to fulfill our passion, we need more time. All of these inventions give us more time. And when humans have more time, they can devote more of it to what their good at, thus saving other people time and enjoying themselves in the process.
Not everyone has the time to become an expert in self-defense. Guns save you that time, which allows you to get more palatable work done.
"And that the said Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the Press, or the rights of Conscience; or to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms;…" Philadelphia Independent Gazetteer, August 20, 1789 quoting Propositions submitted to the Convention of this State by the Honorable Samuel Adams, Esquire.
"The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that... it is their right and duty to be at all times armed;..." Thomas Jefferson letter to Justice John Cartwright, June 5, 1824. 1824. ME 16:45.
"The congress of the United States possesses no power to regulate, or interfere with the domestic concerns, or police of any state: it belongs not to them to establish any rules respecting the rights of property; nor will the constitution permit any prohibition of arms to the people;…" Saint George Tucker, Blackstone's Commentaries (1803), Volume 1, Appendix, Note D [Section 13: Restraints on Powers of Congress con't]. Whole Book.
"A free people ought not only to be armed…" George Washington, speech of January 8, 1790 in the Boston Independent Chronicle, January 14, 1790. Complete text of the First Annual Message to Congress.
"To disarm the people [is] the best and most effectual way to enslave them …" George Mason, 3 Elliot, Debates at 380 (June 14, 1788).
"…to preserve liberty it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them …" Richard Henry Lee writing in Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republic, Letter XVIII, January 25, 1788.
"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined." Patrick Henry, 3 Elliot, Debates at 45 (Virginia Convention, June 5, 1788).
"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive." Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Abigail Adams, February 22, 1787.
"The great object is that every man be armed ... Everyone who is able may have a gun." Patrick Henry, 3 Elliot, Debates at 386
"...one loves to possess arms, tho[ugh] they hope never to have occasion for them." Thomas Jefferson in a letter to George Washington, June 19, 1796. ME 9:341 Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Memorial Edition (Lipscomb and Bergh, editors) 20 Vols., Washington, D.C., 1903-04.
There are approximately two million defensive gun uses (DGU's) per year by law abiding citizens.
Fewer people of all age groups are killed by accident by firearms on average in America than by automobiles (43,000 Average Yearly Total), falls (16,000 AYT), poisoning by solids or liquids (11,700 AYT), pedestrian fatalities (5,300 AYT, also included in automobile accidents), drowning (3,900 AYT), fires and burns (3,600 AYT), and suffocation by ingested object (3,400 AYT), with only 600 killed per year.
Of 20 million middle-school and high-school students, fewer than a dozen have killed at school this year. Of 20,000 secondary schools nationwide, only about 10 have reported a murder on campus... The school shootings by students over the last eight months (May, 1998) killed 11 youths and six adults. That is fewer kids than are murdered by parents , and fewer adults than are killed by partners, in just two days of household violence in the United States.
Recent studies estimate that gunplay at school kills 20 to 30 youths a year, though there is no evidence the toll is higher today than in the past. By contrast studies...show that 2,000-3,000 children and youths are murdered each year by parents or caretakers, a toll that clearly is rising. Annual surveys... report that weapons-related violence in schools is no higher today than in the 1970s. But the rate of children being murdered by their parents doubled during that time.
In 1992, 55 killings occurred in America's schools. In 1997 it was down to 25. By contrast, 88 people were killed by lightning in 1997. Schiraldi [Director of the Center for Justice Policy Institute] says he hates to see rural schools start spending money on metal detectors and security guards instead of books.
The United States ranks thirteenth in the industrialized world in total violent death rate.
The United States ranks eight in the industrialized world in total homicide rate.
Since 1934, there have only been 2 cases of homicide with a legal fully-automatic weapon.
· Of 2,200 guns recovered by Minneapolis police (1987-1989), not one was fully automatic.
· A total of 420 weapons, including 375 guns, were seized during drug warrant executions and arrests by the Metropolitan Area Narcotics Squad (Will and Grundie counties in the Chicago metropolitan area, 1980-1989). None of the guns was a machine gun.
· 16 of 2,359 (0.7%) of the guns seized in the Detroit area (1991-1992) in connection with "the investigation of narcotics trafficking operations" were machine guns.
- "Armor piercing" ammunition is only legally available to law enforcement agencies and to the armed forces.
- Rather than opposing the ban on "armor piercing" ammunition, the NRA was in fact instrumental in crafting the law that Congress ultimately passed.
- When properly wearing the appropriate body armor, not one law enforcement officer has ever been killed by a handgun bullet penetrating their vest. The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) certifies three levels of body armor. The most commonly worn, Level IIA, offers realistic protection against all .22, .25, .32, .380, and .38, caliber handgun ammunition, against most 9mm, .357 Magnum, .40 S&W, .45 ACP and .44 Magnum handgun ammunition and against 000 buck shotgun pellets. Level II and Level IIIA armor protects from even greater threats including 12 gauge shotgun slugs and the "hottest" .44 Magnum rounds.
"Cop-killer" bullets are a myth born from media hype and nurtured by unrealistic Hollywood portrayals and the deliberately misleading claims of the anti-gun lobby. An objective, rational look at the facts quickly separates the myth from the reality. Knowledge is power.
Between 1977 and 1995, there have been fifteen school shootings in states without “Right to Carry” laws. In states with the laws, there has been only one.
In Pearl, Mississippi, the assistant principal had formerly carried a firearm to school. When the 1995 “Gun-Free School Zones” law passed, he began locking his firearm in his car and parking it at least a quarter of a mile away from school. When the Pearl shooting incident started, he ran to his car, got his gun, ran back, disarmed the shooter and held him on the ground until the police arrived. Had the law not been passed, he might have been able to prevent the two deaths and seven shooting-related injuries.
0% of children that get their guns from parents commit gun-related crimes, while 21% of those who get them illegally do.
Boys who own firearms have much lower rates of delinquency and drug use and are even less delinquent than non-gun owners.
Firearms in private hands are used 6,849 times every day to prevent crime, including rapes, aggravated assaults, and kidnapping.
In the Rodney King riots of 1992 in Los Angeles, Korean shopkeepers successfully kept looters and pillagers at bay by using “assault weapons” as a deterrent, especially by patrolling rooftops.
About 11% of police shootings kill an innocent person. About 2% of shootings by citizens kill an innocent person.
In July of 2001, the FBI lost 449 including automatic weapons. In addition, in 2001, the Immigration and Naturalization Service lost 539 weapons, including a gas-grenade launcher and 39 automatic weapons, some of which were later traced to crimes.
In the first five years, the 15 states that passed “safe storage” laws saw 300 more murders, 3,860 more rapes, 24,650 more robberies and over 25,000 more aggravated assaults with no discernible decrease in accidental deaths.
Handgun distribution and property crime rate are inversely proportional, meaning, as more handguns are owned, less property crime is committed.
90% of all violent crimes in the United States do not involve firearms of any kind.
In the UK, there are 55 crimes per 100 individuals.
Firearms are used 60 times more often to protect lives than to take them.
For every accidental death, suicide or homicide with a firearm, 10 lives are saved through defensive use.
When using guns in self-defense:
-83% of robbery victims were not injured.
-88% of assault victims were not injured.
-76% of all self-defense uses of guns never involved firing a single shot.
If you resist robbery with a gun, you have a 6% chance of being injured. If you do nothing, you have a 25% chance of being injured. If you resist with a knife, you have a 40% chance of being injured. If you resist non-violently, you have a 45% chance of being injured.
192,000 guns are used annually by women defending themselves against sexual abuse.
A woman is ten times as likely to avoid being raped when she is armed (either with a knife or firearm).
In 1966, the city of Orlando responded to a wave of sexual assaults by offering firearms training classes to women. Rapes dropped by nearly 90% the following year.
