Guns Prevent Crime: Wise Wisdom

Fire of Liberty

Once again, John R. Lott Jr. of the American Enterprise Institute provides us yet another instance in which the possession and the mere brandishing of a gun via a law abiding citizen is a deterrent to criminal activity. The only problem is that it took a tragedy like Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans' police superintendent, Eddie Compass ordering his beleaguered police force to take up firearms from citizens of the flooded town, to show folks what happens when folks don't have anything to defend themselves with. One can only imagine how many folks who ended up being shot, robbed, raped or murdered because they had innocently handed over their guns just to be cooperative with the police during these trying times. As a greater supporter of the 2nd Amendment, the NRA as well as the occupant of a house that has many shotguns, rifles and pistols I can tell you that there's no better friend than blue steel in your hand to protect your family, possessions and you during a time of danger. I'd say Lott handles this argument pretty well when he noted the following:

Deterrence works. The United States has one of the world's lowest "“hot"” burglary rates (burglaries committed while people are in the building) at 13 percent, compared to the "“gun-free"” British rate of 59 percent. Surveys of convicted burglars indicate American burglars spend at least twice as long as their British counterparts casing a house before breaking in. That explains why American burglars rarely break into homes when the residents are there. The reason most American burglars give for taking so much time is that they'’re afraid of getting shot.

Even without a catastrophe like Katrina, it would have been a poor strategy for would-be victims in New Orleans merely to call 911 and wait for help. The average response time of police in New Orleans before the hurricane was eleven minutes. The Justice Department'’s National Crime Victimization Survey has shown for decades that having a gun is the safest course of action when a criminal confronts you, far safer than behaving passively.

It would be nice if the police were always there to protect us, but we don'’t live in a utopia and the police understand that they almost always arrive on the scene after the crime has been committed. What does New Orleans'’ Mayor Nagin recommend that people such as John Carolan and his granddaughter do the next time that have to fend for themselves? The city must know that there isn'’t much of a defense for taking citizens'’ guns; after all, it took them five months to admit to it.

It wonderful to see the anti-gun crowd falling on their face too bad folks in New Orleans and elsewhere had to suffer to demonstrate this.