A Letter Concerning Guns PDF Download

Author: Joseph Newhard
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781514826362
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 104

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Book Description
From Columbine to Charleston, the United States has suffered several mass shootings in recent decades. For many Americans, further legal restrictions on firearms ownership constitute obvious remedies for these tragedies. They acclaim their own proposals as "common sense" and view opposition to them to be reckless and irrational. In this letter, the author addresses these advocates directly. Offering carefully reasoned arguments in response to ongoing calls for additional gun control laws, the author contends that gun laws are largely ineffective at reducing crime and many even contribute to increasing it. In this vein, he makes the case against several measures including licensing, registration, background checks, waiting periods, magazine capacity limits, gun free zones, and bans on magazine-fed, semiautomatic or automatic firearms including short-barreled rifles and submachine guns, all such laws undermining public safety and the individual right to keep and bear arms. Also included is a chapter responding directly to Stephen King's Guns. The following is an excerpt: "In a country where thousands of innocent victims are murdered every year by attackers armed with knives, blunt objects, and personal weapons, focusing solely on murders involving firearms loses the plot. Concentrating on the gun and not the murderer ignores the root causes of violence in society while also implying some perverse acceptance of non-firearm related murders. Such is the fixation on guns that a total ban on them remains your final objective regardless of local circumstances. "When crime rates are rising, you call for more gun control. When crime rates are falling, you call for more gun control. Where gun control is minimal, gun laws are urgently needed. Where gun laws are passed, more gun control is necessary still. When violence terrorizes Chicago, falls in New York City, and holds steady in Houston, further gun control is called for in all cases. You have made it abundantly clear that no matter the question, the answer is more gun control. "In many defensive situations, there is simply no substitute for a gun. It is not reasonable to demand that victims of violent crime use their fists when attacked by a 250 pound sociopath armed with a claw hammer. You do not make civilization a better place by getting bent out of shape over an 80 year old woman who prefers to defend herself with a .38 Special revolver rather that physically grapple with an assailant. Your inability to grasp the usefulness of a loaded gun in the hands of a victim is your own problem, nobody else's. "I want there to be as few victims of violence as possible in this world. Not victims of gun violence, or victims of knife violence, or victims of gang violence, but all victims of all acts of mindless violence which humans have perpetrated against one another for a million years. Minimizing this violence is not as simple as reducing the number of guns in circulation because of the important role they play in self-defense, deterrence, and crime-fighting. In the right hands, guns aid in the prevention of rape, murder, armed robbery, aggravated assault, and other acts of brutality. Guns provide the opportunity for self-preservation to a victim who is outnumbered or outsized; they enable an effective defense against a knife or a baseball bat when fists alone cannot." Table of Contents: Preface A Letter Concerning Guns Gun Control The Effect on Crime Four Outcomes Self-Defense Victim's Rights An Individual Legal Right Bearing Arms Licensing Concealed Carry Registration Background Checks Magazine Limits Waiting Periods Restricted Items Gun Free Zones Castle Doctrine Stand Your Ground Laws Stephen King's Proposal Final Thoughts About the Author