Gun control has always been a contentious issue between Democrats and Republicans. On one hand the Democrats believe that more guns contributes to more violence in society. On the other hand Republicans and Libertarians (and other constitutionalists) deeply defend the second amendment in the bill of rights which states:
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep 
and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
It is no accident that the right to bear arms comes second to the right of free speech, press, assembly and so on. Many Democrats misinterpret the phrase claiming that when the Bill of Rights was drafted it was indeed necessary to have "a well regulated militia" because of the British threat as well as other foreign threats of the era. Therefore, they conclude it is no longer necessary because of the United States strong military.
There are also many myths involved regarding guns which are played up by the mainstream media. The first involving gun related deaths among children. In truth, more children die each year by accidents involving bicycles, space heaters, and drownings. Each time a gun accident does happen with a child, it usually receives a fair amount of press and helps exacerbate this myth. A figure of twelve children deaths per day is often cited to back the dangers of guns; when in fact the age group associated with the number goes all the way up to the age of twenty. Many of which are gang related deaths.
There has also been much hype about school shootings ever since the Columbine incident and several other major tragedies. I contend that if a person is fully determined to take the lives of others in a freak occurrence, they will do so no matter what. A good example is the recent shootings at Fort Hood. Clearly the perpetrators of these crimes had no regard for human life whatsoever, including their own.
An interesting fact which helps prove my argument is the lack of violent deaths in states where law abiding citizens are under the conceal and carry law. An average of the 31 states who have such laws, also have "a 24 percent lower violent crime rate, a 19 percent lower murder rate and a 39 percent lower robbery rate than states that forbid concealed weapons."
A misinterpretation of the second amendment has caused many to become in favor of gun control. Personal defense against criminals is not the intentended purpose. The founding fathers knew that an armed citizenry prevented the government from becoming too powerful and taking away citizens natural rights. It is no surprise that several governments have unarmed their populations in order to take control of them. Perhaps, one of the best known incidents of dearming a population happened in germany before Hitler began shuttling Jews, Gays, and others off to camps. If the population had been armed, they would have had the chance to fight back and even form their own groups to fight against the injustices being brought against them.
Most importantly, the constitution grants the right for law abiding citizens to be gun owners. Regulation of gun control only hurts those are legally purchasing guns and not breaking any laws using them. Regulation also creates a black market for illegal weapons, where most criminals acquire guns for violent purposes. Taking guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens while criminals are still able to acquire them illegally would only lead to more violence, since criminals would no longer be threatened by the chance one of their victims will shoot back.
Today, with a Democratic administration and Democratic congress, our gun rights could be under attack. Proposals to raise the price of ammunition drastically and also make certain models of guns illegal may not be too far off. Once again, Democrats have not fully reasoned through these proposals and could hurt sportsman and even make our country less safe .
Comments
Well argued. The Supreme Court as of late seems to be tacking more your way on the issue with their ruling on the DC gun ban last year. Surely you don't fear the current administration so much so as to think they would try to disarm the populace like Germany?! Who has proposed raising ammunition prices? Would it be some form of a tax?
yeah. good thinking. let's make even more handguns readily available so more people can murder police officers. what a ridiculous argument about the second amendment having anything to do with the current handfun proliferation issue. where do you come up with ideas like this? virtually every credible handgun study completely refutes your warped reasoning. nuts, completely nuts.
Good job Harris. Exercising your 1st Amendment right to attack the 2nd. See how far that gets you. Friggin idiot!
RR, the tragedy is that there are a lot of Harrises out there: self righteously indignant about crimes committed with guns, holding strong opinions based on their own hoplophobia, ignorance of the subject, and even the gun ban miscreants' lies ("virtually every credible handgun study completely refutes your warped reasoning")which they believe but can't substanciate. They are totally clueless about the fact that guns, used properly by citizens, American soldiers, and patriots are a check and balence against criminals, tyrants, and evil. And the greater tragedy is that they unknowingly play into the hands of the government tyrants, like Dianne Feinstein, Ed Rendell, Michael Bloomberg, etc., who do know EXACTLY what the score is and want to destoy the Constitution and ALL the freedoms and rights Americans enjoy. They exemplify Louis Brandies wise statement,"The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding."
Well Harris, looking at the data from the FBI UCR database, looking for that trend that relaxed gun control laws correlates with more officers being killed, much less by handguns. Nope, dont see it.
Of course we see your hard evidence of "every credible" handgun study that has been thoroughly reviewed by statisticians and academics and agreed they were performed under unbiased conditions, rather than designed to reach a desired result. Nope, have never seen such a credible study from proven and blatant liars like da Brady Bunch and such.
Repeating your lies in the lame hope people will believe them as truth as you apparently infer is just plain nuts Harris!
You really should seek help for that mental condition of projection disorder, belief in a Fetish (inanimate object holds supernatural powers), and the borderline signs of schizophrenia where you by being anti gun, must automatically believe guns can talk, convince, and control people to commit crimes, just by being near!
Harris:
"what a ridiculous argument about the second amendment having anything to do with the current handfun proliferation issue. where do you come up with ideas like this?"
Uh.... from the majority opinion in DC v Heller. You should try reading it. Might actually learn something.
Guns in the hands of good people are no vice.
Republicans deeply defend the Second Amendment? HAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHA What a laugh. At least we know that Matt has a sense of humor. The only difference between D's and R's is the rate at which they are destroying the country. The GOP will probably have a criminals best friend, Mike Huckabee, as their candidate in 2012.
Harris needs to crawl out from under the desk in the oval office once in a while so he can do some research.
Harris, handfun proliferation sounds like FUN to me...
Sorry, but the US Constitution (USC) doesn't grant ANY rights at ALL, let alone the right to keep and bear arms; it PROTECTS pre-existing rights and limits the power of government. You have these rights because you draw breath. It enumerates SOME of these rights that government may not impede, and the USC also has a CYA Amendment in the 9th.
Harris: which studies? the ones by HCI (AKA the Brady Bunch)--long ago discredited. The US DOJ has stats showing violent crime down in states with shall issue carry conceal. Ever notice that mass shootings ALWAYS take place in areas where it is FORBIDDEN to have guns? How do you explain THAT.
Could be the bad guys know they are the only ones with guns and can kill indiscriminately--until someone shows up with GUNS to STOP HIM. EVERY DAY keepandbeararms.com publishes crimes stopped by the good guys with guns (not the cops by the way).
Criminals don't like being shot at--they LOVE gun-free zones--which are of course nothing but victim disarmament zones.
Your logic Harris is, well---there is no logic to your thinking. Stripping guns from good guys never takes them from the bad guys--how difficult an idea is that? Good guys with guns can stop BAD guys with guns and there are more good guys than bad guys, right? Or maybe you think only government should be trusted? A statist ar
Thank you for all the comments and support. Im very happy to see so many others supporting our 2nd amendment rights and the constitution. If you would like to continue following my column, I urge all of you to subscribe. Thanks again for reading.
I scrolled all the way through this wondering, "Who is Harris?" Now I know. Harris is a know-nothing jerk who wrote: "virtually every credible handgun study completely refutes your warped reasoning. nuts, completely nuts."
Harris, baby, anyone who'd make a statement like that without citing at least some of the "credible studies" to which he/she/it refers is a stinking charlatan.
Well Harris, you should pray the Big bad wolf doesn't come knocking on your door early in the morning to eat you and your family! I could only wish that if he did, I lived close enough to hear and ignore your screams as I comfortably relaxed in bed with my 44 under my pillow. Maybe you could kill him with kindness. As long as big bad wolfs live amoung us, we must have the means to protet ourselves.
Well Harris, you should pray the Big bad wolf doesn't come knocking on your door early in the morning to eat you and your family! I could only wish that if he did, I lived close enough to hear and ignore your screams as I comfortably relaxed in bed with my 44 under my pillow. Maybe you could kill him with kindness. As long as big bad wolfs live amoung us, we must have the means to protet ourselves.
Well Harris, you should pray the Big bad wolf doesn't come knocking on your door early in the morning to eat you and your family! I could only wish that if he did, I lived close enough to hear and ignore your screams as I comfortably relaxed in bed with my 44 under my pillow. Maybe you could kill him with kindness. As long as big bad wolfs live amoung us, we must have the means to protet ourselves.
Harris, I am unbelievably curious about what your real moviations for your position are. Why not take a chance and respond truthfully to my question. I suspect that you are a very insecure and fearful person with no confidence in your ability to respond to a physical threat. Are you a coward? If you are, you are. I wish to learn, not insult. I call you out on this because you are gun control supporter and when a person views the pro gun control argument using pure logic and no emotion it crumbles to dust very quickly. I am completely baffled by what makes a person such as yourself tick. Well how about it? You might actually gain something through an honest self assesment.
Preach on!!!
Yea, Harris is a real numbnuts. I gotta brother just like him. Thinks nobamma is the bees knees. Feed him real proven facts and figures and the source to look at it for himself and he forgets how to read and screams fake, fake, fake. Challenge him to prove me wrong and he screams fake, fake, fake. If I didn't love him I would gladly abort him and I am against abortion. Don't know what is wrong with such people. It cannot be all stupidity. Nobody is that stupid.
Hey Jim! that was cute. recon he's related to lewdinski? Maybe when she was run off harris took her place.
Hey guys, lighten up on poor old Harris. Even the lost, misinformed and misguided should have their say.
Matt, thanks for a great article. Having said that, I think you missed the point in your concluding paragraph, perhaps to appear "reasonable". It SHOULD read: "Today, with a Democratic administration and Democratic congress, our gun rights ARE under attack. Proposals to raise the price of ammunition drastically and also make certain models of guns illegal ARE HERE. Inevitably ALL guns and ALL ammunition will become illegal. Democrats HAVE FULLY REASONED through these proposals and ARE DETERMINED to destroy ALL constitutional rights and remake our country into a socialized dictatorship." Don't pull your punches. The attack on the Second Amendment goes FAR beyond gun rights, as you yourself have acknowledged.
The First 10 Amendments to the Constitution as Ratified by the States December 15, 1791
PREAMBLE Congress OF THE United States.
"THE Conventions of a number of the States having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best insure the beneficent ends of its institution.."
Amendment II "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."
The 'Right' of American Freemen to Keep & Bear Arms is the oldest and most continual of any and all 'Rights', predating and preexisting all forms of American government.
The IIA is a law written against those in the Federal gov't specifically prohibiting any act which in any manner could be construed as an 'infringement'.
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