Good people can put guns to good use
By TOM KING
12/31/2004
You've heard it so much over the years that it has become a comedic and sarcastic cliché of the gun rights crowd: "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." It's tough to argue with the statement. Guns don't act alone, it takes someone - we normally think of a bad someone - to discharge a gun in a deadly manner. Why blame the gun?
But, of course, gun control advocates tell us that without the availability of guns, fewer people - meaning fewer bad people - would have access to them, making us safer. That is also difficult to argue with. Fewer guns mean fewer bad people with guns and, therefore, a safer community.
But here in the real world, in our own communities of Western New York, there are bad people, and they do seek to injure good people. And twice last month, seemingly good people who had guns were able to prevent a crime or an even greater tragedy.
So the real lesson is that in the real world - even in Buffalo - there are some bad people (thankfully not too many) and that sometimes good people with guns can help stop them and make our community a better place to live.
The guns did nothing wrong. In fact, the guns assisted people in saving lives and property. And statistics are beginning to prove that responsible gun ownership can help further protect our communities.
Most of us would be hard pressed to believe that England and Canada have the highest crime rates in Europe and North America. A recent British government report found that England had the worst crime rate among 35 countries, with a crime rate nearly triple some of its neighbors. Canada came in second.
Both countries have shocking levels of domestic burglary. Canada's rate is more than twice that of many European countries. Worse still, the frequency of "hot" break-ins - where the occupants are at home when the thieves arrive - is much higher in Canada and England than elsewhere. In England, nearly two-thirds of burglaries are of the "hot" variety, and in Canada, nearly half. By comparison, the figure is only 13 percent in the United States.
The common factor? Both Canada and England have laws that are among the strictest anti-gun ownership laws in the world. Property crimes such as burglaries are on the rise because bad people do bad things, even without guns.
Unfortunately, here in the United States, especially right here in New York, good people who wish to legally obtain and safely own a gun - in many cases to help protect themselves and their families - are subject to a myriad of seemingly random laws and regulations. Which seems to, again, equate gun ownership with bad behavior.
This is a time and place that we do have bad people in our community. Good people should be allowed to legally obtain, store and use guns in a manner that is safe to them, their families and their neighbors.
Tom King of Troy is president of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association
