I'm an idealistic pacifist. I have written 10 of his successful books on gun control in America*, but in an era of lasting peace, prosperity, harmony, and abundance, I support no weapon of any kind on earth. I don't.

This turned out to be impossible (utopia). The problem is the Four Horsemen of Human Havoc. Angry, hungry, stupid, and evil.

So I support disarming everyone from the bad guys first. This too is utopian.

Until then, I find it hard to justify disarming innocent, sane people.

If I could wave a wand and make guns disappear, the brutal communist Chinese dictatorship would make new ones. And the Italians (Beretta), the Brazilians (Taurus), the Russians (AK-47), the Austrians (Glock), all armed nations will be involved in the construction of the Iron River. Including tinkering in the basement.

Wands is fiction, but we can imagine a world without guns. Think back to a time before guns.

What you get is Genghis Khan with his rampaging hordes, the crucifixion of Julius Caesar and the Roman legions, Vlad the Impaler, universal serfdom, and countless people murdered on countless occasions. A world filled with guns, despite being constantly overrun by bad guys and government tyrants, paradoxically turns out to be safer and more civilized in some areas. Our guns will help control them.

A world filled with guns is actually more civilized than a world without guns, where bad guys with swords commit genocide against the weak.

Many people, perhaps even you, are misunderstood about this for two reasons. One, you have no real education on the subject, and two, if it's on the news and it's about guns, it's probably 100% wrong and misinformed. Because it will remain as it is. Please support it.

For example, we recently saw saturation coverage of four people photographed in Philadelphia. They weren't shot, they were killed. Subtle word choices in the media affect everything. Murder is a crime. In Murder, the focus is on the murderer. The media promotes and protects criminals for complex reasons. On the other hand, shooting is a sport, a long-lasting and honorable sport. The media downplays this. Shooting is the second most popular participant sport, behind the elite sport golf (3rd place). The media completely avoids this hard fact.

Your entire perception changes when you are faced with criminal acts that the media covers up or avoids for various reasons. 7,000 urban black murders a year (FBI statistics, 19 per day) go unsolved, unprosecuted, and unreported. How will your perception change once it is saturated covered? If so-called “gun control” becomes crime control, we will move closer to peace.

At least one million DGUs (Defensive Gun Use) are censored each year. How would your perception change if you were faced with saturated reporting of lives saved and crimes prevented by the presence of guns in the public?

We benefit from armed neighbors because the “free rider” effect, a serious crime deterrent, is hidden from view. Police call these vanquished criminals “good outcasts.” You've never heard of this before, right?

We also face a hidden medical problem, hoplophobia, the fear of weapons. The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition) and traditional media obfuscate that. The facile and inaccurate focus on guns should be on criminals. Mental confusion, lack of impulse control. The idea of ​​crime that is not just displayed but promoted in modern media has an impact as well.

The country is clearly divided on guns.

There are basically two camps in America. The “leave us alone” camp and the “we want to control you” camp. These are incompatible characteristics of humans and politics. They are (incompletely) divided into two political parties. You can tell which is which.

If you've ever had this utopian idea that “they should take away all the guns,” ask yourself, “Who are they?” Who made them give up their guns? Just because the police are so good, should we keep “them” armed? And how will mass disarmament be carried out against armed people? It is this delicate balance of power between armed “officials” and armed citizens that has created the freest nation ever known. That was the genius of our founders—Evil exists, and it literally gives the innocent a fighting chance.

Let's think more deeply about crime prevention. And, Self-defense is an honorable act and has been recognized since the Bible and the early Code of Hammurabi (c. 1755 BC). Innocent lives and your home are precious. These need to be protected. America's strict self-defense laws are clear, appropriate, and worthy of support, especially in light of corruption in the leadership, judicial system, and among officials. Angry, hungry, stupid and evil people pose a relentless threat.

conclusion

You and I don't have to protect ourselves, and that's a good thing. Instead, it's up to you to do so, or to non-violently “feed yourself and your family to the lions.” I support this. It's a question of pacifism and free choice. We can also, at our own choice, use what is at hand, or the best available, to protect ourselves and survive. Do nothing, perish if you wish, and save the lion. But it is unjust and tyrannical to force death on me or anyone else due to lack of good tools or arbitrary morality that puts the lion above me.

When the idea of ​​banning weapons “for safety” comes to mind, remember this: In authoritarian regimes, the spoken word is perceived to be more dangerous than weapons. “We will not tolerate being challenged with a gun. Why would we tolerate it with words when it is far more dangerous?” -Joseph Stalin. Be on guard with jealous caution against those who seek to infringe on your speech.

Closing thoughts about news coverage:

Note “we” and “I think” and “saturation coverage.” These are clues that “tell” you that you are not receiving the news. “I think” means the news ends and the opinion continues. Read that line again. And always understand who “we” are and their agenda. If so-called “news” reports are all the same, they come from one source, and that's bad. Also, Distinguish conspiracies; It's always been a reality (like government agencies colluding with big tech companies to influence elections) and conspiracy theories (like a secret society eating babies in pizzeria basements) are insane.

I stand by my philosophy and wait for the day when evil evaporates and guns are no longer needed. Until then, the Marines are right: peace through superior firepower. Do not submit to elitist demands for disarmament.

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This article Published by page 9 Reprinted with permission from the author.

Alan Corwin is a nationally recognized expert on gun control in various states. *See his work at: GunLaws.com.