Some Ironies of GunPhobia
Last night one of my liberal friends posted an anti-gun screed on Facebook. This morning in a completely unrelated thread she’s posted that the son of a friend is threatening her. Only someone who appreciates the value of the 2nd Amendment can see the irony between those two posts.
On a related topic, PRI did a segment last night about the prevalence of mass shootings in the world, and the Harvard professor they interviewed provided the only viewpoint (surprise) that the US gun laws are behind the mass shootings. This agrees with Obama’s press conference condemning the massacre. IJ Review has a different take. When adjusted for population the US is behind 5 other countries all of which have restrictive gun laws.
Gunphobes have no idea how many legally owned guns there are in the United States. Statistics I have seen run from .75 t0 1.25 guns per person in the United States – anywhere from 250m to 350m legally owned guns. When you compare that number to the legally purchased weapons used in mass shootings, such as the Glock purchased by Dylann “Mushroom Head” Roof, and the ratio of legally owned guns USED in mass shootings vs legally owned guns NOT USED in mass shootings is infinitesmal.
As a former gunphobe myself I understand their mindset when a tragedy like the church shooting in Charleston SC happens. I am a human being who cares about others, and it is exactly because of that care that I own guns. I should not have to rely upon others for my protection and safety. As I’ve learned cops cannot be everywhere and are never there when you need them. It only takes seconds for someone to harm you or your loved ones, while it takes minutes (or longer in many cases) for police to arrive. Gunphobes don’t get that.
As a gunphobe in college I was robbed at gunpoint, and while at the mercy of the guy robbing me the only weapon I had for my defense was a corded telephone. Had the robber decided to become a killer, there was nothing I would have been able to do beyond hitting him in the face with a telephone before he shot me. A few years later while living in a predominantly gay neighborhood of San Diego, young men and women my age were being attacked for being “gay” in a series of wilding attacks that left a young 18 year old man dead just steps away from my apartment. I marched in a protest rally against the attacks, and that’s when I realized that I couldn’t rely upon anyone else to protect me. Self-defense was ultimately up to me. Although it took years I eventually overcame the unreasonable fear of guns, and now appreciate their presence in my life. In the past I wrote about an incident that even now I cannot say much about except getting over gunphobia allowed me to protect myself, my son, and a complete stranger during the time it took for the authorities to arrive. Once they did the guns were put away, their job complete.
Gunphobes don’t get that, nor are they aware of all the instances where guns are pulled in self-defense and not fired, or when guns are used in self-defense and victims are saved. Those occurrences are much more common than the mass shootings perpetrated by sick human beings like Dylann Roof. Taking those guns away, even if it were possible, would just replace one set of victims with another, and that’s the ultimate irony that Gunphobes are simply incapable of recognizing.
Update: Here’s a case where a similar tragedy was averted thanks to a responsible gun owner carrying inside a church. Note how that story doesn’t make CNN or the New York Times. No surprise why.
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2 July 2015, 3:15 amThe Harp:
I have heard several theories as to where the idiot acquired the firearm. Most sources have indicated that his father owned it or purchased it for him. It would be pretty much impossible for him to purchase it as he had a background of arrests which would have been a red flag in a legal purchase. All reports I have heard/read indicated he used a 1911 .45ACP.
2 July 2015, 11:52 amAll of this is immaterial as he was taking the pharmaceutical Suboxone, a drug linked with sudden outbursts of violence. There is a whole list of shooters all the way back to Columbine and beyond who were also under the influence of psychotropic drugs. Coincidence?
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