A number of years ago, when I was
a commander in the Navy, the small staff I was on was asked by our Admiral what
we might do to save some money – the Navy being in a ‘hunt’ to find some
‘savings.’ I suggested we stop
collecting ‘Lessons Learned,’ fire those folks responsible for doing so and end
all the associated work. When I
received a stupefied stare from the Admiral and everyone else to this
suggestion, I responded ‘well, we never pay attention to them anyway, so let’s
get rid of them.’ (I'm not certain the Admiral appreciated my "wit.")
Along the same lines, and a bit
more eloquently, George Santayana famously remarked that ‘those who forget the
lessons of history are doomed to repeat them.’
And we keep having those lessons
pushed back at us. No better
example are the ones that appeared on the news from three separate perspectives yesterday.
The first case was a court
decision that ended the state of Illinois' complete ban on ‘concealed carry,’
the carrying of a sidearm (pistol) in such a manner that it cannot be seen by
anyone else. While this is a
victory for the supporters of the 2nd Amendment, there will be no
change in Illinois for quite some time, as the legislature has 90 days to draft
new legislation and, of course, more court actions will be taken in response to
the court’s decision.
Meanwhile, the violent crime rate
in Chicago remains, and the city may well reach 500 homicides this year. Connect those two issues. Criminals do not have concealed carry
permits; violent criminals already are “exercising” the right of concealed
carry. The folks who aren’t? That would be the law abiding citizens.
The second case was the
appearance of the Chief of Police of Camden New Jersey on several news shows,
discussing the murder rate in Camden, 20 times the nation’s average, the highest
murder rate in the nation. How
easy is it for a law-abiding citizen to carry a pistol in New Jersey? The answer is: it’s nearly impossible. So, who has weapons in New Jersey, and
particularly in Camden? Bad
guys. And the police. Who have been averaging, according to
the Chief, a 30% absentee rate.
Third case, the shooting in the
mall in Oregon. First, it is a
tragedy that two people were killed.
But the instructive point here is that the gunman killed himself before
the police arrived. So, add that
into the mix.
It is said that the average
police response time in New York City – where the police force has been working
on this for more than a decade – is now 4.8 minutes (for serious crimes the 911
operator asks if it is serious).
This is among the lowest response time in the nation. That is fantastic, and an incredible improvement over where
it was just 10 years ago (a bit more than 7 minutes).
Here’s the catch: the average
violent crime lasts 3 minutes, start to finish. So, assuming you start the 911 call the instant the crime
starts, the bad guy has 1.8 minutes to jog out of the area before the police
arrive. (Of course, this assumes
that you can make call 911 while being attacked). In short, the police will NOT save you. Just as they didn’t save anyone at the
mall in Oregon. Just as they
rarely save anyone involved in any sort of shooting or knifing or beating or choking. In fact, the courts and the police will
tell you it’s not their job to protect you individually from a crime, that that
would be impossible. Courts have
routinely found that police forces cannot be held responsible in any way for a
crime committed against a specific individual, that the police cannot be
everywhere at once, and they cannot be expected to protect YOU from a criminal.
This is not to blame the police –
99.9% of them do a fantastic job.
But, it will still take them time to get to you, and almost assuredly
the violent crime will be finished by the time they arrive. For you, or someone you love, it will
be too late. Because you weren’t
able to protect yourself – and the police will NOT get there on time. Whatever else you take away from these
events, remember that: in 99% of the situations you may find yourself facing,
you and you alone are going to be the difference between how you come through
the event: alive and well, beaten up, or dead.
So, think about it again: if half
the people in that Mall had been carrying a concealed weapon, would the gunman
have killed two people? Maybe one
of them would have lived. Maybe,
if the gunman knew that “everyone” in the city had a handgun, that a large
number of people carried concealed weapons, maybe he would have thought
differently about what he was doing, maybe he would have gone someplace else.
It is said that
a well-armed society is a polite society.
Some may argue that. But an
unarmed society is simply a feeding ground for the criminals and slime of the
world. We have tried keeping
firearms out of the hands of law-abiding citizens (that is what the laws do - keep firearms out of the hands of law abiding citizens) in the belief that this twisted logic will result in fewer violent crimes – it doesn’t work. Western Europe – with restrictive
firearms laws that are the envy of any number of foolish legislators - has a
violent crime rate that is substantially higher than the US, with some major
cities in Europe with violent crime rates unmatched in the rest of the
developed world.
Other nations
have tried it as well. In
sub-Saharan Africa the only people with guns are criminals, terrorist gangs,
rebels and the army. The only
people who are unarmed are the peaceful majorities. The people who do all the suffering: the peaceful majority. The answer from the power-loving
politicians in the UN: make sure the peaceful majority can’t access any
weapons.
Here are the two lessons of
history for the day:
1) You
are the only one who is truly interested in your safety.
2) The
police will not arrive in time to save you.
