ConstitutionUS.com notes that the Declaration of Independence states the following:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
One of those unalienable rights is the right to self-defense. Our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution are based on the Law of Nature and of Nature’s God. That law includes the right of self-defense. Currently, we are seeing a move by many in Congress to change the Second Amendment and to infringe on the rights of Americans to bear arms. There have been a number of incidents recently where someone who should not have had a gun murdered innocent people. That is unacceptable, but the problem is not the gun, and the solution lies in the area of mental health–not in the area of disarming legal gun-owners.
In its magazine (America’s 1st Freedom) and on its website, The National Rifle Association (NRA) has a page of testimonies where a good guy with a gun prevented a bad guy with a gun from harming innocent people. These incidents are often (purposely) overlooked in the media and need to be acknowledged.
Volume 24, No. 4 of that magazine includes several examples:
In Des Moines, Iowa, on January 5, a man and woman repeatedly walked in front of the doors of a tower apartment building. The apartment manager, who had her young son at her side, finally opened the door to ask if there was a problem, whereupon the two strangers allegedly grabbed the child. The woman claimed she was the child’s real mother and tried to run away with him. A struggle ensued until the manager drew her firearm and said “let go of my kid.” The man and woman walked off and were trailed by security personnel until police officers could arrive. Police told reporters, “It certainly looks like the big turning point here, the pivotal piece to keeping her child safe was the fact that she was lawfully armed with a handgun.” The man and woman were charged with felony child stealing.
…At around 5 a.m. on January 18, a man came into a gas station in Avondale, Arizona, with his face covered, mumbled something about “rob” and “money,” and then pointed a gun at the clerk and at a customer. However, when the suspect became distracted by another customer, the clerk reportedly drew his own firearm and shot the assailant. The would-be robber was taken to a hospital in critical condition, and neither the clerk nor any customers were hurt in the incident. While mainstream-media accounts often quoted an employment attorney advising clerks against arming themselves, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has found that about two-thirds of workplace homicides involved robbers. “I’m not happy I had to shoot him,” the clerk told reporters, “But I’m not stressing. The moment he pulled the gun on me, he set the situation and I just followed it. He made the situation what it was.” Police indicated the clerk would not be charged.
How long does it take for the police to arrive? In both of these cases, would it have been too late? I don’t want America to become the wild, wild west, but it is becoming increasingly obvious that good guys with guns save lives. We need more good guys with guns and less bad guys with guns. That will not be accomplished by laws that restrict gun ownership–bad guys don’t pay attention to laws. These two stories are only a fraction of the recorded incidents where lives were saved because someone legally carried a gun and spent enough time at the gun range to shoot accurately. Let’s encourage that behavior–not legislate against it.