According to the Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort (WAVE) Web site, 400 people in Wisconsin are killed each year by guns. With annual firearm deaths exceeding 30,000 nationwide, families and neighborhoods everywhere are devastated daily by this violence.
Although these figures are daunting, WAVE itself may scare me more.
According to the Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort (WAVE) Web site, 400 people in Wisconsin are killed each year by guns. With annual firearm deaths exceeding 30,000 nationwide, families and neighborhoods everywhere are devastated daily by this violence.
Although these figures are daunting, WAVE itself may scare me more.
WAVE fails to include analysis of its “facts.” How many murders were gang-related? Were the guns involved purchased legally or illegally? Such questions bring perspective to the facts that would enable policy makers to pass better laws.
The liberal maxim ?more guns equal more crime? is the baseless nucleus of the pro-gun control campaign. Organizations like WAVE incorrectly blame guns, rather than people, for high homicide rates in the U.S. and push for strict gun control laws.
Guns are not the cause of crime and murder. In fact, more guns result in less crime. Wisconsin should adopt a concealed carry law if it wants less crime.
Gov. Jim Doyle recently vetoed a concealed carry proposal, one similar to the laws in thirty-five other states. Wisconsin sadly continues waiting to be legally granted a Second Amendment right.
Our nation?s capital shows how gun-control laws adversely affect homicide rates. In 1976, Washington, D.C., passed the D.C. Firearms Control Act, which enacted a virtual ban on handguns. According to a 2003 study from the FBI, the homicide rate rose 200 percent between 1976 and 1991.
When the government outlaws something, the supply goes underground and fosters criminal activity. Gun control laws, penalize and endanger law-abiding citizens. Guns just don’t “go away” because a legislature imposes a restriction. Instead, they fall into the hands of criminals. While criminals illegally purchase guns, honest, innocent citizens are left defenseless.
Minnesota, recently adopted a “Permit to Carry” law, with provisions similar to those of concealed carry laws. Michelle Fure of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety said this law requires sheriffs to issue handgun permits to all applicants unless the applicant has a disqualifying offense such as mental illness or a conviction for certain crimes. It also requires applicants to pass a training course.
Many states already have some version of concealed carry in effect, most of which have seen positive results. According to the Wisconsin Public Policy Research Report summary on findings of gun use before and after passage of shall-issue gun laws, only one of the nine surveyed states had higher homicide rates. Seven states had lower homicide rates, and one state?s rates remained unchanged.
These laws have helped keep guns out of the hands of criminals, which debunks the fear that murder rates will rise if law-abiding citizens own guns. People are not as dumb and irresponsible as liberals think. Your average Joe Schmo won?t shoot someone over a petty dispute; murderers and drug lords will.
Gun control advocates erroneously maintain that guns are not used for self-defense. J. Neil Schulman’s book “Stopping Power” reports that one of America’s 70 million gun owners defensively uses a firearm against a criminal every 13 seconds. If Wisconsin adopted a concealed carry law, I would be No. 70,000,001 if the situation arose. But as it stands in this state, gun control groups are helping block legislation that would grant me means to self-defense.
Even though a major duty of the government is protecting its people, the government simply cannot defend every single citizen at any given time. Citizens have a right in the U.S. Constitution and state constitutions to defend themselves. Concealed carry laws would give individuals the means to exercise this right and help reduce crime. There is hard evidence showing these laws have proven to be safe and effective in several states. Wisconsin should abandon its old ways and adopt a concealed carry law.