Welcome to THR, Dr. McDowell. I hope you are learning something from all you are reading here, because these gentlemen (and y'all are behaving as gentlemen, applause to you all) are making very clear the logical fallacies of the arguments you've set forth.
But I'm going to wade in on a different point...the "guns and women" and "guns and children". As you can see from my screen name, I have a significant interest in both. Here is what you said:
My last point deals with guns and women and guns and children. The statistics are overwhelming and easily accessible on the internet. I cite many statisitics in my book, and I am very careful in drawing conclusions. It is obvious we have too many guns in our society. Dr. Catherine Christoffel, a Chicago pediatrician and spokeswomen for the fifty thousand members of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told the American Medical Association: "Guns are a virus that must be eradicated." She went on: "Get rid cigarettes, get rid of secondhand smoke, and you get rid of lung cancer. It is the same with guns. Get rid of guns, get rid of bullets, and you get rid of deaths." She concluded her speech with "A handgun in the home turns so many situations lethal." In fact over 750 spouses each year are killed by firearms. As far as I know no one gave their spouse a lethal injection, but a few were poisoned.
It is certainly a serious concern that a woman, whether or not she is a mother with children, is at risk for being the victim of a violent crime. While it is true that men are sometimes the victim of rape, the overwhelming majority of rape cases that are reported each year are cases of male on female rape. And although some men are the victims of domestic violence (the pastor's wife who shot her husband with a shotgun, and who was just this week released from a treatment facility comes to mind), still the overwhelming majority of victims of domestic violence are women and their children, perpetrated by husbands, boyfriends, and male acquaintences.
How, exactly, do you think that gun registration is going to change this? Are you under the impression that a man who is willing to commit the crime of rape is going to
abide by the law to register the gun he terrorizes his victims with? Do you think that the abusive boyfriend, father, husband, is going to give a thought to these laws, when they are willing to cross the line on that most basic of human values, the protection of their women and children?
Here in Texas, where concealed carry is legal with a permit, there are exceptions to where one can carry. These exceptions must be designated with a special sign, with specific wording. Every time I pass one of those (and I *never* enter a forbidden facility while carrying my own concealed handgun) I chuckle. The idea that a criminal who wants to rob the restaurant, terrorize the hospital for drugs, or interfere with whatever business goes on in that building, is ludicrous. The bad guys don't read the signs, don't care about the signs, don't obey the signs.
They're the bad guys, remember?
Same with gun registration. The gentlemen who have responded before me have done a better job than I could ever hope to do, in responding to most of your post. But I want to end with a few questions for you to ponder, and I hope you will give them some thought:
1) A woman who is armed and trained to use her handgun can protect herself from the rapist who wants to violate and perhaps kill her. Why should she be denied this right, as you wished to do in Minnesota?
2) A woman who is armed can protect herself and her children in the face of home invasions, which have become a distressingly more common event. Why should her gun be taken away because some physician thinks of it as "a virus that must be eradicated"?
3) A woman who is armed "evens the playing field" against a husband, father, boyfriend, or acquaintance who would victimize her children or herself. She is likely to be smaller and weaker and unable to fight physically against such a person. Why should she lose that equality in a conflict when to lose it may cost her her life?
The best way a woman can protect herself and her children is not to get the guns out of her house. It is to use them, train with them, practice with them, and be ready and able to counter any threat that comes through her door. Gone are the days when women and children were spared by thieves and robbers. Gone are the days when a woman could surrender her jewelry and be released unmolested. Gone are the days when a home was a safe haven that no band of violent thieves would invade. And gone are the days that women could pretend that they did not need to know how to protect themselves, and their children, because they would not be harmed.
"It's for the children" has been done to death as a rallying cry for anti-gun forces. I say to you: it is for my children, and for myself, that I own and carry and practice and train with my handguns, that I carry a concealed handgun permit and wear a gun on my belt every single day.
I will not be a victim!
Springmom
