Posted on 09/29/2001 4:29:48 PM PDT by TERMINATTOR
Gun sale resurgence: Americans saying with wallet, "We feel safer when armed"
Scripps Howard News Service
Keeping up with the changes in the political landscape as America girds for war could give a person whiplash. The old bedrock assumptions about defense and domestic spending, rights to "privacy" and the operation of law enforcement, even opinions on criminal profiling, are changing with lightning speed.
So, too, has there been another, perhaps little-noted shift: our view of guns. I should say the fashionable circle's view of guns. After all, there are some 200 million firearms in the United States, the vast majority of which are legally owned.
Nevertheless, every time there is any kind of an assault with firearms against innocents, we inevitably hear that more gun control is the "answer" because, according to these folks, guns are the root of all crime and mayhem. Usually there's an attempt, often successful, at more gun-control initiatives.
Then came the horror of Sept. 11. What few have ventured to point out is that in this entire calamitous crime, throughout this act of war and terrorism like our country has never seen before, not a single gun was used. So much for seeing guns as the problem, and gun control as the solution.
Americans want to feel safer, and they want to protect their children, which is why this time they are emptying gun stores, fast. Six eastern states, presumably those with populations who feel most vulnerable as a result of the recent attacks and including several, such as New York, that have lead the way in strictly controlling guns, report that gun sales are soaring. And don't you know that more than a few of the purchasers, who would have been aghast at such a thought just a few weeks ago, are sheepishly purchasing them?
No, guns may not exactly protect their carriers against terrorists - then again, they might - but people are voting with their wallets. And they are saying they feel safer with guns than with those who would "protect" them by limiting or ending their ability to get a firearm. We may be witnessing a change from "gun as menace" to "gun as marvel" mentality. Consider the call for sky marshals on airlines, and now the plea from the Airline Pilots Association that pilots be allowed to pack heat during flights. I'm not exactly sure how the pilots would both fend off hijackers with a firearm and fly the plane, but I think the larger point is one of deterrence.
People everywhere, including criminals and even suicidal hijackers, at some level make rational calculations. If the hijackers had thought for a moment that anyone on the plane was at all likely to be armed and ready to use a gun, they almost certainly would not have attempted their deed, simply out of knowledge their plot would fail.
Talk of arming pilots and the extent to which we're putting air marshals on planes may be one reason they will almost certainly not attempt this particular route of terrorism again. They will likely try other avenues to terrorism against which guns may not deter.
But the larger point is that in times of peace and prosperity, society has the luxury of turning down its collectively turned-up nose on those who would protect themselves and their families with firearms. But in time of war, reality and self-preservation surface.
When the smoke clears, we'll notice something else on the new political landscape: that it will be a long, long time before Gun Control Inc. dares to advocate curbs on the Second Amendment again.
"A well-regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed." - Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution 
Thank you for flying Liberty Airlines.
Have a safe flight!
Yes, and thank God! for small favors!
( OK, I always thought they looked foolish, but... )
I view this as a common-sense reaction to a threat. Most of the media tries to portray it as "panic buying," but I think most Americans see right thru that little semantic hustle.
I have a skeet range in my basement along side my rifle and pistol range.
No wait!
I have no basement. I must be using that wonderful
Rifle and Pistol Club range near me. ;-)
Got it down to two either a Glock 17 or Beretta 92, I am leaning towards the Beretta, comments and advice welcomed.
One "Terrorist" shooting somewhere in the US of A and they'll be on CNN for half the day pushing their 'solution'.
Two pilots (and an auto-pilot) and one airplane ...
You do the math.
Just exactly what are the co-pilot's duties during a hijacker's attempt to enter the cockpit? Dial 9-1-1 ?
Hope you continue to make FR one of your regular "stops". (I also hope your social life can stand the hit — it's incredibly addictive!)
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