Download This Issue - US Concealed Carry

More documents

Recommendations

Info

CONCEALED CARRY SAVES LIVES Part Two: Research and History [ B Y R O B E R T G . H E I N R I T Z , J R . , J . D . ] “There may be a lively debate about whether the Constitution confers on individuals the right to bear arms, but that debate is not going on in American courts, its law schools, or its scholarly legal journals. Indeed, even the National Rifle Association could not recommend for this broadcast a single constitutional law professor who would defend the Second Amendment as conferring on individuals the right to bear arms.”— Nina Totenberg, National Public Radio As indicated in Part One last month, I will be eternally grateful for Nina Totenberg’s deliberate misrepresentation and lie. She knows better, but chose to perpetuate the deliberate fraud of those who believe they must take away your civil rights in order to rule you. Nothing could be more un- American. The article below summarizes some of the medical research, medical misrepresentations, legitimate self-defense data, and Constitutional cases. The Founders strongly defended the Second Amendment, not as conferring, but as confirming an individual’s God-given right of self defense. Americans must be worthy of this heritage. This summary, like our Constitution, is both topical and timeless. I urge all readers to follow up by reading the magnificent research published in the last ten years. Credible data is even more supportive of our God-given right of self defense. One of our Founders said it best: “No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.” 1 Center for Disease Control: propaganda for the politically correct? What if you learned that a tax-funded agency of the government was funding research only if the research attempted to “prove” that, say, blacks are racially inferior or that the Holocaust didn’t happen or that the Earth is the center of the universe? Scientists have attempted to prove all of these in the past, but “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, quoting 18th Century criminologist, Cesare Beccaria, in On Crimes and Punishment (1764) would you consider that a wise or ethical use of tax dollars? Aside from outright incompetence, one of the worst criticisms that can be made of scientific research is that it is “results oriented.” What this generally means in its crudest form is the researcher begins with the conclusion he or she wishes to prove, selects only data that appears to support the predetermined conclusion, ignores or dismisses all evidence of other conclusions, attacks the sources of contrary evidence, and argues the research proves the intended conclusion irrespective of whether actual causation has been shown. Another “results oriented” method is to fund only that research which seeks to prove the results desired by the funding agency, while refusing to fund research that might show otherwise. That is precisely what the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has been doing in its pseudo-scientific position that guns cause violence. Several studies funded by the CDC attempt to use risk-factor analysis to prove causation. This type of study argues that the gun (a “risk factor”) was present and therefore its presence must have caused the crime. Such studies studiously ignore all other risk factors statistically related to violent behavior, such as past criminal, gang-related or violent history, drug abuse, broken family, or mental illness. The CDC’s logic is equivalent to finding that on extremely hot days in St. Louis nearly everyone has their air conditioners running, therefore, air conditioners cause heat waves. What objective medical research shows Medical, scientific, and legal journals now contain many scientifically valid studies—none of which appear to be funded by the CDC—showing that firearms in the hands of law-abiding citizens actually save lives, deter violence, and reduce medical costs. Many of the studies were conducted by selfprofessed liberals who, before their research, believed guns should be outlawed. Still others expose the inherent biases and false statistics of the antigun medical organizations. 2 In separate articles published in the March 1994 issue of Journal of the Medical Association of Georgia, Dr. Edgar A. Suter, and Dr. Miguel Faria, Jr., a medical professor at Mercer University, indicated that objective research proves 26 USCONCEALEDCARRY.COM n CONCEALED CARRY MAGAZINE n JULY 2008
that guns, rather than causing deaths, actually reduce both crime and medical costs. The articles quantify in lives and dollars the role guns play when used properly to thwart crimes, and indicated that “as many as 75 lives are protected by a gun for every life lost to a gun, as many as 5 lives are protected per minute.” 3 Further, “Defense with a gun results in fewer injuries to the defender (17%) “Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property. Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of the use of them.” —Thomas Paine, Thoughts On Defensive War, (1775) than [any other method including] evasion (34.9%), physical force (50.8%), and not resisting at all (24.7%).” 4 Their research clearly demonstrated that jurisdictions which have enacted stronger restrictions on the right of lawabiding citizens to keep and bear arms generally experience higher violence (by guns and other means), and therefore experience higher medical costs. For example, after Washington, D.C. enacted some of the most restrictive gun laws in the nation, its homicide statistics skyrocketed from 26.9 (per 100,000 people) to 80.6—eight times the national average. 5 Legitimate defensive uses of firearms undercounted Anti-gun groups use the numbers in misleading ways, and many successful defensive uses of guns are undercounted in official statistics. Anti-gun organizations consider a defensive gun use successful only if the criminal is shot dead, rather than merely frightened away. They pretend that the only criminals who attack women are complete strangers. If a woman shoots an exboyfriend who is stalking her and has made it clear he intends to kill her, it is misclassified as a “domestic homicide” that took place during “an argument,” rather than lawful self-defense against a violent predator. They undercount justifiable homicide, because they look only at the initial arrest records, rather then final case dispositions. Their studies deliberately ignore the distinction between households that are high risk for gun misuse (households containing violent criminals, alcoholics, and drug abusers) and all other households, for which the risks of gun misuse are quite low. And their studies deliberately ignore the vast majority of cases where crimes are stopped or criminals run off with no shots being fired and no one being injured. 6 According to a 1990 Harvard Medical Practice study and analysis by “Doctors For Integrity In Research & Public Policy,” 7 Americans are still five times more likely to die from medical misadventures than from a gun. This is true even if we combine all three types of deaths by firearms: • Suicide (the largest proportion, and by all studies statistically unrelated to the means used) • Homicide (including justifiable police and civilian self-defense shootings) • Accidents (the smallest, and for the “Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people’s liberty teeth and keystone under independence.” —George Washington last century a continually declining rate despite ever increasing numbers of guns) The life-saving benefits of an armed citizenry are consistent with the values that led to our Constitution. Our founders considered the right to protect one’s life was a natural, God-given right, and the most fundamental of all civil rights. HISTORY AND THE CONSTITUTION “Civil Rights” include, at a minimum, the right to protect one’s life Will Rogers once said, “We’re all ignorant, only on different subjects.” For anyone indoctrinated by the illusions of television and pop media, research Militia? “A militia when properly formed are in fact the people themselves...and include all men capable of bearing arms. To preserve liberty it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms...” —Richard Henry Lee, Additional letters from The Federal Farmer 53 (1788) “I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people...To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.” —George Mason, during Virginia’s ratification convention, (1788) “Congress has no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birth-right of an American...The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people.” —Tench Coxe, Pennsylvania Gazette, February 20, 1788 “In Switzerland, where the citizens are most armed, they are most free.” — Nicollo Machiavelli JULY 2008 n CONCEALED CARRY MAGAZINE n USCONCEALEDCARRY.COM 27
Page 1 and 2: REVIEW! RUGER LCP T H E U LT I M A
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTS 14 POCKET PROTECTOR The Ru
Page 6 and 7: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Dear Editor:
Page 8 and 9: STREET TACTICS Stay back about six
Page 10 and 11: Compare that to looking and shootin
Page 12 and 13: SIG SAUER ® ACADEMY IS “MATCH GR
Page 14 and 15: Pocket Protector: The perfect pocke
Page 16 and 17: majority of owners will likely carr
Page 18 and 19: CCM PROFILE Josh Benson shoots with
Page 20 and 21: Josh fires an AR during the final q
Page 22 and 23: Bare As Comfortable to wear and at
Page 24 and 25: Whatever you do, keep your co your
Page 28: Walther_PPS_GunWOrld 5/27/08 1:27 P
Page 32 and 33: and Conc Disabled, but not an easy
Page 34 and 35: for many criminals. So I decided to
Page 36 and 37: POINT-COUNTERPOINT PHOTO BY OLEG VO
Page 38 and 39: the defender can feel misunderstood
Page 40 and 41: POINT-COUNTERPOINT Post If, in your
Page 42 and 43: FORCE-ON-FORCE NOTEBOOK 42 MOVE! Ge
Page 44: above and right: It is easier to dr
Page 47 and 48: Whoever remains from the panel is a
Page 49 and 50: JPFO LIBERTY CREW TAKE YOUR MONEY B
Page 51 and 52: Tracking target. Ten rounds are sho
Page 53 and 54: paraphrase Clint Smith, when have y
Page 55 and 56: Item No. Product Description Size Q

Download This Issue - US Concealed Carry

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?