sv Bella Rose

(Article published in area newspaper..)

Firearms Save Lives

The Often Overlooked Benefits of Firearm Ownership

Several letters from well meaning high school students regarding the dangers of firearms have recently been printed. Several well written responses to these letters have also been printed.

I find myself writing this letter in an effort to discuss the overlooked positive side of firearms.

I am not sure as to the source of the student's statistics. Sadly, many of these so-called studies inflate their statistics by including people up to 20 years of age, calling them children. Here are well documented and published reports.

"Thirty-two students have been killed in the US by guns at elementary or secondary schools from autumn 1997 through spring 2002, an annual rate of one death per 4 million students. This total includes gang fights, robberies, accidents and the much publicized public school shootings." (John Lott Jr. 2002)

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2000, exactly 86 people under 15 were killed in firearm accidents. Of this number, 19 were under 5. For comparison, also in 2000, 943 people under 15 were killed in drowning accidents and 2,591 people under 15 were killed in motor vehicle accidents. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are just over 60,000,000 people under 15. That is 86 accidental firearm deaths out of 60,000,000 people. (CDC 2003)

"Any death is tragic, but it should be noted that more children under five drowned in bathtubs or plastic water buckets than from guns." (John Lott Jr. 2004. Fox News)

"Good intentions don't necessarily make good laws. What counts is whether the laws ultimately save lives. Unfortunately, too many gun laws primarily disarm law-abiding citizens, not criminals." (John Lott Jr. 2002)

"The Centers for Disease Control recently completed a review of studies of various types of gun control: background checks, waiting periods, bans on certain guns and ammunition. It could not document that these rules have reduced violent crime." (John Stossel. 2004. 20/20 ABC News)

I ask you to think about the many lives that are saved every year because of properly used firearms.

Many of you may find it difficult to believe, but Americans use handguns defensively somewhere between 750,000 - 2.5 million times each and every year. Stories of mothers who use firearms to protect their children rarely make the local news. The truth is, gun deaths are covered extensively in the news. Individual stories are repeated over and over. In contrast, when people use firearms to save lives, the event probably won't even get mentioned. Yet these events do occur. For example, suppose a woman brandished a gun and the would-be rapist runs away, no shots fired, no newspaper editor would consider this story news worthy. It is well known most journalists are reluctant to print positive firearm stories.

"Boys who own legal firearms have much lower rates of delinquency and drug use and are even slightly less delinquent than nonowners of guns." (U.S. Department of Justice. 1995.)

Another fact, 45 states have concealed carry laws. That's correct. 45 states have laws recognizing a persons right to self-defense and 2 more states are currently working on passing their own concealed carry laws. Guess what, not one state has reported an upsurge in gun crime due to people legally carrying firearms. In fact crime has significantly decreased. As more and more people obtain permits violent crime rates such as murders, rapes, and robberies all decrease. The benefits of concealed firearms are not limited to those who carry them or use them in self-defense as concealed firearms keep criminals uncertain as to whether potential victims will be able to defend themselves. The U.S. Department of Justice's National Crime Victimization Survey has shown for decades that resistance with a gun is by far the safest course of action when one is confronted by a criminal.

"Felons say that the thing they fear the most is not the police, not time in prison, but, you, another American who might be armed." (John Stossel. 2004. 20/20 ABC News)

It has been proven in state after state that people with concealed handgun permits are the safest, the most law abiding, and the most accountable people in America.

Let me end my letter with this moving quote.

Thomas Jefferson quoting Cesare Beccaria: "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."