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Why possess a gun in a high-crime area?
June 28, 2008 | Tagged Heller, right to self-defense, Second Amendment | 1 Comment
As I predicted, the smart guys on our side are perusing the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) Heller ruling to determine the implications of both the majority opinion and the dissent. I would like to focus for a moment on one of Justice Breyer’s comments in dissent.
Justice Breyer wrote,”In my view, there simply is no untouchable constitutional right guarenteed by the Second Amendment to keep loaded handguns in the house in crime-ridden urban areas.” The obvious question to me is, where else would you more likely need a loaded handgun than in a crime-ridden urban area?
Think about this for a minute, because Justice Breyer’s statement lays open what I believe to be the liberal mindset regarding guns. At issue is the fundamental right of the individual to defend him or herself from criminal aggression. The handgun is simply one relatively convenient, effective way to achieve what I believe to be a worthy goal.
A twelve-gauge shotgun loaded with either number six shot or double ought buck is often recommended as the best home defense gun. Exceedingly intimidating and lethal at the conversational ranges involved in most home defense shootings, the shotgun is more unwieldly than a handgun, and probably more difficult for a person with a disability, a woman, or a person of smaller stature to use.
A handgun can be carried on the person for instant accessibility. Statistics compiled by researcher Gary Kleck indicate that around 98%of defensive firearm uses merely involve brandishing a weapon to convince the would-be criminal that life is easier and healthier at some location other than the intended crime scene.
But, Justice Breyer’s comment is not about the merits of a particular weapon used in self-defense. I believe his approach implies that the cause of law and order is better served, if a U.S. Citizen does not prepare to resist or attempt to resist a criminal attack.
Certainly, in the United Kingdom, the official advice to crime victims seems to be “Don’t resist. If you are alive following an assault, call the police.” This does keep the crime scene neat. Everybody dead or injured is a victim. Everybody with a weapon is a criminal. If the felon has escaped, the police can begin an orderly investigation using forensic evidence from the dead and interviews from any victims or witnesses able and willing to talk. It is all very well organized and somehow extremely British.
The disadvantage of this approach as far as the crime victim is concerned reminds me of Sancho Panza’s great line in Man of La Mancha. “It doesn’t matter if the rock hits the pitcher, or the pitcher hits the rock. It’s going to be bad for the pitcher.” The life of an unarmed victim is in the hands of the assailant.
Given the attention and consideration that the SCOTUS has given to enemy combatants in U.S. custody, I guess I would have expected a little more compassion for American citizens in high crime areas. But then, in the U.K., if you injure, or (gasp!) kill a burglar or home invader, YOU are the bigger criminal. (They threw the book at Tony Martin for burglar homicide.)
So what? It matters to U.S. what they do in the U.K. and Europe. As Justice Bader Ginsburg (another dissenter in Heller) opined in essence in another situation, it would be a good thing if the U.S. looked abroad for legal precdents, instead of relying only on our own judicial experience.
Europe, you know, is so sophisticated. In the last century, they only spawned two world wars, the Holocaust, and a great slaughter in the Soviet Union. It troubles me to think that we might want to emulate the legal and political institutions that allowed those horrors. I personally believe the threat to law, order, life, liberty and happiness is greater from government oppression or incompetence than a citizen with a loaded handgun in a “crime-ridden urban area.”
Def Mech
Comments
1 Comment so far
I have Bell’s Palsy and enjoy your blog very much. First time I’ve commented, but have been reading here and there.
Great blog. I enjoy reading it every chance I get and value your opinions!