DontBurnMyFlag
Member
Hey, guys, the following is a letter/essay I wrote to my mom about getting a gun to protect her family. I wrote it to her first because my dad would get guns, hes just facing a brick wall of "NO" when he talks to her. So I thought Id put my college education to the test and attempt to sway her opinion with stone cold facts. Also, in addition to this, I will attach the e-book from gunfacts.info. Any help critiqing or plain old critizing will be appreciated.
Many people say the 2nd Amendment is outdated and has no purpose in modern America. I and 80 million other Americans feel differently. I know you don’t want to own a firearm, but what I intend to do, is prove to you why you NEED a firearm for your protection.
Gun crime is something you cannot escape in any country big or small. Even when a country’s government outlaws guns, gun crime still exists. In many cases when a government outlaws guns, gun crime rises significantly. Due to the media and TV, guns get a bad reputation. Due to this bad reputation, people often have an irrational fear of guns. They see them as something that’s sole purpose is to eliminate life. When you look at a knife, do you see a serial killer? When you look at a box of matches, do you see an arsonist? However, when people look at a gun, they see everything that ever went wrong with a gun. They see a school shooting, a homicide and a sniper. No one ever stops to think of how many lives are saved a year because of guns.
Guns in the hands of law abiding civilians save lives every year. It is estimated that 6,000 crimes a year are stopped by civilians using firearms. Isn’t this the police’s job? As much as we would like to believe it, the police are not going to be there for you at every minute of everyday. In the blink of an eye you can find yourself in a situation that needs immediate response. You may not be able to wait those 4 minutes for the police to arrive. Four minutes is a lot of time when a burglar is 25 feet away from you in your house. Criminals have been quoted as to saying they fear a civilian with a gun more than a police officer. This is because a civilian has the right to shoot if their life is in danger and if their property has been invaded. A lot of people don’t own guns because they think they are safe where they live and that criminals would never go near their neighborhood. Well as much as I hate to do it, I must take off your rose colored glasses.
Camden New Jersey is the newly named “worst city in America†according to a national test of crime rates. In 2002 there were 33 murders, 45 rapes, 1155 burglaries, 797 assaults and 607 robberies according to the 2002 F.B.I. Crime report. This numbers have been on the rise the past 3 years. Crime is spreading up the Black Horse Pike. People are losing their jobs, stores are closing and people are moving away. There are already people from Camden selling drugs and guns in Runnemede. There are a few high school kids carrying guns and hundreds of them that deal drugs. We live next door to someone who has been in trouble with the law and drugs. We live 2 doors down from a family that is constantly in trouble with the police. Our police department is professional and efficient, but not 100% vigilant. What happens when there is nothing left to rob in Camden? What happens when there is no one left to sell drugs too? It’s moving down the Pike, right into our own neighborhood. Im not advocating a vigilante group, I just think our family should be protected from the dangers that strike everyday in America. There are killers and rapists who pick their houses at random. It doesn’t have to be a bad neighborhood, it can happen anywhere. Isn’t better to be safe than sorry?
I understand your concerns. There was a report put out a few years ago that stated “you are more likely to shoot a family member than an intruder.†That’s only true if you are an uneducated, untrained, simple minded person. There are flashlight attachments you can put on your gun to help you better identify your target. A normal person does not go downstairs with a gun at the slightest sound and start popping off rounds. It just doesn’t make sense. You go downstairs, point the gun, and your flashlight on the end will light up your target. If that’s not enough, there is plenty more to make your home safe for you family and firearms. Less-Lethal ammunition is what the police use in riots to control crowds. The most common is the “beanbag.†This is a beanbag filled with a heavy material that is shot from a shotgun. The force will knock down the person and make him think twice about intruding. Also, there are “pepper blast†shells. These are shells that when shot from a shotgun, they blast out cayenne pepper spray at the intruder. This is more effective than mace, and more intimidating. Also, there is the fact that you may not even have to fire the gun to protect your home. You can simply point the gun at the intruder and have him sit there until police arrive. Visit this website for more information on less lethal ammo. (http://www.ozarkmtns.com/less-lethal/index.htm) It will give you the information as to what type of ammo it is, and reasons to use it. This ammo is dangerous, but will provide you with the security you need. No criminal will want to stick around after having his ribs broken by a homeowner with a gun. Furthermore, you won’t kill the individual so you will be morally and legally clean of any wrong doing.
There are many situations in which you may find yourself needing a firearm. We covered a home invasion already. Although you may think that because we live in the suburbs we are immune to burglaries and home invasions. Well incase you forgot, we live next to someone who used to rob peoples sheds. He could have easily broken into anyone’s house. This type of crime happens anywhere at any time of day. Recently in rural Connecticut at 6:00am on Sunday morning a woman had her home broken into. She shot the robber and the police caught him later. This took place in a wealthy rural environment.
Civil Unrest is not isolated to third world countries and poor neighborhoods. It can happen anywhere at anytime. Think about it. If a Camden Police officer shot and killed a 9 year old boy on accident, it may produce some racial tensions in the area. If those tensions overflow onto the streets, people will take advantage of the lawlessness to loot, rob and pillage like wild Mongols. If there is a natural disaster such as a tornado, hurricane, earthquake or disease you may need to protect yourself from mobs of people. This happened in Florida after hurricane Andrew. If people ran out of supplies, what is stopping them from coming into our house and taking them? Nothing if you don’t have a gun to protect yourself and your home. The police will not always be there to protect you. Runnemede is a small town and they have limited resources. In the event of a disaster, a police arrival may take anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour. Think about it, in a situation of urgency, do you have 10 minutes to an hour to wait around for help? I am sure I have made some good points, but I have a feeling you are not 100% convinced. You still don’t know how to use a gun, well that can and should change.
Having a gun in the home is not a surefire way to protect yourself, especially if you don’t know how to use it. That is why any responsible gun owner would take lessons on how to shoot, clean and maintain a firearm in a home. There are plenty of places that will teach you safety and operation of any firearm. These can be found in your local yellowpages. There are also dozens of ways to keep your firearm safe from others. There are locks for the trigger and there are lockers to put them in. Also, keep your ammunition separate from the gun; this makes the gun useless if it falls into the wrong hands. However, you don’t want to keep your gun completely locked away, that you won’t be able to reach it in an emergency.
Guns themselves do not harm anyone. It is an irresponsible person behind the trigger that causes injury. In terms of raw statistics, alcohol abuse costs several times as many lives per year as gun homicides. Especially when you consider that the majority of homicides and many suicides are committed under the influence of alcohol, not to mention other violent crimes (rape, battery, etc.). Think of how many people are killed in alcohol related car accidents every year. Doctors for example cause more deaths that gun accidents in America. For instance, there are 700,000 physicians in the U.S. The average number or accidental deaths caused by doctors in America is 120,000 a year, meaning that there are 0.171 deaths per physician. These statistics are not inflated or made up, they are courtesy of the U.S. Dept. of Health Human services. There are 80,000,000 gun owners in the United States. The accidental death toll by firearms is 1,500 a year. This includes every time a child finds his dads loaded gun and shoots himself or his friend on accident. The number of accidental deaths per gun owner is .000188 (Statistics courtesy of FBI). This means that statistically doctors are 9,000 times more deadly than guns.
Anti-gun legislation is a controversial topic. People in elite positions want to ban firearms and keep them out of the hands of criminals by making it harder for law abiding citizens to purchase guns. That doesn’t make any sense. A criminal has already broken the law once, why would he follow procedure to buy a legal gun. Guns at gun stores are far more expensive then if you bought them on the street. If a criminal wanted a gun to use in a crime, he could get one in Camden for $80. That same gun would be $400 at your local gun shop. As a whole, the net Violent Crime Rate is 26% higher in restrictive states (798.3/100,000) than states with more liberal gun laws (631.6/100,000); the Murder Rate is 49% higher in restrictive states (10.1/100,000 versus 6.8/100,000); the Robbery Rate is 58% higher in restrictive states (289.7/100,000 versus 183.1/100,000); and the Aggravated Assault Rate is 15% higher in restrictive states (455.9/100,000) than states with more liberal gun laws (398.3/100,000). In Washington D.C., the murder rate is 56.9 per 100,000 people. Washington D.C. has the strictest gun laws in the nation and bans its citizens from owning them. Across the river in Arlington Virginia, they have unregulated gun ownership and their murder rate is 1.6 per 100,000 people. This is the same for England. While England’s crime rate has dropped recently, within the first year of banning firearms, violent crime skyrocketed 54%. The statistics are similar in Australia and any other country, city, state, town, commonwealth or village that has ever banned firearms. Keeping guns out of the hands of everyone, does not make the world a safer place.
A gun is merely an object. Whether people consider it a tool or a weapon, it is merely an inanimate object. It can do no harm just sitting on a desk or in a gun cabinet. It is up to the owner of the firearm to keep his family educated on the safety of firearms. With everything in life, there is responsibility, why should this be any different.
It is not a daunting task to keep a home safe with firearms. If you are responsible and know how to operate a gun properly, then owning one can be the most important thing to the safety of your family.
Many people say the 2nd Amendment is outdated and has no purpose in modern America. I and 80 million other Americans feel differently. I know you don’t want to own a firearm, but what I intend to do, is prove to you why you NEED a firearm for your protection.
Gun crime is something you cannot escape in any country big or small. Even when a country’s government outlaws guns, gun crime still exists. In many cases when a government outlaws guns, gun crime rises significantly. Due to the media and TV, guns get a bad reputation. Due to this bad reputation, people often have an irrational fear of guns. They see them as something that’s sole purpose is to eliminate life. When you look at a knife, do you see a serial killer? When you look at a box of matches, do you see an arsonist? However, when people look at a gun, they see everything that ever went wrong with a gun. They see a school shooting, a homicide and a sniper. No one ever stops to think of how many lives are saved a year because of guns.
Guns in the hands of law abiding civilians save lives every year. It is estimated that 6,000 crimes a year are stopped by civilians using firearms. Isn’t this the police’s job? As much as we would like to believe it, the police are not going to be there for you at every minute of everyday. In the blink of an eye you can find yourself in a situation that needs immediate response. You may not be able to wait those 4 minutes for the police to arrive. Four minutes is a lot of time when a burglar is 25 feet away from you in your house. Criminals have been quoted as to saying they fear a civilian with a gun more than a police officer. This is because a civilian has the right to shoot if their life is in danger and if their property has been invaded. A lot of people don’t own guns because they think they are safe where they live and that criminals would never go near their neighborhood. Well as much as I hate to do it, I must take off your rose colored glasses.
Camden New Jersey is the newly named “worst city in America†according to a national test of crime rates. In 2002 there were 33 murders, 45 rapes, 1155 burglaries, 797 assaults and 607 robberies according to the 2002 F.B.I. Crime report. This numbers have been on the rise the past 3 years. Crime is spreading up the Black Horse Pike. People are losing their jobs, stores are closing and people are moving away. There are already people from Camden selling drugs and guns in Runnemede. There are a few high school kids carrying guns and hundreds of them that deal drugs. We live next door to someone who has been in trouble with the law and drugs. We live 2 doors down from a family that is constantly in trouble with the police. Our police department is professional and efficient, but not 100% vigilant. What happens when there is nothing left to rob in Camden? What happens when there is no one left to sell drugs too? It’s moving down the Pike, right into our own neighborhood. Im not advocating a vigilante group, I just think our family should be protected from the dangers that strike everyday in America. There are killers and rapists who pick their houses at random. It doesn’t have to be a bad neighborhood, it can happen anywhere. Isn’t better to be safe than sorry?
I understand your concerns. There was a report put out a few years ago that stated “you are more likely to shoot a family member than an intruder.†That’s only true if you are an uneducated, untrained, simple minded person. There are flashlight attachments you can put on your gun to help you better identify your target. A normal person does not go downstairs with a gun at the slightest sound and start popping off rounds. It just doesn’t make sense. You go downstairs, point the gun, and your flashlight on the end will light up your target. If that’s not enough, there is plenty more to make your home safe for you family and firearms. Less-Lethal ammunition is what the police use in riots to control crowds. The most common is the “beanbag.†This is a beanbag filled with a heavy material that is shot from a shotgun. The force will knock down the person and make him think twice about intruding. Also, there are “pepper blast†shells. These are shells that when shot from a shotgun, they blast out cayenne pepper spray at the intruder. This is more effective than mace, and more intimidating. Also, there is the fact that you may not even have to fire the gun to protect your home. You can simply point the gun at the intruder and have him sit there until police arrive. Visit this website for more information on less lethal ammo. (http://www.ozarkmtns.com/less-lethal/index.htm) It will give you the information as to what type of ammo it is, and reasons to use it. This ammo is dangerous, but will provide you with the security you need. No criminal will want to stick around after having his ribs broken by a homeowner with a gun. Furthermore, you won’t kill the individual so you will be morally and legally clean of any wrong doing.
There are many situations in which you may find yourself needing a firearm. We covered a home invasion already. Although you may think that because we live in the suburbs we are immune to burglaries and home invasions. Well incase you forgot, we live next to someone who used to rob peoples sheds. He could have easily broken into anyone’s house. This type of crime happens anywhere at any time of day. Recently in rural Connecticut at 6:00am on Sunday morning a woman had her home broken into. She shot the robber and the police caught him later. This took place in a wealthy rural environment.
Civil Unrest is not isolated to third world countries and poor neighborhoods. It can happen anywhere at anytime. Think about it. If a Camden Police officer shot and killed a 9 year old boy on accident, it may produce some racial tensions in the area. If those tensions overflow onto the streets, people will take advantage of the lawlessness to loot, rob and pillage like wild Mongols. If there is a natural disaster such as a tornado, hurricane, earthquake or disease you may need to protect yourself from mobs of people. This happened in Florida after hurricane Andrew. If people ran out of supplies, what is stopping them from coming into our house and taking them? Nothing if you don’t have a gun to protect yourself and your home. The police will not always be there to protect you. Runnemede is a small town and they have limited resources. In the event of a disaster, a police arrival may take anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour. Think about it, in a situation of urgency, do you have 10 minutes to an hour to wait around for help? I am sure I have made some good points, but I have a feeling you are not 100% convinced. You still don’t know how to use a gun, well that can and should change.
Having a gun in the home is not a surefire way to protect yourself, especially if you don’t know how to use it. That is why any responsible gun owner would take lessons on how to shoot, clean and maintain a firearm in a home. There are plenty of places that will teach you safety and operation of any firearm. These can be found in your local yellowpages. There are also dozens of ways to keep your firearm safe from others. There are locks for the trigger and there are lockers to put them in. Also, keep your ammunition separate from the gun; this makes the gun useless if it falls into the wrong hands. However, you don’t want to keep your gun completely locked away, that you won’t be able to reach it in an emergency.
Guns themselves do not harm anyone. It is an irresponsible person behind the trigger that causes injury. In terms of raw statistics, alcohol abuse costs several times as many lives per year as gun homicides. Especially when you consider that the majority of homicides and many suicides are committed under the influence of alcohol, not to mention other violent crimes (rape, battery, etc.). Think of how many people are killed in alcohol related car accidents every year. Doctors for example cause more deaths that gun accidents in America. For instance, there are 700,000 physicians in the U.S. The average number or accidental deaths caused by doctors in America is 120,000 a year, meaning that there are 0.171 deaths per physician. These statistics are not inflated or made up, they are courtesy of the U.S. Dept. of Health Human services. There are 80,000,000 gun owners in the United States. The accidental death toll by firearms is 1,500 a year. This includes every time a child finds his dads loaded gun and shoots himself or his friend on accident. The number of accidental deaths per gun owner is .000188 (Statistics courtesy of FBI). This means that statistically doctors are 9,000 times more deadly than guns.
Anti-gun legislation is a controversial topic. People in elite positions want to ban firearms and keep them out of the hands of criminals by making it harder for law abiding citizens to purchase guns. That doesn’t make any sense. A criminal has already broken the law once, why would he follow procedure to buy a legal gun. Guns at gun stores are far more expensive then if you bought them on the street. If a criminal wanted a gun to use in a crime, he could get one in Camden for $80. That same gun would be $400 at your local gun shop. As a whole, the net Violent Crime Rate is 26% higher in restrictive states (798.3/100,000) than states with more liberal gun laws (631.6/100,000); the Murder Rate is 49% higher in restrictive states (10.1/100,000 versus 6.8/100,000); the Robbery Rate is 58% higher in restrictive states (289.7/100,000 versus 183.1/100,000); and the Aggravated Assault Rate is 15% higher in restrictive states (455.9/100,000) than states with more liberal gun laws (398.3/100,000). In Washington D.C., the murder rate is 56.9 per 100,000 people. Washington D.C. has the strictest gun laws in the nation and bans its citizens from owning them. Across the river in Arlington Virginia, they have unregulated gun ownership and their murder rate is 1.6 per 100,000 people. This is the same for England. While England’s crime rate has dropped recently, within the first year of banning firearms, violent crime skyrocketed 54%. The statistics are similar in Australia and any other country, city, state, town, commonwealth or village that has ever banned firearms. Keeping guns out of the hands of everyone, does not make the world a safer place.
A gun is merely an object. Whether people consider it a tool or a weapon, it is merely an inanimate object. It can do no harm just sitting on a desk or in a gun cabinet. It is up to the owner of the firearm to keep his family educated on the safety of firearms. With everything in life, there is responsibility, why should this be any different.
It is not a daunting task to keep a home safe with firearms. If you are responsible and know how to operate a gun properly, then owning one can be the most important thing to the safety of your family.
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Takin' the "low road" again.......... :banghead: 
