Posted on 10/19/2001 5:41:23 AM PDT by Stand Watch Listen
The way that Americans feel about guns has undergone a sudden and unexpected change since the attacks of 9-11. Regulatory agencies, gun retailers, andsafety instructors all report a sharp increase in activity. Many purchasers are women, first-time buyers, and those who previously held anti-gun views.
Societal issues normally undergo gradual, pendulum-like swings, but this one is changing with astounding speed. It took roughly forty years for the gun control movement to convince a large portion of the population that guns caused violence and were too dangerous for ordinary citizens to possess. It has taken less than one year for the tide to change.
The most obvious reasons for this rapid transformation are directly related to the terrorist attacks. For example, the almost unanimous call for military action makes it seem hypocritical to label guns as evil instruments when we are asking our military to wield them on our behalf.
The fact that the attacks were carried out without a single gun was a wake-up call to even the most ardent anti-gun activists. While they were concentrating on the dangers of guns, they ignored the reality that people with evil intent are the real threat.
Leftist filmmaker Michael Moore, in the process of finishing an anti-gun documentary, made this dramatic statement that probably expresses the feelings of many at his end of the political spectrum:
"This started out as a documentary on gun violence in America, but the largest mass murder in our history was just committed -- without the use of a single gun! Not a single bullet fired!... I can't stop thinking about this. A thousand gun control laws would not have prevented this massacre. What am I doing?"
I believe this widespread attitude adjustment would have been impossible if not for the results of the last presidential election. Political analysts declared that support for tougher gun control laws lost the election for Al Gore. Although this is probably an exaggeration, Democratic politicians fled from the issue as if it were the kiss of death.
Liberal voters were free to rethink their position on guns without feeling disloyal to their party. They began to notice the failure of gun control laws and "gun free zones" in other countries, as well as in various states and cities. They started reading articles by Prof. John Lott, author of "More Guns, Less Crime." Doubts developed about the politically correct view of gun
ownership. These doubts suddenly fit in with the new picture created on 9-11.
As soon as details of the boxcutter hijackings became public, millions of people shared a single thought. These attacks never would have succeeded if a single person with a handgun and a cool head had been in the right place at the right time.
The ease with which terrorists eluded our security measures made us all aware of how vulnerable we are. Terrorists have the luxury of striking at a time and place of their choosing, while we must defend all possible targets at all times. The next attack could easily disable large sections of the electric power grid, resulting in extended blackouts and a breakdown in social order.
Today's neophyte gun buyers are probably less concerned with fighting terrorists than with a scenario similar to the last round of riots in Los Angeles during which police abandoned large areas of the city. In the resulting rush to local gun stores, many were dismayed at the long waiting period required before they could take delivery of a firearm that would allow them to protect their families.
The anti-gun lobby would like us to believe that new gun buyers are acting out of blind fear, but most are undergoing a sober and thoughtful re-evaluation that began prior to the attacks. Before 9-11, many people were still in denial about their own vulnerability to danger. It was easy to believe that we could always dial 911 and instantly summon armed officers to our rescue.
The lesson that many Americans have taken from this experience is that we should each take more responsibility for our own safety. Seeing so many innocent lives snuffed out without warning has injected a harsh dose of reality and relieved us of some of our idealistic innocence.
Dr. Michael S. Brown is a member of Doctors for Sensible Gun Laws
LOL!!! The best all week!!!
You're correct. Mmandatory arms ownership would have to be the last.
I'm glad I don't live wherever "here" is.
:)
I would like to post a response....But I still have 5 days left in my First Ammendment waiting period...
You know, it might bring a valuable lesson home in certain quarters if members had to check a for/against gun control option when signing up at FR. Assure them their answer will be held in the strictest confidence.
Then, when they go to submit a post, have a page pop up that thanks them for their submission, and then inform them that it will be held for a five day "cooling off" period (15 days in calif), and they can come back at the end of the waiting period to confirm their desire to post the submission if they're still interested in seeing it posted.
I can imagine the instant outrage, and the inevitable "Just who do you people think you are?" -- to which they'd be told, "we think we're you!". (Since they're stupid, they'd need some more explanation, but hey, can you imagine the turnabout-is-fair-play aspect of it?)
No, he was just doing simple math. Unless more than five thousand body bags come back, we've already lost more people here than soldiers overseas.
they came to understand that the police are not there to protect them but to take a report after the fact.
I've gone out shooting with several buddies a few times before. But, there is a difference. Now my buddies' wives want to go, too. They did, and they love it.
We got the wives some instruction from professionals and they thought it was great. Oh man, Sarah Brady ain't gonna like this!! I'm not saying that Sept. 11 was a good thing, but at least some people were able to step up and do something positive.
#7 It is the duty of all citizens to actively work to ensure that they live in a safe society.
Citizens are required to be alert, armed and prepared to provide the defense of self and state at all times.
HEY, it's only 10 days! They changed it after the LA riots because the Holywierd couldn't get their AK-47's fast enough!
Man, are we close to liberty! Or what?
Campion Well, actually it would have taken 4 people with handguns in the right place at the right time.
An armed America is a safe America. Do it for the kids.
Not four. One person, cool head; four dead.
I'm slow at this. Kiss My what?
The "cute" definition was "Kill MFing Depeche Mode (a Brit group)" but the "true" one is "Kein Mitgeld Fur Den Mehrheit," which is German for "no sympathy for the majority."
I dunno, there aren't many German phrases that make it into the common lexicon so I remembered it.
"Stay safe
stay armed
--Yorktown
"Kill All MF Brit Groups"
We're safe
We're armed
--WTC
Probably waiting for your concealed carry permit to be approved.
Hypocrite.
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