America, guns and freedom: Part II - An international perspective

Abstract

The need for reducing gun violence is discussed along with the necessity for citizens to assume some responsibility for protecting themselves, their families, and their property from criminal elements because the police cannot physically be everywhere to protect us all of the time. The problem of sensationalization of gun crimes by the media, multiple shootings by deranged individuals, accidents with firearms, suicide rates, and children with guns are discussed.The relationship of civilian disarmament in the context of tyrannical governments and genocide are also explored. Incidents in which liberty has been extinguished because firearms have been banned and citizens have been disarmed by increasingly oppressive governments, and the converse, countries where freedom has been preserved by armed citizens are also described. We conclude that guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens deter crimes, and nations that trust their citizens with firearms have governments that sustain liberty and affirm individual freedom. Governments that do not trust their citizens with firearms tend to be despotic and tyrannical, and are a potential danger to good citizens - and a peril to humanity.

Keywords: Civilian disarmament; firearms; genocide; gun control; multiple shootings; tyrannical governments.

Figure 1

Twentieth century United States homicide and suicide rates wax and wane over time, but at times of government prohibitions, both rates visibly increase, only to decrease over time as restrictions are eased

Figure 2

International suicide rate comparison in different countries (World Health Organization, 1989)

Figure 3

Twentieth century United States firearm accident rates per 100,000 population have been decreasing from 1903 to 1991 because of gun safety awareness (National Safety Council, 1992)

Figure 4

Young American women practicing the use of firearms (Courtesy Delta Wildlife, 2009)

Figure 5

Teenage Rifle Festival in Switzerland, where Swiss teens are instructed in the use of firearms, including assault rifles (Courtesy Stephen Halbrook, 2004)

Figure 6

Armed People Victorious book cover (Courtesy Larry Pratt, 1990)