USA — (Ammoland.com) Somewhere, everyday in the USA, 2100+ people use a gun for self defense, to stop a crime or save the lives of themselves or their family.

“We believe that the American public deserve to understand that on the average, guns save 2,191 lives and are used to thwart crimes every day,” says Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation

Most times you won’t see these tales on the news as it does not fit the main stream media’s story line of “Guns and Gun Owners are Bad“.

This is just one of those stories;

A man armed with a gun entered Burt’s Meat Market in Houston, Texas and demanded money from the teenage clerk on duty. When the clerk didn’t produce the money fast enough, the criminal fired a shot.

Store manager J.L. Nickel, who was in a nearby office, became aware of the robbery, retrieved a gun and fired at the robber. One of Nickel’s shots struck the thief, prompting him to flee.

(KPRC, Houston, Texas, 09/20/14).

About the Guns Save Lives Series:

Every few days AmmoLand Shooting Sports News will be featuring a new report of stories involving self defense with a hand gun. Be sure and share, like and Tweet these posts and help spread the truth that

“Guns Save Lives”.

See more at http://www.AmmoLand.com ( http://tiny.cc/s6ef2w )

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Ammoland

Your Bill Of Rights Which Is The Predecessor/Foundation For The U.S. Constitution, Are Un alienable Rights, They Are NOT In alienable Rights.

The Un and the In make all the difference in the world. Unalienable are from God ‘Natural’ and are permanently sovereign, they cannot be taken away. Inalienable are from governments ‘Law’ which are voted upon. Don’t let slick willie attorneys fool you otherwise.

Gun Facts is a free e-book that debunks common myths about gun control. It is intended as a reference guide for journalists, activists, politicians, and other people interested in restoring honesty to the debate about guns, crime, and the 2nd Amendment.

Gun Facts has 112 pages of information. Divided into chapters based on gun control topics (assault weapons, ballistic finger printing, firearm availability, etc.), finding information is quick and easy.

WHAT THE FOUNDING FATHERS SAID ABOUT GUNS

Ever wonder what the second amendment really means?

57,000 Businesses Fight Back, Post ‘Guns Welcome’ Signs On Front Door

Militias. Distrust of government. Abuse of power. The right to bear arms. Not a day passed without a passionate article or an editorial on the role of guns in American life.

The year was 1775. More than 200 years later, the seminal debate undertaken as John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison formulated the laws of the land still echoes. Is the Michigan Militia an aberration or the Constitution in action?

Is Gordon Liddy a dangerous demagogue or a devoted patriot? What exactly did the founding fathers mean when they penned the Second Amendment?

No sampler can do justice to the debate, but we hope the following scrapbook helps shed light on the relation between arms and liberty. Our sources were Alexander Hamilton, Madison and John Jay’s Federalist, “That Every Man Be Armed: The Evolution of a Constitutional Right,” by Stephen Halbrook, “The Road to the Bill of Rights,” by Craig Smith, and a collection of quotes compiled by Charles Curley.

TO TAKE ARMS AGAINST THE BRITISH

From “A Journal of the Times,” calling the citizens of Boston to arm themselves in response to British abuses of power, 1769:

“Instances of the licentious and outrageous behavior of the military conservators of the peace still multiply upon us, some of which are of such nature and have been carried to so great lengths as must serve fully to evince that a late vote of this town, calling upon the inhabitants to provide themselves with arms for their defense, was a measure as prudent as it was legal.

It is a natural right which the people have reserved to themselves, confirmed by the [English] Bill of Rights, to keep arms for their own defense, and as Mr. Blackstone observes, it is to be made use of when the sanctions of society and law are found insufficient to restrain the violence of oppression.”

ASSAULT RIFLES, COLONIAL STYLE

George Mason’s Fairfax County Militia Plan, 1775:

“And we do each of us, for ourselves respectively, promise and engage to keep a good firelock in proper order, & to furnish ourselves as soon as possible with, & always keep by us, one pound of gunpowder, four pounds of lead, one dozen gunflints, & a pair of bullet moulds, with a cartouch box, or powder horn, and bag for balls.”

GIVE ME FLINTLOCKS OR GIVE ME DEATH

Patrick Henry, 1775:

“They tell us that we are weak — unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Three million people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us.”

THOUGHTS ON DEFENSIVE WAR

Thomas Paine, writing to religious pacifists in 1775:

“The supposed quietude of a good man allures the ruffian; while on the other hand, arms like laws discourage and keep the invader and the plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property. The balance of power is the scale of peace.

The same balance would be preserved were all the world destitute of arms, for all would be alike; but since some will not, others dare not lay them aside. Horrid mischief would ensue were one half the world deprived of the use of them; the weak would become a prey to the strong.”

SOUND BITES FROM BEFORE AND AFTER THE REVOLUTION

Samuel Adams:

“Among the natural rights of the colonists are these: first, a right to life, secondly to liberty, thirdly to property; together with the right to defend them in the best manner they can.”

John Adams:

“Arms in the hands of the citizens may be used at individual discretion for the defense of the country, the overthrow of tyranny or private self-defense.”

Thomas Jefferson:

“The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.”

Thomas Jefferson, in an early draft of the Virginia constitution:

“No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms in his own lands.”

WE HAVE SEEN THE ENEMY AND HE IS US

Patrick Henry:

“Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined. The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able may have a gun.”

TREAD LIGHTLY

Thomas Jefferson’s advice to his 15-year-old nephew:

“A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercise, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball and others of that nature are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be the constant companion of your walks.”

Noah Webster, 1787:

“Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword, because the whole of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops.”

ON THE ROLE OF A MILITIA

James Madison, “The Influence of the State and Federal Governments Compared,” 46 Federalist New York Packet, January 29, 1788:

“Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of.

Notwithstanding the military establishments in the several kingdoms of Europe, which are carried as far as the public resources will bear, the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.

And it is not certain that with this aid alone they would not be able to shake off their yokes. But were the people to possess the additional advantages of local governments chosen by themselves, that could collect the national will and direct the national force, and of officers appointed out of the militia, by these governments and attached both to them and to the militia, it may be affirmed with the greatest assurance that the throne of every tyranny in Europe would be speedily overturned in spite of the legions which surround it.”

Alexander Hamilton, “Concerning the Militia,” 29 Federalist Daily Advertiser, January 10, 1788:

“There is something so far-fetched and so extravagant in the idea of danger to liberty from the militia that one is at a loss whether to treat it with gravity or raillery. Where, in the name of common sense, are our fears to end if we may not trust our sons, our brothers, our neighbors, our fellow citizens? What shadow of danger can there be from men who are daily mingling with the rest of their countrymen and who participate with them in the same feelings, sentiments, habits and interests?

What reasonable cause of apprehension can be inferred from a power in the Union to prescribe regulations for the militia, and to command its services when necessary, while the particular states are to have the sole and exclusive appointment of the officers? If it were possible seriously to indulge a jealousy of the militia upon any conceivable establishment under the federal government, the circumstance of the officers being in the appointment of the states ought at once to extinguish it. There can be no doubt that this circumstance will always secure to them a preponderating infiuence over the militia.”

Richard Henry Lee, Additional Letters from the Federal Farmer, 1788:

“Militias, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves and include all men capable of bearing arms. To preserve liberty it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.”

Tench Coxe, writing as “the Pennsylvanian” in the Philadelphia Federal Gazette, 1788:

“The power of the sword, say the minority of Pennsylvania, is in the hands of Congress. My friends and countrymen, it is not so, for the powers of the sword are in the hands of the yeomanry of America from 16 to 60. The militia of these free commonwealths, entitled and accustomed to their arms, when compared with any possible army, must be tremendous and irresistible.

Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom? Congress has no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American. The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people.”

ANTECEDENTS

Connecticut gun code of 1650:

“All persons shall bear arms, and every male person shall have in continual readiness a good muskitt or other gunn, fitt for service.”

Article 3 of the West Virginia state constitution:

“A person has the right to keep and bear arms for the defense of self, family, home and state, and for lawful hunting and recreational use.”

Virginia Declaration of Rights 13 (June 12, 1776), drafted by George Mason:

“That a well-regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural and safe defense of a free state; that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided as dangerous to liberty; and that, in all cases, the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.”

A proposed amendment to the Federal Constitution, as passed by the Pennsylvania legislature:

“That the people have a right to bear arms for the defense of themselves and their own states or the United States, or for the purpose of killing game; and no law shall be passed for disarming the people or any of them, unless for crimes committed, or real danger of public injury from individuals.”

ROUGH DRAFT

An amendment to the Constitution, proposed by James Madison:

“The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, a well-armed and well-regulated militia being the best security of a free country; but no person religiously scrupulous of bearing arms shall be compelled to render military service in person.”

THE FINAL DRAFT

The Second Amendment, as passed September 25, 1789:

“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.”

WHAT BECOMES A LEGEND MOST

George Washington’s address to the second session of the First U.S. Congress:

“Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people’s liberty, teeth and keystone under independence. The church, the plow, the prairie wagon and citizens’ firearms are indelibly related.

From the hour the pilgrims landed to the present day, events, occurrences and tendencies prove that, to ensure peace, security and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable. Every corner of this land knows firearms, and more than 99 and 99/100 percent of them by their silence indicate that they are in safe and sane hands.

The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil influence. They deserve a place of honor with all that’s good. When firearms go, all goes. We need them every hour.”

Each chapter lists common gun control myths, then lists a number of documented and cited facts (with nearly 500 detailed footnotes). Thus when a neighbor, editor or politician repeats some sound bite about firearm control policy, you can quickly find that myth then rebuke with real information.

What Adolph Hitler Said:

“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie: deliberate, continued, and dishonest; but the myth: persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.” — John F. Kennedy

Forget everything that you’ve been told about guns. Ignore the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution. Disregard all of the dramatic press reports. Regardless of how good the arguments on either side of this issue may seem to their proponents, most of them will have absolutelyno effect upon their detractors. That is because they do not answer the single most important question to all involved.

What About ME ?

What about ME? What about MY personal safety? What about MY children? What aboutMY family? Regardless of which side of the fence you are on, it all comes down to the question of your own personal safety and that of your loved ones. Any argument that does not address this question will fall on deaf ears.

With that in mind, let me demonstrate conclusively that any restriction placed upon gun ownership is not only contrary to your best interest, but does in fact, increase the likelihood that you or a loved one will become the victim of a violent crime.

The Criminologists’ Story

The most revealing fact in the gun-control controversy is that among all of the criminologists who have ever changed their opinion on gun control, EVERY LAST ONEhas moved from a position supporting gun control to the side skeptical of gun control and not the other way around… NOT EVEN ONE! Think about the significance of that one simple fact.

Criminologists are the experts who study crime, criminals and their motivation. Their entire career centers around the collection and analysis of statistics surrounding crime and the tools of crime. These are the people who make it their business to know and understand how, when, where, why and by whom guns (or any weapon, for that matter) are used. And, like anyone in any job, they learn more as they grow in the job. So, if the evidence were there to support gun control, wouldn’t you expect that at least a few Criminologists would have switched from opposing gun control to supporting it?

Think about it…

The mere fact that the more a Criminologist learns, the more likely he will be to oppose gun control, should tell you something. Criminologists who started out supporting gun control are having to face the fact that gun control has not worked anywhere that it has been tried and that you are safer in a society where guns are not restricted, than in one where gun control laws are in effect.

Even Dr. Gary Kleck, the nation’s leading scholar on crime and firearms, began his research as a staunch gun control advocate. He is a member of the ACLU, Amnesty International USA, and Common Cause – certainly not someone who you would label as a conservative. He is not and has never been a member of or contributor to any advocacy group on either side of the gun control debate. Yet today, he has moved, by his own words quoted in The Denver Post, November 28, 1985, “beyond even the skeptic position.” That is quite a shift.

James Wright, a gun control advocate who received a grant to study the effectiveness of gun control laws from President Jimmy Carter’s Justice Department, was surprised to discover, during the course of his research, that neither waiting periods, background checks, nor ANY gun control laws were effective in reducing violent crime.

In an article titled “Second Thoughts About Gun Control”, in the spring 1988 issue of “The Public Interest”, Wright said, “I am now of the opinion that a compelling case for stricter gun control cannot be made.”

Those are just two very visible cases. The list of noted criminologists who have abandoned the gun control position is long and distinguished. Yet not a single noted criminologist has switched positions in the other direction – NOT EVEN ONE.

The Challenge

I challenge any of my readers to provide even one single example of any criminologist who has had his work, skeptical of gun control, published in a respected professional journal and then later published works supporting it. Such evidence does not exist. That’s because the more they learn, the more obvious it becomes that gun control has never worked anywhere that it has been tried.

Interesting Facts

In a thesis titled “Armed Resistance to Crime: The Prevalence and Nature of Self-Defense With a Gun”, in the Northwestern University School of Law, Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, vol. 86, issue 1, 1995, Gary Kleck and Marc Gertz revealed some interesting facts.

Now, before anyone tries to dismiss the findings of this study as biased, because the study’s author is pro gun ownership, let me remind you that the Dr. Kleck, who authored this study, is the same Dr. Kleck, who began his career as an opponent of private gun ownership.

Furthermore, criminologist Marvin E. Wolfgang, who has researched guns and violence for more than 25 years and is one of the most outspoken opponents of private gun ownership, after reading this study, praised the methodology that was used, in a paper titled “A Tribute to a View I Have Opposed,” published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, vol. 86, Issue 1 (Fall 1995), p. 188.

In that article, Wolfgang begins by saying:

“I am as strong a gun-control advocate as can be found among the criminologists in this country. If I were Mustapha Mond of Brave New World, I would eliminate all guns from the civilian population and maybe even from the police.”

Those are certainly not the views of your ordinary anti-gun type. This is a man who represents the ultimate in anti-gun philosophy. But to his credit as a researcher, he was not so proud that he would deny the excellent methodology employed by Kleck and Gertz. He went on to say:

“What troubles me is the article by Gary Kleck and Marc Gertz. The reason I am troubled is that they have provided an almost clear-cut case of methodologically sound research in support of something I have theoretically opposed for years, namely, the use of a gun in defense against a criminal perpetrator… I have to admit my admiration for the care and caution expressed in this article and this research.” 1958 – World Peace through World Law is published, where authors Grenville Clark and Louis Sohn advocate using the U.N. as a governing body for the world, world disarmament, a world police force and legislature.

Wolfgang concludes by saying:

“The Kleck and Gertz study impresses me for the caution the authors exercise and the elaborate nuances they examine methodologically. I do not like their conclusions that having a gun can be useful, but I cannot fault their methodology. They have tried earnestly to meet all objections in advance and have done exceedingly well.”

Principal among the facts that Wolfgang was disappointed to learn, is that Guns are used for self-defense between 2.1 Million and 2.5 Million times every year. The following facts from the Kleck/Gertz study, relate directly to this fact.

In the vast majority of those self-defense cases, the citizen will only brandish the gun or fire a warning shot.

In less than 8% of those self-defense cases will the citizen will even wound his attacker.

Over 1.9 million of those self-defense cases involve handguns .

As many as 500,000 of those self-defense cases occur away from home.

Almost 10% of those self-defense cases are women defending themselves against sexual assault or abuse.

This means that guns are used 60 times more often to protect the lives of law-abiding citizens than to take a life.

At an estimated 263 million US population, in 1995, when the study was released, it also means that an average of 1 out of every 105 to 125 people that you know will use a gun for self-defense every year.

Pope Benedict Never Endorsed The Obama Administration’s Gun-Control Plans: Saint Gabriel Possenti Patron Saint Of Gun Owners Forthcoming!

Dr. Kleck also wrote in his book titled “Point Blank: Guns and Violence in America (Social Institutions and Social Change)” that burglars are more than three and a half times more likely to enter an occupied home in a gun control country than in the USA. Compare the 45% average rate of Great Britain, Canada and Netherlands with the 12.7% of the USA.

1961 – The U.S. State Department issues a plan to disarm all nations and arm the United Nations. State Department Document Number 7277 is entitledFreedom From War: The U.S. Program for General and Complete Disarmament in a Peaceful World. It details a three-stage plan to disarm all nations and arm the U.N. with the final stage in which ”no state would have the military power to challenge the progressively strengthened U.N. Peace Force.”

He continued to point out that citizens shoot and kill at least twice as many criminals every year as do police (1,527 to 606). In a related article titled, “Are We a Nation of Cowards’?” in the November 15, 1993 issue of Newsweek Magazine, George Will reported that police are more than 5 times more likely than a civilian to shoot an innocent person by mistake.

The Wall Street Journal reported, in an August 28, 1996 article titled, “More Guns, Less Violent Crime,” that a University of Chicago study revealed that states which passed concealed carry laws reduced their murder rate by 8.5%, rapes by 5%, aggravated assaults by 7% and robbery by 3%. The most impressive single statement in the University of Chicago Study, which is an ongoing study, is the very first sentence of the Abstract on the first page.

“Using cross-sectional time series data for U.S. counties from 1977 to 1992, we find that allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons deters violent crimes, without increasing accidental deaths.” – University of Chicago Study (1st line of Abstract)

A 1979 Carter Justice Department study found that of more than 32,000 attempted rapes, 32% were actually committed. That number dropped to only 3% when the woman was armed. That means that an unarmed woman is more than 10 times more likely to be raped than an armed woman. Think about it.

Since England passed its strict gun control laws, their previously low murder rate has almost caught up to that of the USA and according to a Reuters article on October 11, 1998 most other violent crime in England has passed the US crime rates. This is also supported by an October 1998 report of the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

How about accidents?

The National Safety Council Report titled, “What Are the Odds of Dying?” for 1998 reveals that you are almost twice as likely to die from natural environmental factors (1,521 deaths), such as injuries caused by animals, plants or exposure to the elements than from an accidental gunshot (866 deaths). Think about it.

The same report shows that you are more likely to choke to death on a piece of food (1,147 deaths) or die fromfalling down stairs (1,389 deaths) as to die from an errant bullet. You are four times more likely to die in a fire (3,255 deaths) or drown (3,964 deaths).

The simple fact is that there are many things that we take for granted in life that are much more dangerous than guns. In 1998, there were 43,501 motor vehicle deaths, 10,255 poisoningdeaths, 3,228 deaths from complications or misadventures of surgical or medical careand 16,274 total falling deaths – maybe we should ban ladders.

1977 – The Third Try at World Order is published. Author Harlan Cleveland of the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies calls for: “changing Americans’ attitudes and institutions” for ”complete disarmament (except for international soldiers)” and ”for individual entitlement to food, health and education.”

Get this! In 1998, there were 723 persons killed by falling objects. Compare that to 866 gun related deaths. So, using the logic proposed by the anti-Second Amendment types, our lawmakers should require us to wear helmets at all times.

To put this all into perspective, according to the National Safety Council, in 1998, of the 150,445 total deaths due to injury in the United States, the total number of accidental deaths was 97,835. That means that the 866 accidental gun related deaths amounted tofar less than 1% of all accidental deaths. In other words, the anti-self defense crowd’s accidental shooting argument is nothing but smoke and mirrors.

Don’t count on the police

The police realize that when a crime of violence is being committed, every second counts. Yet, in 1989, the Justice Department reported in the Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics — 1990, (1991) that there were 168,881 crimes of violence where police took more than 1 hour to respond. But, there’s a reason for this.

Of the just under 800,000 combined full time, sworn law enforcement officers in the U.S., in 2000, only about 150,000 were on duty on the streets at any given moment to protect a population of roughly 281 million, at that time. That means that there was one policeman to protect almost 1900 civilians in 2000. That ratio has not changed significantly in many years.

But, it’s worse than even that sounds. In 2000, over 43,000 of the listed law enforcement officers were classified by the Bureau of Justice statistics as “Special Jurisdiction”. More than 88,000 are federal officers, who do not respond to 911 calls. They are the officers whose job is certainly not to protect you, as an individual. So that means that a rather significant number of the 150,000 on-duty officers, mentioned above, are not dedicated to general police work, but to “special tasks”.

But, even those numbers are inflated. Many cities, like Houston, have large, dedicated traffic task forces, that do not fall into that “Special Jurisdiction” category, yet who are dedicated to special tasks. Not only are such groups dedicated to special tasks, but they most often operate on a different radio frequency than regular patrol officers, so they won’t even hear your emergency call. What this boils down to is that the number officers on the street, to respond to 911 calls, is much lower than the 150,000, cited by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. They just didn’t break it down that way.

The fact is that policemen just can’t be everywhere at once. There just aren’t enough of them. But, here’s the real kicker.

The police are not required to protect you, as an individual!

In fact, I challenge you to think of just one case where the police have actuallyprevented a crime. When you think about it, the actual job of the police is not to prevent crime, but to investigate crime, catch the perpetrator and bring the perpetrator to court –ALL after the fact.

Think about how the police work. They try to take the bad guys off of the street. How do they know who the bad guys are? They know, because the bad guys did something bad (past tense). So, by putting the bad guy in jail, you can argue that the police prevented potential crime, protecting the public at large. But the act that put the bad guy behind bars was a real crime, with real victims.

But, it is not the job of the police to protect individuals. That is a pretty powerful statement and deserves some support. There is, in fact, so much support for that statement that I could write a book on the subject. Fortunately, Richard W. Stevens has already done that. His very excellent book is “Dial 911 and Die.” I encourage you to get the book and read it. Then, if you don’t already own a gun, buy one and learn how to use it. Your life could very well depend upon it.

In fact, the courts, including the Supreme Court, have ruled consistently that the police are responsible only to the public at large and not to individual citizens. This means that even when police do their best, the courts recognize that there may be some individuals who they just can’t to get to in time. It happens all too often. When it does, the citizen is left to fend for himself until the police arrive. That’s the time when even gun control advocates wish that they had a gun, as happened with many gun control advocates during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Imagine their distress when they learned that they had to wait 15 days to get a gun.

Armed Citizens Make Fewer Mistakes Than Police

Don’t think that just because the police are trained in the use of firearms that they are less likely to kill an innocent person. A University of Chicago Study revealed that in 1993 approximately 700,000 police killed 330 innocent individuals, while approximately 250,000,000 private citizens only killed 30 innocent people. Do the math. That’s a per capita rate for the police, of almost 4000 times higher than the population in general. OK, that is a little misleading. Let’s just include the 80,000,000 gun owning citizens. Now the police are down to only a 1200 times higher accidental shooting rate than the gun-owning population in general.

That still sounds high. So let’s look at it in a different light. According to a study by Newsweek magazine, only 2% of civilian shootings involve an innocent person being shot (not killed). The error rate for police is 11%. What this means is that you are more than 5 times more likely to be accidentally shot by a policeman than by an armed citizen. But, when you consider that citizens shoot and kill at least twice as many criminals as do police every year, it means that, per capita, you are more than 11 times more likely to be accidentally shot by a policeman than by an armed citizen. That is as low as I can get that number.

This is not meant to be an indictment of the police. In fact, because police often live on the edge, they naturally tend to shoot first and ask questions later. Although they are trained to repress this instinct, it does not always work, as evidenced by the number of innocent people killed by police. Also, since they are generally better marksmen, they tend to kill, rather than wound or totally miss their target.

The Kleck study shows that police shoot and kill around 600 criminals each year. Yet the University of Chicago study shows that police killed 330 innocent individuals in 1993. That means that for every two criminals killed by police, one innocent citizen is killed by police. Although I have the greatest respect for the police and how they must respond under pressure, I think that I would much rather trust an armed populace.

Is a picture beginning to develop here?

The sources quoted above are impeccable and the picture that these facts paint is clear. Even if you don’t own a gun, the mere fact that you or others around you might own a gun significantly reduces the likelihood that you will become the victim of a violent crime. The chances that you will be killed or severely injured as a result of a violent crime drop even more if you do own a gun. The remarkably low incidence of gun related accidents is overwhelmingly offset by the significantly reduced likelihood that you might some day become a death statistic on this page, because you or another citizen close to you may be armed.

The facts don’t lie. Your personal safety is very dependent upon the right of you and those around you to legally own and carry a gun, whether you carry one or not.

Remember? => Bill Of Rights Are UN ALIENABLE ~ Government ‘Whatever Rights’ are IN ALIENABLE.

Don’t Believe Hollywood!

It’s interesting to note that despite the wide availability of accurate statistics, the Hollywood elite always seem to have to make up wildly erroneous statistics for their various television shows and movies, so as to advance their leftist agenda. For example, in an episode of “Pacific Blue”, one of the policeman characters talking to a child made the preposterous statement that you are twice as likely to be shot by accident as by a gun fired in anger. As the facts show, such a preposterous statement doesn’t even come close to the truth, unless of course, he was referring to accidental shootings by police.

In fact, according to the easily accessible National Safety Council Report titled, What Are the Odds of Dying?, in 1998 there were 866 accidental gun deaths. Compare that to 11,798 gun homicides or to the nearly 2.5 MILLION times a year that a gun is used in self-defense. If Hollywood was right, there would have been over 23,000 accidental gun deaths, instead of just 866. That means that Hollywood didn’t just miss the mark by a few percent. They got it wrong by a factor of almost three thousand percent (3000%).

Even though the real facts are easy to find, I can’t count the number of times that I have heard some anti-self-defense type quote that phony statistic. It has even appeared in a few newspapers. That was obviously the purpose of having the character on the TV show make that statement. They wanted people to start spreading their lie around, as though it was fact. Such blatant mischaracterization is so common in the movies and on TV, that it leaves no doubt that it could be anything but intentional.

The Hollywood elite have their own agenda. They don’t care about your safety. If you believe what you hear from the Hollywood elite or what you hear in the movies, you are doing yourself a severe injustice. Remember, the Hollywood elite all have bodyguardswho carry (that’s right Rosie)… GUNS. It’s easy to understand their excuse for such hypocrisy. They consider themselves to be much better than the rest of Americans. So, it’s natural that they think that self-defense is a privilege of only people of their exalted status. After all, what’s the use of being a star, if you don’t have any extra privileges.

Don’t Believe the Media!

You must keep in mind that the media industry is exactly that; an industry. They must make greater and greater profits to satisfy their stockholders. Dramatic reports of a child that is shot by another child increase ratings much more than reporting that 28 women used a gun to fight off rape today and every day, for that matter (the national average). A heart rending image of a mother who just lost a child to a drive-by shooting drives ratings much higher than a dry report that violent crime is down in states with the least amount of gun control. The simple fact is that VIOLENCE SELLS!

The Vermont Concealed Carry Lawstates very succinctly that any person may carry a concealed weapon with NO permits, fees or registration, yet according to the FBI, Vermont enjoys the 2nd lowest crime rate in the nation. Think about it.

Follow the money. If Vermont style gun laws (see sidebar) were enacted nationwide, violent crime across the country would drop dramatically, taking media readership, listenership and viewership with it. Media stocks would plummet. To prevent this, those in financial control of media corporations use their media outlets to sway public opinion and prevent an end to gun control.

This is not just something that they only do for gun control either. Media moguls often use similar tactics to create splashy news regarding many other subjects, including race relations, the environment and welfare. They select what they report, based upon splash and dry statistics about crimes that DIDN’T occur just aren’t splashy.

The logic is simple. Splashier news makes for more profit. You can’t blame someone for wanting to make more money, even if you disagree with how they do it. So, it is imperative that you remember that those in control of the media have their own agenda and that agenda does NOT serve YOUR best interest. Since violence sells and legal unrestricted gun ownership reduces violence, it is in the media’s business interest to promote restrictions on legal gun ownership.

Watch Your Government!

For a number of years now many in government, on both sides of the aisle, have been chipping away at the rights guaranteed us in the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Even ignoring the fact that one of those rights is the right to keep and bear arms, those who would take away our other rights cannot afford even a remote chance that an armed populace might some day revolt. And I’m not talking about some group of militia flakes.

You can only take so much away from anyone before he finally says, “NO!” If enough people say “NO” at one time and they are armed, those who are subverting our rights have a serious problem. If we can be disarmed, it becomes merely an inconvenience for those in power (a la Tiananmen Square).

But, I’m not suggesting that there is some great government conspiracy. Quite the contrary, a real conspiracy would be a godsend. The media would have a heyday. (Remember splashier news makes for more media profit.) What we are facing is serious self-interest among many individual elected officials. It’s as simple as that. Like any government, be it democratic of totalitarian, the thing that they fear most, is an armed populace. It is simply not in the interest of those who would subvert our rights to have an armed populace.

There are some in Congress who are doing everything that they can to protect our rights. Unfortunately, it isn’t enough. As I pointed out in the beginning. This issue is all about YOU.

YOU must get involved.

YOU must keep up with the changing issues.

YOU must keep up with what your elected officials are doing and how they are voting.

Do your own research.

I have advised you not to trust the media, Hollywood or the government on this issue, so I cannot ask you to trust me. Instead, I ask you to do your own research. I have provided in this article, as a starting point, many links to impeccable sources for factual information on guns and gun control (these links were refreshed as recent at 10/17/05). I actually have an ulterior motive for asking you to do your own research. You see, just like the criminologists, whose research enlightens them to how much damage gun-control does, when you do your own research, you will come to understand just how important gun ownership rights really are, in a way that I could never convey in words.

A good starting place is to see how your Congressman and Senators are voting on gun related issues at: http://capwiz.com/gunowners/issues/votes/ (that link changes from time to time, so if it is no longer active, just go to http://www.gunowners.org and follow the links on their home page).

Don’t count on the media, your government, your political party, Rush Limbaugh, the G-Man (Liddy) or even me. Follow the other links on this page and start doing your own research. Learn the facts and then make your own decision. Then, once you are armed with the facts,…

Action America

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