By Susan Duclos
One has to look no further than Chicago, Illinois, for a shining example of how detrimental onerous gun laws are and how preventing law abiding citizens from the right to bear arms in defense of person and family, leaves them defenseless against criminals with illegal guns.
Chicago Tribune reports that police confirmed the 500th homicide in Chicago.
The police department went back and forth for much of Friday over whether Jackson was the 500th murder so far this year, at first confirming it, and then denying it, saying a murder last week had been reclassified as a death investigation, therefore making Jackson the 499th homicide. But by late afternoon, the department once again confirmed there had been 500 murders.
McCarthy issued a statement declaring: “The city has seen its 500th homicide for 2012, a tragic number that is reflective of the gang violence and proliferation of illegal guns that have plagued some of our neighborhoods.”
What the Tribune article does not delve into is Chicago's gun laws, where despite a Supreme Court ruling in the case of McDonald v. Chicago, where the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the handgun bans of Chicago and Oak Park to be unconstitutional, it is still almost impossible for law abiding citizens to acquire a handgun.
The Examiner explains:
Of course, it is basically illegal for Chicago residents to defend themselves...
The state of Illinois has placed many obstacles between citizens and their Constitutional right "to keep and bear arms." Illinois is one of only two states in the country which does not allow concealed carry. Incredibly, open carry of firearms is also illegal throughout the state.
Illinois also requires residents to obtain a Firearm Owner´s Identification card, in order to purchase ammunition as well as a firearm.
Chicago municipal law dictates that all guns be registered with the police. However, the city does not permit handguns to be registered, which places a ban on handguns for lawful Chicago residents.
Additionally, the Chicago suburbs of Evanston, Highland Park, Morton Grove, Oak Park, Wilmette, and Winnetka have all outlawed the ownership of handguns.
440 school-age children have been wounded by a gun in Chicago in 2012.
Let's take a look at another gun law experiment, one that actually worked.
Kennesaw, Georgia:
Kennesaw once again was in the news on May 1, 1982, when the city unanimously passed a law requiring "every head of household to maintain a firearm together with ammunition." After passage of the law, the burglary rate in Kennesaw declined and even today, the City has the lowest crime rate in Cobb County.
Yes, when criminals know the people they are targeting are capable, armed and prepared to defend themselves, they head elsewhere.
The Kennesaw law has endured as the town's population has swelled to about 30,000 from 5,000 in 1982.
"When the law was passed in 1982 there was a substantial drop in crime ... and we have maintained a really low crime rate since then," said police Lt. Craig Graydon. "We are sure it is one of the lowest (crime) towns in the metro area. (Source- Reuters)
Another more recent report from Sacramento Bee headlines with "California gun sales jump; gun injuries, deaths fall."
The image below has been making the rounds across social media sites. Ask yourself, which sign would criminals avoid and which would they gravitate towards?
One last bit of information in light of Sen. Dianne Feinstein's (D-Calif.) proposed gun ban legislation she plans to offer on January 3, 2013:
Plus, critics of the proposal point to studies showing that the previous “assault-weapons” ban — in place from 1994 to 2004, but far less draconian than the current proposal — did virtually nothing to stop crime, murder, or mayhem, despite promises by its supporters. One 2004 study by the National Research Council cited in news reports, for example, found that the scheme "did not reveal any clear impacts on gun violence.”
Even the Justice Department explained that it had “no discernible reduction in the lethality and injuriousness of gun violence, based on indicators like the percentage of gun crimes resulting in death or the share of gunfire incidents resulting in injury.” When the ban expired, anti-Second Amendment extremists claimed murder and mayhem would be sure to follow. Of course, that never happened, with murders nationwide actually dropping by almost four percent — the first decline since 1999 — the year after lawmakers refused to renew the ban.
When law abiding citizens are forced to disarm, they become prey to those that do not abide by the law.
The Second Amendment: 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.