Gun control not the answer
My hottest “hot button” issue is the fallacy of “gun control.” Those who wail for “more gun control” need to sober up, step back, take a deep breath, and look at some facts. Don’t think it can happen here? Don’t bet your children’s freedom on it.
In 1929 the USSR established gun control (meaning private citizens cannot own guns), then the government proceeded to murder 20M people between 1929-1953. In 1911 Turkey outlawed guns, and then murdered 1.5M people between 1915-1917. In 1938 Adolph Hitler decreed Germany would be safer if the people couldn’t own any guns. From 1935-1944 he had 13M people slaughtered. In 1935 China jumped on the bandwagon. From 1948-1952 their government murdered 20M Chinese. In 1970 Guatemala banned guns, then from 1971-1979 the government there executed 300K Christians. In 1956 Cambodia established “gun control,” then murdered 1M educated people between 1975-1977. That’s 56M defenseless, innocent people murdered by their governments because they had no way of stopping government aggression.
In 1996 Australia outlawed private ownership of guns. Armed robberies rose by 69 percent, gun assaults rose by 28 percent, gun murders rose by 19 percent, and home invasions rose by 21 percent. All of this happened because the government convinced the citizens that it would be safer if citizens didn’t have guns.
Every house in Switzerland has at least one gun and ammunition, and the occupants must know how to use them. The reason the Japanese didn’t invade the mainland because they feared there would be a “gun behind every blade of grass.”
Chicago currently has some of the most restrictive and onerous gun laws in America, and their murder rate is three times greater then NYC, and 2.5 times greater than LA. Their murder rate is worse than Mexico City. Everywhere, every time, “gun control” is instituted, the citizens pay the price in blood, while those in government are safer. Another comparison you won’t see or hear from major news outlets is since 2001 there were 2,000 deaths in Afghanistan, but 5,000 were murdered in Chicago. Would you rather live in the Middle East or Chicago?
I have long opined that liberalism is the root of much of America’s problems today, if not all of them. Think about it. All mention of God is taboo in government-owned buildings. Parents cannot, or do not, punish children anymore. No one is encouraged to try hard to excel, just saying you tried gets you a “Good job!” When something goes wrong, it’s never your fault, no matter what you did or didn’t do.
I could go on and on, but I think I’ve made my point to all but the blindest Liberals who refuse to see the results of their beliefs they have imposed on everyone else. Banning guns will not solve our problems. Instilling virtues in our children is the only way to fix things. It won’t happen overnight, but we didn’t get this messed up overnight either. We’ve got a long hard road ahead of us, and we’ll all be traveling on the same road, so let’s get together and do this right, without knee-jerk wrong decisions.
Cameron Triplett
Brooksville
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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