Guns Save Lives

By John Stossel

It's all too predictable. A day after a gunman killed six people and wounded 18 others at Northern Illinois University, The New York Times criticized the U.S. Interior Department for preparing to rethink its ban on guns in national parks. The editorial board wants "the 51 senators who like the thought of guns in the parks -- and everywhere else, it seems -- to realize that the innocence of Americans is better protected by carefully controlling guns than it is by arming everyone to the teeth."

As usual, the Times editors seem unaware of how silly their argument is. To them, the choice is between "carefully controlling guns" and "arming everyone to the teeth." But no one favors "arming everyone to the teeth" (whatever that means). Instead, gun advocates favor freedom, choice and self-responsibility. If someone wishes to be prepared to defend himself, he should be free to do so. No one has the right to deprive others of the means of effective self-defense, like a handgun.

As for the first option, "carefully controlling guns," how many shootings at schools or malls will it take before we understand that people who intend to kill are not deterred by gun laws? Last I checked, murder is against the law everywhere. No one intent on murder will be stopped by the prospect of committing a lesser crime like illegal possession of a firearm. The intellectuals and politicians who make pious declarations about controlling guns should explain how their gunless utopia is to be realized.

While they search for -- excuse me -- their magic bullet, innocent people are dying defenseless. That's because laws that make it difficult or impossible to carry a concealed handgun do deter one group of people: law-abiding citizens who might have used a gun to stop crime. Gun laws are laws against self-defense. That's because laws that make it difficult or impossible to carry a concealed handgun do deter one group of people: law-abiding citizens who might have used a gun to stop crime. Gun laws are laws against self-defense.

Criminals have the initiative. They choose the time, place and manner of their crimes, and they tend to make choices that maximize their own, not their victims', success. So criminals don't attack people they know are armed, and anyone thinking of committing mass murder is likely to be attracted to a gun-free zone, such as schools and malls.

Government may promise to protect us from criminals, but it cannot deliver on that promise. This was neatly summed up in book title a few years ago: "Dial 911 and Die." If you are the target of a crime, only one other person besides the criminal is sure to be on the scene: you. There is no good substitute for self-responsibility.

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Georgia: Father kills biker: "Richard Harold "Ricky" Gear is charged with murder for the Feb. 25 shooting death of a motorcyclist who collided with his daughters' car as he followed them near their home in Bogart. Gear, 46, was waiting at the end of his driveway when his daughters arrived, and he shot 21-year-old Bryan Joseph "B.J." Mough as the motorcyclist drove past Gear's home, officials said. Gear told an Oconee County sheriff's deputy he shot Mough in self-defense, that the biker had swerved and tried to hit him, but authorities see events differently. "The physical evidence we recovered from the scene and elsewhere doesn't reflect that Mough was the primary aggressor," Oconee County Sheriff Scott Berry said. "There is no evidence he tried to hit Gear, and his motorcycle never went on Gear's property." .. Although Gear is in jail without bail, he might avoid a trial if a magistrate court judge decides there's not enough evidence to support a murder charge. Even if the judge allows the case to continue, Gear stands a fair chance that a jury might acquit him, according to Lawrenceville defense attorney Wayne Burnaine. "It sounds like the biker guy might have been the one who brought all this on," Burnaine said. "He's the one who acted aggressively when he followed the girls." Chelsea Gear told officials that after she made a left turn toward her home, Mough cut through someone's yard at the intersection and ran into the driver's side door of the car she was driving. "It sounds to me like the biker was having a fit," Burnaine said."


TX: Man testifies he shot 2 teens in self-defense: "A 27-year-old man on trial for charges stemming from a double homicide testified on Wednesday that he shot the men in self-defense. Jason Caldwell is charged with one count of delivery of marijuana and two counts of tampering with evidence in the incident. Caldwell pleaded guilty to the drug charge and not guilty to the other counts Monday. Police found Matthew Salas and Stephen Gonzalez, both 19, dead on July 15, 2007, inside a vehicle that was parked and running on Reid Drive behind an Alameda Street shopping center. A grand jury in August declined to indict Caldwell, Ralph Villela and Philip Caldwell on capital murder charges. The two Caldwells are unrelated. On Wednesday, Jason Caldwell testified Salas and Gonzalez tried to rob him of marijuana and that when Gonzalez pulled out a gun, he panicked and started shooting. After the shooting, he disposed of the gun and hid his truck in Philip Caldwell's garage. He denied trying to cover up the crime and later went to police with his attorney, Ken Botary. Prosecutor Doug Mann pointed out Caldwell had experience with guns because he often practiced at a local shooting range. Caldwell emptied the entire magazine of bullets into the two men and didn't miss a shot, Mann said."


I Have a Dream: No More Women Abused, Raped, or Murdered: "I'd like to see a nationwide tsunami of ladies equipped to the teeth with the physical prowess and the firearm capability to kill any and all would-be murderers and rapists should such a creeps ever accost them. I have a dream! A dream where girls walk in utter confidence amongst the masturbatory me-monkeys that surround them. A dream where women have solid assurance that they can and will serve some ham-fisted tool his own scrotum if need be. A dream where instead of reading about a cute college coed left dead and naked out in a vacant lot or bloated and floating in a river, the story reads, "dead jack ass found double-tapped and dead on the curb as his soul wings its way to hell, all because he messed with the wrong mama." A dream where it's normal for girls to know Jui Jitsu and mixed martial arts. A dream where they can shoot golf ball sized groups with their .38 at 15ft."