Jul

13

Dick Morris, “Heller and “schizophrenic” attitude about guns (Part 2)

July 13, 2008 |  Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , |

In Part 1, we discussed what I believe to be the fact that the recent Heller Supreme Court case merely affirmed 200 years of “Standard Model” legal precedents that the Second Amendment clearly recognizes an individual right to keep and bear arms.  In Part 2, we will deal with Mr.  Morris’s belief that “strict gun controls” save lives and reduce homicides.

While it may be true that Heller  makes American women nervous about Roe v. Wade, I would submit that had the decision gone the other way, the outcome could have been either heavenly or catastrophic for the Republican Party.  If around 80,000,000 U.S. gun owners, including many women, had been demeaned and marginalized by a finding of no individual right in the Heller decision, it might have energized them into a hammer that would have politically smashed the Democrat Party into pieces for years.

A decision against the “Standard Model” could have as easily so demoralized and angered the “Community of Honest People Who Own Guns,” that they would defect en masse to a third party candidate, dooming the GOP to second class status for decades.  As it stands, as flawed as John McCain is on the issue of the individual right of self-defense against crime and tyranny, he remains head and shoulders above Barack Obama, who has said that he wants to ban handguns and semi-automatic weapons.

As for Mr. Morris’s “schizophrenia” about gun control saving lives and reducing homicides, let us again summarize the scientific evidence.  Three powerful anti-gun rights research organizations affiliated in two cases with the U.S. Government and in one Case with the U.N. have studied the findings in the field of gun control and violence.  These organizations, sometimes funded by grants from anti-gun foundations, such as the Joyce Foundation, have reviewed, assuming no duplication of effort, almost 450 studies, journal articles, books and publications.

According to these unfriendly organizations, there is no scientifically significant evidence that gun ownerhship promotes crime, or that gun laws reduce violence.  There is one indication, to be completely fair, in CDC research, that waiting periods for buying a gun may reduce the gun suicide risk among persons over 55, although it does not seem to reduce the overall suicide risk for this group.  (I don’t believe this questionable benefit justifies the 22,000 federal, state, and local gun laws that we have in this country.)  (See my post, “Gun suicide article typical ‘advocacy journalism,” below on this site.) (See The National Academy of the Sciences Executive Summary on Firearms and Violence-A critical review-2004, here) (See Small Arms Survey results here.)

At its most basic level, the pro-self-defense argument runs something like this.  If a person plans to commit suicide, he or she will find a way.  Many unhappy women in the Third World kill themselves by ingesting agricultural pesticides. In “gun-free” Japan in 2006, 32,155 people killed themselves. (”4 commit suicide by inhaling fumes, rate high in Japan,” Rocky Mountain News, Denver Newspaper Agency, 04-26-08) This is roughly the same number of persons who are the annual victims of “gun” violence in the U.S., even though America has a much larger population. Suicide seems to be a particular problem among the elderly in Japan.

If a felon is intent on committing a capital crime, a misdemeanor gun law is of little deterence.  In the absence of guns, knives, clubs, broomsticks, ball bats, barstools, shoestrings, neckties, cars, and bathtubs work about as well and don’t make as much noise.  A gun used in the defensive role, up to 2 to 2.5 million times a year, according to Kleck, gives a smaller potential victim an advantage over a larger, stronger attacker.  According to Kleck, Kates and Mauser, Wright and Rossi, and Lott, the overall impact of guns in a society would seem to be positive.  See my post, “Gun suicide…,” as above.

The Left makes much of “acquaintence homicide.”  See my 06-30-08 post, “Stay safer, avoid criminal behavior and criminals,” on this site, regarding the higher incidence of homicide among persons with criminal records.  Very few people “snap.”  Most spree killers and killers in general have mental health histories that have been ignored or minimized by civil authorities and the courts.

America has 22,000 gun laws and regulations, many of which may not be affected by Heller.  These laws include the unfortunate creation of “gun-free zones” (actually upheld by Heller ) in schools and some other places.  These zones should actually be called “criminal-safe free-fire zones,” since felons benefit from the governmental disarmament of honest citizens, creating a “target rich” environment of helpless victims.

Robberies and spree killings in Northfield Minnisota, Coffeeville, Kansas, Pearl Mississippi, Colorado Springs, Colorado, and the Appalachian School of Law were all disrupted or stopped by armed citizens, some of whom were in law enforcement or had law enforcement backgrounds.

Why are there no spree killings at gun shows?  I would opine, because the life expectency of a shooter would be about one minute, even though ammuniton boxes are routinely sealed and gun actions are rendered momentarily inoperable.

Suzanna Gratia Hupp’s parents died in the Luby Cafeteria Massacre in Killeen, TX.  Her handgun was locked in the car in accordance with TX state law at the time.  Anti-self-defense laws had created a perfect criminal free fire zone.  She vowed, “Never again!” and worked to reform Texas law regarding concealed carry.

Gun laws don’t prevent crime and may very well enable it.  Thomas Jefferson echoed the ideas of Italian criminologist Caesare Beccaria.  “The laws that forbid the carrying arms…disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes…they” (the laws) “serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides…”

 In conclusion, Heller  affirmed the “Standard Model” of an individual rights interpretation of the Second Amendment.  Guns in the hands of honest citizens prevent, rather than cause crime.  “Schizophrenia” or “hoplophobia” (fear of weapons) are unnecessary psychological burdens for a free citizen of the United States of America.  I believe Mr. Morris can rest easy in his belief that the Second Amendment recognizes an individual right.

Def Mech


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