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Larry Elder: How often are guns used in self-defense?
ocregister.com ^ | 30 July, 2012 | Larry Elder

Posted on 07/31/2012 11:01:33 AM PDT by marktwain

About the tragedy in Aurora, Colo., rapper/actor Ice-T made more sense – and has a better understanding of the Second Amendment – than gun-control proponents.

Asked by a London news anchor about America's gun culture, Ice-T said: "Well, I'd give up my gun when everybody does. Doesn't that make sense? ... If there were guns here, would you want to be the only person without one?"

------------------cut-----------------------------

Suppose a guy goes to a baseball game. "Honey," his wife asks afterward, "who won the game?" The husband says, "The Dodgers scored four runs." What's missing? Obviously, the wife still knows nothing about the outcome because she knows only one-half of the equation. Well, how can one responsibly discuss "how many people die because of guns" without discussing the other half of the equation – how many people would not be alive without their defensive use of a gun?

(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: banglist; ccw; constitution; defense
Larry nails it. By refusing to talk about defensive uses of guns, the anti-freedom types frame the "debate" into a no win for liberty.
1 posted on 07/31/2012 11:01:39 AM PDT by marktwain
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To: marktwain
According to DOJ crime statistics, guns are used 2.5-million times per year to prevent robberies, rapes, murders, carjackings, home-invasions, etc., 99% of the time without a shot being fired.

Gun Facts

2 posted on 07/31/2012 11:08:59 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Government is the religion of the collectivists.)
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To: marktwain
There is also a deterrent effect.

How many of the criminal mindset would regularly break into occupied dwellings if they knew that Americans were mostly disarmed.

And when a home invader is shot dead - you not only stopped ONE crime - but all the crime that the dead perp would otherwise commit through a lifetime of criminality.

3 posted on 07/31/2012 11:20:02 AM PDT by allmendream (Tea Party did not send GOP to D.C. to negotiate the terms of our surrender to socialism)
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To: marktwain

I think that Mr. Ice-T could be a good, *complementary* spokesman for the NRA.

That is, the NRA has a fairly consistent line of argument that appeals a lot to the majority of Americans. But while these arguments are still valid for minorities, they are a less persuasive “sell” of the importance of gun rights to them.

The proof of this is that several minority groups have created their own gun rights organizations, *not* because they are in conflict with the NRA and organizations like it, but because they are better able to “sell” gun rights to their own group.

If you look at the “more responsible” black America, their concerns for gun rights are less focused on self defense from crime than they are for self defense against police who they believe treat them unfairly.

Based in reality or not, generally speaking this *is* of major importance in gun rights, the *ability* to stand up against an unfair government or its agents. G. Gordon Liddy would understand perfectly the same idea, if from a different perspective.

And while Civil Rights are bestowed “by the creator”, and thus need no “justification”, such justifications still help to “sell” the importance of civil rights to the public.


4 posted on 07/31/2012 11:42:04 AM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy
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To: yefragetuwrabrumuy
If you look at the “more responsible” black America, their concerns for gun rights are less focused on self defense from crime than they are for self defense against police who they believe treat them unfairly.

Much the way many of the rest of us focus more on self-defense against the government thugs who will be coming for us if the regime gains just a little more power. I can see where they're coming from.

5 posted on 07/31/2012 11:53:58 AM PDT by JimRed (Excise the cancer before it kills us; feed &water the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS, NOW & FOREVER!)
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To: allmendream
but all the crime that the dead perp would otherwise commit through a lifetime of criminality.

Proactive Exponential Crime Prevention?

6 posted on 07/31/2012 11:57:57 AM PDT by Turbo Pig (...to close with and destroy the enemy...)
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To: Turbo Pig

Seeings as how many home invasion crime sprees start out as burglaries but end up with rape and/or murder - I think a couple well applied hollow points can nip that in the bud.

;)


7 posted on 07/31/2012 12:07:07 PM PDT by allmendream (Tea Party did not send GOP to D.C. to negotiate the terms of our surrender to socialism)
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To: marktwain

The whole debate is a red herring.


8 posted on 07/31/2012 12:11:37 PM PDT by Durus (You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality. Ayn Rand)
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To: JimRed

The important thing to recognize, and should be respected in what Ice-T says is that the 2nd Amendment is a *right*, not given or potentially taken away by government, so needs no justification at all.

A person may assert that they *need* that right for a reason; but that reason is still incidental to it being a right. Even if they have no reason at all, or a stupid reason, they still retain the right.

Granted, if someone misuses that right, in a criminal act, or they become mentally ill, that right can be *suspended*. But even then, we should never let it be said that the right “was taken away from them”, because it cannot be. Only that they cannot use it as they choose.


9 posted on 07/31/2012 12:43:47 PM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy
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To: allmendream

10 posted on 07/31/2012 12:47:39 PM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (As long a hundred of us remain alive we will never on any condition be brought under Obama's rule.)
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To: marktwain

NO! It’s time to turn that around, it’s time that we start talking about getting rid of those moronic “Gun-Free” zones.


11 posted on 07/31/2012 12:59:54 PM PDT by Voice of Reason88 ( Freedom is never lost all at once - Edmund Burke)
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To: marktwain

“How often are guns used in self-defense?”

Not often enough. That’s why our prisons are full, we put ankle bracelets on thugs, have clogged courts, and employ all manner of half-measures that ensure jobs for the lawyer industry.


12 posted on 07/31/2012 3:12:27 PM PDT by GenXteacher (You have chosen dishonor to avoid war; you shall have war also.)
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