Guns

I'm a gun man. Well, not really, but I completely support a citizen's right to own a gun, given that he or she proves that they're mentally right and able to own a gun without needlessly slaying others.

I am horrified whenever a school shooting happens, but I am also appalled when the day after, liberal nutjobs call for laws banning citizens from owning guns. They seem to think that simply making it illegal to own a gun will prevent criminals from obtaining and ultimately using them. Criminals break they law, that's kind of their whole deal. So breaking one more law may actually make them happier.

One year ago, Australia forced its gun-owners to turn in their guns. In total 640,381 guns were destroyed and cost the government over $500MM. The Aussies thought that by destroying guns, they'd get rid of their problem. I wonder how that turned out.

Actually, I don't because I could have told the Australians what would happen before they decided to go through with their stupid little plan.

• Australia-wide, homicides are up 3.2%


• Australia-wide, assaults are up 8.6%


• Australia-wide, armed-robberies are up 44% (yes, FORTY-FOUR PERCENT)


• In the state of Victoria, homicides-with-firearms are up 300%


• Figures over the previous 25 years show a steady decrease in homicides-with-firearms (changed dramatically in the past 12 months)


• Figures over the previous 25 years show a steady decrease in armed-robbery-with-firearms (changed dramatically in the past 12 months)


• There has been a dramatic increase in break-ins and assaults of the elderly


• At the time of the ban, the Prime Minister said "self-defense is not a reason for owning a firearm"


• From 1910 to present, homicides in Australia had averaged about 1.8-per-100,000 or lower, a safe society by any standard.


• The ban has destroyed Australia's standings in some international sport shooting competitions


• The membership of the Australian Sports Shooting Association has risen to 112,000, a 200% increase, in response to the ban and as an attempt to organize against further controls, which are expected.


• Australian politicians are on the spot and at a loss to explain how no improvement in "safety" has been observed after such monumental effort and expense was successfully expended in "ridding society of guns". Their response has been to "wait longer".

Surprise, surprise. Here's a quote from Keith Tidswell, from the Sporting Shooter's Association, Australia's version of the NRA:

"...The best organization you've got there, the biggest organization you've got there is the NRA. We don't have an organization that size. We didn't have an organization that size, and as a consequence, we suffered. And we hope that you don't suffer..."

I'll present you with two scenarios now.

Scenario 1: Mentally troubled young man wants to commit suicide and take some people with him. He gets some loser adult to buy him a gun and goes to his school. He takes out 5 of his classmates before killing himself, knowing that none of his law-abiding classmates will have a gun.

Scenario 2: Mentally troubled young man wants to commit suicide and take some people with him. He takes his gun to class, but sees two other students carrying legally licensed handguns in his class. He just goes home and takes his own life.

Now this won't stop every crazy lunatic from playing Scenario 1, but if it stops just one innocent murder, it's worth it. Now I'm certainly not advocating selling a gun to anybody and everybody, in fact, I support tougher and more intense screening before a gun is purchased. All medical records should be considered (both physical and mental) and background checks must become mandatory. If it's a little more inconvenient, so what? Owning a gun is different that owning a TV or some other trivial item.

Oklahoma is headed in the right direction. A bill that would allow students to carry firearms on campus if they are at least 21 and are licensed to carry a concealed weapon passed 14-2 on Monday by the House Judiciary and Public Safety Committee. The bill would only apply to public colleges and universities, and is its status is being tracked by schools like Oklahoma State University.

I'm actually headed to Stillwater, OK in May to attend a national conference of student government leaders and I'm looking forward to discussing this bill not only with students from OSU, but with students from colleges and universities from across the nation.

Guns don't kill people. Pathetic and crazy losers kill people. And liberals don't want honest Americans to be able to defend themselves from these crazies.