GUN LAWS ONLY HURT AND AFFECT LAW-ABIDING CITIZENS
Gun control doesn’t stop criminals from getting guns. All gun laws do is unarm law-abiding citizens. Criminals don’t obey laws, so what makes people think that any kind of gun law would stop criminals from getting the gun of their choice? A nation wide survey of prisoners found that 82% agreed that gun laws only affect law- abiding citizens and doesn’t stop criminals from getting firearms. Thomas Jefferson once said. “Laws that forbid the carrying of arms…disarm only those who are neither inclined or 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.” (Jefferson, quoting Beccaria)
Armed citizens reduce crime. Research done by Professor James Wright and Peter Rossi, funded by the U.S. Department of Justice points to the armed citizen as possibly the most effective deterrent to crime in the nation. James Wright and Peter Rossi questioned over 1,800 felons serving time in prisons across the nation and found that: 81% of the felons surveyed agreed that the “smart criminal” would try to find out if a potential victim is unarmed, 74% felt that burglars avoided occupied homes for fear of being shot, and 40% did not commit a specific crime for fear that the victim was armed. (NRA.com) This survey clearly states that criminals prefer unarmed victims.
“ Studies indicate that a firearms are used over two million times a year for personal protection, and that the presence of a firearm without a shot being fired prevents crime in many instances. Shooting usually can be justified only where crime constitutes an immediate, imminent threat to life, limb, or in some cases property.” (American Rifleman.) Some examples of this is “When a Montclair, Virginia, man walked out of his house late one evening, he noticed two people near a car that had just been burglarized. The man returned to his house and grabbed a cellular telephone and a handgun. Back outside, he noticed the individuals breaking into yet another car, according to Prince William County Police Sgt. Kim Chinn the man walked toward the suspects and ordered them onto the ground. One fled but the other stayed put until police arrived.” (Potomac News Woodbridge, VA, 8/6/98) “ A Hayward, Californian, man was dozing on his couch late one evening when he heard heavy pounding at his front door. After several loud “thumps” the front door flew open in a hail of splinters, and a large man wearing a ski mask attempted to make his way inside, the shaken resident fired several times from his .38-caliber revolver, fatally wounding the homebreaker. An accomplice escaped. Police ruled the shooting Justifies.” (San Jose Mercury News, San Jose, CA, 7/31/98)
States and cities that have strict gun laws are also the places where the majority of crimes and murders take place. In which this proves that tough gun control laws don’t lower crime rates all they do is provide a safe and easy environment for criminals to commit crimes and murders. States with strict gun laws crime rates are 43% through 50% higher compared to the rest of the country. It sounds to me like gun control laws aren’t doing a good job to reducing crime!
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Criminals prefer unarmed victims