ZombieHunter
Member
I've found my windmill.
I live in Maryland, a may-issue state. I've written the following letter to the editor with the hopes that it is printed and sparks some debate. I would appreciate any feed back. PLEASE note that I am limited to 250 words. The following article is 247. All constructive critizism is welcome including grammar, punctuation, et c.
An Open Letter to Maryland Violent Crime Victims,
According to the US Dept. of Justice there were over 38,000 of you in the year 2006 alone. That includes those who can still speak out: victims of rape, assault and robbery; and, approximately 514 who are dead and cannot.
My question to you is simple. Do you believe that if you had had the means to have properly defended yourself, you would have still been victimized?
Current Maryland law allows anyone to apply for a concealed handgun carry permit [CCW], yet places a substantial and often insurmountable burden on them to prove they need it. When issued these permits are extremely restricted in their use, coming with provisions on when and where they can be carried. How many of you could have known when, where and if you were going to be victimized?
Thirty-nine states (78%) are currently shall-issue, placing no burden of proof; any citizen legally capable of buying a firearm is legally able to carry that same firearm as a tool for self-defense. Lott and Mustard (1997) did research on crime rates in states that passed shall-issue CCW laws and found that violent crime dropped around 5.5%. If the same thing happened in Maryland over 2,000 of you would not have been victims.
Please, email, fax, write and call your state legislators and remind them that self-defense is an inalienable human right and denying us all the tools to that end is morally reprehensible and governmentally irresponsible.
I live in Maryland, a may-issue state. I've written the following letter to the editor with the hopes that it is printed and sparks some debate. I would appreciate any feed back. PLEASE note that I am limited to 250 words. The following article is 247. All constructive critizism is welcome including grammar, punctuation, et c.
An Open Letter to Maryland Violent Crime Victims,
According to the US Dept. of Justice there were over 38,000 of you in the year 2006 alone. That includes those who can still speak out: victims of rape, assault and robbery; and, approximately 514 who are dead and cannot.
My question to you is simple. Do you believe that if you had had the means to have properly defended yourself, you would have still been victimized?
Current Maryland law allows anyone to apply for a concealed handgun carry permit [CCW], yet places a substantial and often insurmountable burden on them to prove they need it. When issued these permits are extremely restricted in their use, coming with provisions on when and where they can be carried. How many of you could have known when, where and if you were going to be victimized?
Thirty-nine states (78%) are currently shall-issue, placing no burden of proof; any citizen legally capable of buying a firearm is legally able to carry that same firearm as a tool for self-defense. Lott and Mustard (1997) did research on crime rates in states that passed shall-issue CCW laws and found that violent crime dropped around 5.5%. If the same thing happened in Maryland over 2,000 of you would not have been victims.
Please, email, fax, write and call your state legislators and remind them that self-defense is an inalienable human right and denying us all the tools to that end is morally reprehensible and governmentally irresponsible.