The Left wants to paint the firearm debate as a complicated academic exercise with no right answers and no clear solutions. In reality, firearms can be logically and statistically shown to deter crime and protect life. The issue is only as complicated as you want it to be. For instance, those on the Left do not believe that law-abiding citizens can be trusted to handle firearms responsibly. They favor government regulation over individual choice. Gun control advocates paint a picture of private gun ownership leading to an all-out warzone in the streets. However, history has shown that an armed citizenry does not lead to the vigilante justice of the Wild West.
Geographically speaking, gun violence is actually more likely to occur in urban areas with strict gun laws. Cities like Chicago, Detroit, and Washington DC have some of the strictest gun laws in the country. They also have some of the highest crime rates in the country. The key to stopping gun crime is not to take away guns, but rather to give law-abiding citizens the option of arming themselves. As Thomas Sowell pointed out in an article for the National Review, “Concealed guns protect not only those who carry them but also those who do not. If concealed guns become widespread, then a mugger or a carjacker has no way of knowing who has one and who does not. It makes being a mugger or a carjacker a less safe occupation. Gun-control laws are in effect occupational-safety laws — OSHA for burglars, muggers, carjackers, and others.”
Studies from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Pew Research Center confirm this logic. The studies concluded that violent crime declined dramatically over eighteen years. Gun-related homicides dropped by 39 percent from 1993 to 2011. In contrast, guns are flying off the shelves faster than ever before. Clearly, more guns do not mean more gun crime. It is time to see past the liberal lies and start paying attention to the facts of the gun control debate. Law-abiding citizens need to defend their right to bear arms using the ammunition of reality and reason against liberal fantasy and fiction.
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