GUN CONTROL, FOREIGN INTERVENTIONISM IGNORE AMERICA’S FOUNDING WISDOM
By RON PAUL || Last week’s tragic shootings in Canada and Washington state are certain to lead to new calls for gun control. The media-generated fear over “lone wolf terrorists” will enable the gun control lobby to smear Second Amendment supporters as “pro-terrorist.” Marketing gun control as an anti-terrorist measure will also enable gun control supporters to ally with those who support any infringement on liberty done in the name of “homeland security.”
As with most infringements on liberty, gun control will not only make us less free, it will make us less safe. Respecting the right of the people to keep and bear arms is the original and best homeland security policy. Restricting the right of people to arm themselves leaves them with no effective defense against violent criminals or a tyrannical government.
Every year, thousands of Americans use firearms to stop violent criminals. One notable example occurred in September, when Oklahoman Mark Vaughan used a rifle to stop a knife-wielding co-worker who had already killed one person and wounded another. Unfortunately, most of the media coverage focused on speculation that the assailant was motivated by “radical Islam” rather than on Vaughan’s use of a firearm to protect innocent lives.
It is no coincidence that states that pass “concealed carry” laws experience a drop in crime. Since passing concealed carry in Texas in 1995, murder in the state has declined by 52 percent. In comparison, the national murder rate declined by only 33 percent.
Perhaps the best illustration of the dangers of gun control is federal regulations forbidding pilots from having guns in their cockpits. Ironically, this rule went into effect shortly before September 11, 2001. If pilots had the ability to carry guns on 9/11, the hijackers may well have been stopped from attacking the World Trade Center and Pentagon or persuaded to not even try.
Shortly after 9/11, I introduced legislation allowing pilots to carry firearms in the cockpits. Congress eventually passed a bill allowing pilots to carry firearms if they obtain federal certification and obey federal regulations. Aside from the philosophical objection that no one should have to ask government permission before exercising a right, the rules and expensive approval process discourage many pilots from participating in the armed pilots program.
It should not be surprising that the anti-gun Obama Administration wants to eliminate the armed pilots program. I actually agree that the program should be eliminated, so long as pilots who can legally carry a firearm in their states of residence can carry a firearm on the planes they fly. Allowing pilots to carry guns is certainly a more effective way of protecting our security than forcing all airline passengers to endure the TSA.
Both gun control and foreign interventionism disregard the wisdom of the country’s founders.
An interventionist foreign policy, like gun control, threatens our safety. A hyper-interventionist foreign policy invites blowback from those who resent our government meddling in their countries while gun control leaves people defenseless against violent criminals. Returning to a foreign policy of peace and free trade and repealing all federal infringements on the Second Amendment will help guarantee both liberty and security.
Ron Paul is a former U.S. Congressman from Texas and the leader of the pro-liberty, pro-free market movement in the United States. His weekly column – reprinted with permission – can be found here.
25 comments
As usual, Ron is spot-on with his comments and observations.
That spot is far left field.
RON + RAND= NUTS
this is not left vs right, GOP vs Dems, Socialism vs liberty. This is war on White people.
Why do hostile elite defend Israel as a Jewish ethnostate with Jewish only immigration, but ravage White majority Europe/North America into a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural Gulag with non-White colonization?
The world is 91% non-White, only 9% White. But non-White colonizers are aggressively advancing their agenda to annihilate gullible Whites, just as China annihilates Tibet.
How long will gullible Whites cuckold for murderous anti-White elite, who suppress our fertility, confiscate our guns, infiltrate/subvert our banks/FBI/CIA, indoctrinate White kids in academia/mass media, plunder White jobs/wages, & butcher White soldiers in bankrupting wars?
“Native” Americans invaded from East Asia. Yellow & Brown races committed 10-times more genocide, slavery, imperialism than Whites. Since Moses, Whites have been victims of Jewish/Crypto-Jewish, Muslim, N.African imperialism, slavery, genocide.
Gullible Whites should reject subversive ideologies- libertarianism, feminism, liberalism- & hostile slanders of racism. Peace to all humanity, but White people must organize to advance their interests, their fertility, their homelands. Spread this message. Reading list: goo.gl/iB777 , goo.gl/htyeq , amazon.com/dp/0759672229 , amazon.com/dp/1410792617
White supremacists in a Ron Paul thread? Say it ain’t so!
So what is the answer to Joe Pyne’s question?
More guns + less war = trigger-happy wingnuts with no one at which to shoot but libruls and black Presidents. At least with a war they can be shipped overseas.
I thought Reagan was white ,you fucking,American hating bastard, Bet you had an orgasm when he got shot.
multiple.
Speaking of orgasms, has your mom recovered from last night?
Name one Liberal or Black President that has been shot by a conservative wing nut in your lifetime.
I can only think of one – a man motivated to kill liberals and democrats shot a bunch of people at a church in Knoxville.
Pretty sure there are several anti-government types that have shot folks – liberal or conservative didn’t matter to them. For the most part, I believe most mass shooters or random spree shooters are just plain crazy.
You are right, they are crazy and the overwhelming majority have liberal/democrat leanings or sympathies. The liberal press and left wing nuts makes it sound like only veteran, white, republican, Baptist ministers can be assassins.
JFK
Now there are some real facts we can hang our hats on. (sarcasm font = on)
“Every year, thousands of Americans use firearms to stop violent criminals.”
Yet, Paul has to go back to September to find an example. If his first claim was correct, he should have been able to cite a dozen in the last week.
He plays to the he-man fantasy of “the good guy with a gun” that so many little boys never outgrow.
What I hate about the “good guy with a gun” fantasy is that even with few laws regarding carrying a weapon, the odds aren’t very high that someone with a gun will be around when a given crime occurs, and even if there is, there is no guarantee that they will take out the crazy dude. (For instance, tiny ass revolver for concealed carry versus psycho with an AR? Yeah, good luck buddy.)
When laws ARE relaxed, you know what happens? Retard gun nuts start to show up to places of business like Starbucks, Target, Chipotle, etc. with a fucking AR strapped to their back. And they do it because these businesses are actually nice enough to say “Yeah, whatever, you can do that.” And then what happens? People get freaked the fuck out seeing some jackass carrying a huge fucking gun on their back to buy an iced latte or some underwear, and the business has to say “Okay guys, please stop.”
That’s right, the “MOLON LABE” dumbfucks showing off their gun boners ruin it for everyone else.
Carrying a gun isn’t about being a hero that saves the day from a villainous crazy guy with a gun. Carrying a gun isn’t about fantasizing that the government is going to bust down your door and you are going to go down in a blaze of glory defending your liberties like a true ‘Murikan. Carrying a gun isn’t about “being ready” for a sudden invasion of Russians or Chinese troops and you’re the last line of defense for freedom. Drop the childish fantasy-land bullshit and act like a fricking adult people, you’re no better than the assholes who believe in thug life fantasies.
I carry for self defense, nothing more, nothing less, and no one around me will know when I do carry. What helps me attain better gun rights are rational adults, acting like they live in reality, showing they can responsibly exercise their rights within the confines of the law, and making rational, sensible appeals to expand those rights within reason. What scares the hell out of people and gives gun control advocates ammunition are the douchebags who can’t keep their fantasies to themselves.
I’m curious, how many people are killed each year by people legally in possession of a fire arm? Are more innocent people killed by people legally in possession of a fire arm or are more violent criminals killed by people legally in possession of a fire arm?
I would guess more violent criminals are killed by people legally in possession of a firearm. The “blood will flow in the streets” and “it will be the wild, west” crowd were bleating their usual blather about SC’s restaurant carry law a while back. Thus far, I haven’t heard of a single shootout or murder in those environs committed by citizens with CWP’s.
Good point, in fact…
From the period 1885 – 1901 (before gun-control, when everyone was free to carry as they choose), America’s murder rates stayed steady at about 1 person per 100,000.
Through the years of 1901 to 1995 (when gun-control became common) rates climbed to as high as 10 murders per 100,000.
In 1995 “shall issue” concealed carry spread from Florida. This was brought forth by Marion Hammer, a retired Florida resident who had been a NRA President. It had been enacted in 1987 and after 8 years of compiling data we saw Florida’s crime rate dropped faster then other State’s rates had. When other States saw the resulting drop in crime and murder rates they adopted it too. Now all States have some form of concealed carry, most are “shall issue”. Four are Constitutional carry with more on the way.
This spread of Second Amendment freedom has brought the Nation’s murder rates to a 100 plus year low of 4.2 per 100,000 people. Not a bad result for 20 years of a policy some said would lead to more bloodshed. Like some are doing.
The resulting lowering of crime and murder rates across the country is driving a Second Amendment renaissance, leading “gun-control” into the dustbin of history.
There are 100,000,000 gun owners in America. There were 12,664 murders in 2011. 6,543 with a gun, (about half were committed by career criminals and gangsters). That leaves about 3,300 committed by the generally law abiding. The 100 to .0033% ratio shows criminal use by the law abiding to be not the norm, but an extreme rarity, an anomaly.
The FBI’s Expanded Homicide Data Table 14 lists about 400 justified shootings by police. Table 15 lists about 300 justified shootings by armed citizens. Remember these involve fatalities. We haven’t included the 500,000 to 3,000,000 times guns are defensively drawn but not fired, or fired and only wound the attacker. (These figures are compiled by the CDC from some 19 studies.)
Compared to 6,543 times a person was murdered with a gun in 2011 (FBI).
To injury with a gun…
CDC Data:
Intentional injuries (violence) :
Gunshot injury, violence related = 59,077
Total violence related injury = 2,305,535
This is 2.5624% of injury caused by criminal violence, (about 2 and a half people per 100 who are injured by a violent attack, are injured with a gun).
Unintended injuries (accidents)
requiring emergency room visits :
Gun related accidents = 17,362
Total accidents = 29,437,493
This is .059% (that’s much less then one percent)
Also consider,
Concealed Carry gun owners are arrested for crime at a lower rate then police are. We also shoot negligently at 1/5th the rate for police. You are safer around the law abiding gun owner then you are around police. That means even police are safer around the law abiding gun owner, then they are around other police. Think about that.
America has the most guns in the world per our 2nd A., yet ranks 103 for murder rates. People in 102 other Nations have the ability to commit this act with kitchen utensils, at will. The suggestion that the availability of guns in America threatens our safety is disproven by the people in those 102 other Nations. Guns are no more dangerous to the public safety then kitchen utensils are. It’s because guns don’t cause crime, criminals do.
But if your real concern is deaths with guns…
If public safety is your real concern, we should discuss gangs and the drug war as the FBI considers 50% of murder and 80% of our Nations crime to be the gang warfare over drug turf in our inner cities.
By prosecuting gangs as they did the Mafia with infiltration and RICCO laws we could effect half of our murder rate. This is the issue we should be focused on, the people who are actually doing the murdering.
So, it looks like 700 justified shootings by police and citizens compared to 6543 criminal murders, if you want to look at it that way. It dosen’t tell the whole story however, unless you consider the 500,000 to 3,000,000 defensive uses. Many more murders may have been avoided by those defensive uses.
Personaly, I carry on the advice of my father, it turned out to be good advice as it saved the lives of my wife, myself, and six others in an interrupted armed robbery in a store one night. That’s all the math I need to consider.
Awesome post, man!!!!!
Thankverymuch, (my best Elvis impersonation)
Welcome to the board! I hope you decide to stick around.
My first time to this site, it looks sporting. I’ll definitely be back.