Combat terrorism by carrying a gun

I do not advocate everyone carry a self defense weapon. Some may be more comfortable carrying than others, some have time to train, others do not. One thing is for certain, states and cities that allow citizens to carry self defense weapons do have less crime for the simple fact that criminals prefer target rich environments and victims who have fewer options to protect themselves and their family.

Richard Munday over at the Times Online (UK) has a comment piece that discusses the Mumbai attack that killed or wounded 500, along with historical examples from Britain and the United States concerning the right to carry.

Munday’s piece, entitled Think tank: If each of us carried a gun… we could combat terrorism, is a very good read.

The firearms massacres that have periodically caused shock and horror around the world have been dwarfed by the Mumbai shootings, in which a handful of gunmen left some 500 people killed or wounded.

For anybody who still believed in it, the Mumbai shootings exposed the myth of “gun control”. India had some of the strictest firearms laws in the world, going back to the Indian Arms Act of 1878, by which Britain had sought to prevent a recurrence of the Indian Mutiny. …

In the past two decades the enactment of “right to carry” legislation in the majority of states, and the issue of permits for the carrying of concealed firearms to citizens of good repute, has brought a radical change. Opponents of the right to bear arms predicted that right to carry would cause blood to flow in the streets, but the reverse has been true: violent crime in America has plummeted.

There are exceptions: Virginia Tech, the site of the 2007 massacre of 32 people, was one local “gun-free zone” that forbade the bearing of arms even to those with a licence to carry.

Read the entire article.

Why do some choose to train and carry a self defense weapon? Many answer by reminding us that we can’t carry a cop with us at all times, but even when police are present they may be hamstrung to help you; just like the officers at the train station in Mumbai.

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Steve McGough

Steve's a part-time conservative blogger. Steve grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Washington, D.C. and the Bahamas. He resides in Connecticut, where he’s comfortable six months of the year.

7 Comments

  1. libertarian27 on December 9, 2008 at 2:36 am

    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-40697615

    Suzanna Gratia-Hupp:
    What the Second Amendment is REALLY For
    Oct 1, 2003

    Texas state representative, Suzanna Gratia-Hupp, whose parents were killed by an insane gunman while her gun was out in the car, gives very …all » Texas state representative, Suzanna Gratia-Hupp, whose parents were killed by an insane gunman while her gun was out in the car, gives very moving and bold testimony about the REAL reason that the second amendment was designed to protect our God-given right to keep and bear arms.«



  2. Ed on December 9, 2008 at 7:36 am

    A real American hero stopped a copy cat Mumbai terrorist in Oklahoma the other day. Why don't we hear about this on the "news?" An off duty OK State Trooper tackled and subdued an armed man inside a Burger King. Thank God we have people like Trooper Sheldon Robinson here in the USA.



  3. Brian Partridge on December 9, 2008 at 7:38 am

    @Ed How did you hear about it? My guess is the "news".



  4. David in EH on December 9, 2008 at 8:53 am

    There is a difference between hearing about the news because the media has broadcast it widely and knowing about it because you tracked the story down.



  5. Dimsdale on December 9, 2008 at 8:00 pm

    The terrorists count on a free society to move easily and avoid detection. The liberals fight hard to prevent implementation of anything (like the Patriot Act) to hobble that movement. Nothing would make terrorists happier than being able to move freely in crowds of gun free citizens.

    We, as citizens, need to be able to count on our Constitutionally guaranteed rights to defend ourselves and our country. Sadly, the liberals are trying to hobble that freedom as well. (Whose side are the liberals on, anyway?)

    It is a dangerous world, and becoming more dangerous all the time. I would rather be dangerous to the criminals than in danger from them.



  6. Dimsdale on December 9, 2008 at 8:04 pm

    Brian: I didn't see the story on my news. Apparently, neither did you. A search on the internet gave me some info, but nothing national.



  7. libertarian27 on December 10, 2008 at 3:43 am

    Here's the Oklahoma story: http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/12/trooper

    Trooper Honored For Tackling Jihadist Before Mass Murder

    [It happened on September 5th]

    I never heard about it either – Thank you MSM!



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