NIGHTWATCH
Member
Of Guns and Men
July 29, 2005
by Eric Ross, Ph.D.
Guns bad, gun laws good, confiscate guns, put gun manufacturers out of business, and let’s all live happily thereafter, crime-free. Right? – Wrong, my dear friend, dead wrong.
That’s what the Bolsheviks did in 1917 when they usurped power. They confiscated guns, then turned Soviet Russia into the bloodiest tyranny in history. They had a nicely-worded Constitution, not unlike the U.S., they were a “Democracy” – tens of thousands of “people’s representatives” to the Soviets (People’s Councils) were at the helm of the legislative and executive power, and… they used mass terror, wiping out about 40 million of their own people to keep the rest in obedience.
Let’s look at another country, Switzerland. Tourists are astonished to see citizens carrying military rifles in public, especially at the time of a rifle competition, Schuetzenfest (shooting festival) in town. You may see men and women, old and young, even children as young as 12, carrying rifles over their shoulders on the streets, right past the police stations. (Make no mistake of trying this at home, in the U.S., as a trigger-happy police SWAT Team, with helicopters, night-vision scopes, and armored vehicles will be called upon you.)
W e all heard of those famous brand names, the Swiss banks that don’t bow down to the world’s political powers, the powers which come and go, and the Swiss Army knife, and Swiss Army watch, but this is not what the Swiss military is really known for. The Swiss military has a reputation of having the world’s best marksmen and athletes in its ranks, and it is not a regular army, rather – it’s a citizen’s militia. Between their regular annual tour of duty of two to three weeks per year from ages 20 to 42, Swiss soldiers and officers are obliged to keep their weapons at home, and may practice at the many rifle and pistol ranges managed by local communities. The old tradition of armed citizenry brought the country peace, prosperity and neutrality, which nobody, not even Hitler dared to violate. Nazi armies chose to invade other countries, those with strict gun controls, and easily controlled citizens. In Russia circa 1941, the People’s volunteer corps were fighting German troops with 1 old bolt action 1891 rifle shared between 3 soldiers.
In fact, Switzerland has more firepower per person than any country in the world, and an average Swiss citizen has more firepower than available to combat troops in many armies. Yet, Switzerland is one of the safest places on the planet, a country where crime is virtually non-existent.
Now, take England where guns are banned. Using data through 1996, the U.S. Department of Justice study "Crime and Justice" concluded that in England the robbery rate was 1.4 times higher, the assault rate was 2.3 times higher, and the burglary rate was 1.7 times higher than in the U.S. The study suggests that lawful gun ownership in the U.S. deters such crimes, which run rampant in England.
In further contrast, Swiss Federal Police Office data often sounds almost too good to be true, with no homicides at all reported in Geneva. Most crime in Switzerland, about 70 percent, is attributed to foreigners. The country had a rate of 1.2 homicides per 100,000 population in 1997, with only a fraction of those committed with firearms, and 36 robberies per 100,000. In 2000, the total number of murders in Switzerland was 69, of which 40 were committed with firearms. That’s a rate of 0.57 per 100,000, or 2.5 times less than in England. By comparison, Great Britain, where guns are banned, had a homicide rate of 1.4 per 100,000 (2.5 times higher) and a robbery rate of 116 per 100,000 of population (or 4 times higher than in Switzerland.)
The U.S. Trial Lawyers, hiding behind the facade of “good intentions” raided and destroyed many American industries, and already put many good, dedicated doctors out of practice of medicine. They also want to put gun manufacturers out of business (and split the proceeds), using baseless, frivolous lawsuits launched in well-known, plaintiff-friendly, anti-gun jurisdictions where judges view their role as being “fighters for social justice,” Neo-Marxist style. U.S. firearm manufacturers have spent $200 million in legal fees to defend themselves against frivolous lawsuits, that’s more than the entire industry’s total profits in 1999. To save the domestic gun industry, Bill Frist, Senate Majority Leader, brought to the floor of the Senate the "Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act," which has won the bipartisan support of 61 senators. Let him and your Senators know you support the bill, too.
The Soviet-style apparatchiks in all branches of the US Government of today would just love to ban gun ownership, one of the last bastions of Democracy in the US, then trample on whatever’s left of our naïve, prepubescent notions of Democracy as they “teach” in Middle School. The millions of Neo-Marxists of today masquerading behind the many “good causes” and perfectly “good intentions” recognize they cannot seize power first, then impose terror. They see a different path to the triumph of Communism, through stealth and a cultural hegemony first, in which Colleges, Universities and above all – Courts – are their powerful agents of change through a Cultural Revolution. America’s Neo-Marxists of all hues want to change the Culture first, then the power would fall into their lap like a ripened peach. Give up your constitutionally guaranteed right to bear arms, and see the Tyrants burn Constitution, redistribute property, and destroy the Western Civilization, which their rank and file is mind-programmed to hate with passion, then – materialize their vision of a World Government, in which they, of course, will remain the ruling oligarchy, and you – would be openly converted to slaves.
Far fetched? – With way over 2 million in jails, the US is already in the 1 st place in the World in absolute and per capita numbers of incarcerated, in use of prison labor, and in technologically advanced, sophisticated prison industry, demanding more bodies for its continued growth. If you are unaware of it – thank the mass media, the Neo-Marxists’ agent of change.
Eric Ross, Ph.D.
Copyright © Eric Ross, Ph.D., 2005. About the author: Dr. Eric Ross is a management consultant and an adjunct professor in the North East. He holds a Ph.D. in Information Sciences and MBA in Economics and Finance and is a member of the National Business Honor Society. He is a full-time father to an adorable 7-year-old boy, and an ardent researcher of economic and political “megatrends.” Being originally from the defunct Soviet Union and painfully familiar with the massive social injustices, first hand, he is painfully aware of the erosion of the constitutional principles, protections and liberties in the United States. He can be reached at [email protected]
http://www.mensnewsdaily.com/archive/r/ross-eric/2005/ross072905.htm
July 29, 2005
by Eric Ross, Ph.D.
Guns bad, gun laws good, confiscate guns, put gun manufacturers out of business, and let’s all live happily thereafter, crime-free. Right? – Wrong, my dear friend, dead wrong.
That’s what the Bolsheviks did in 1917 when they usurped power. They confiscated guns, then turned Soviet Russia into the bloodiest tyranny in history. They had a nicely-worded Constitution, not unlike the U.S., they were a “Democracy” – tens of thousands of “people’s representatives” to the Soviets (People’s Councils) were at the helm of the legislative and executive power, and… they used mass terror, wiping out about 40 million of their own people to keep the rest in obedience.
Let’s look at another country, Switzerland. Tourists are astonished to see citizens carrying military rifles in public, especially at the time of a rifle competition, Schuetzenfest (shooting festival) in town. You may see men and women, old and young, even children as young as 12, carrying rifles over their shoulders on the streets, right past the police stations. (Make no mistake of trying this at home, in the U.S., as a trigger-happy police SWAT Team, with helicopters, night-vision scopes, and armored vehicles will be called upon you.)
W e all heard of those famous brand names, the Swiss banks that don’t bow down to the world’s political powers, the powers which come and go, and the Swiss Army knife, and Swiss Army watch, but this is not what the Swiss military is really known for. The Swiss military has a reputation of having the world’s best marksmen and athletes in its ranks, and it is not a regular army, rather – it’s a citizen’s militia. Between their regular annual tour of duty of two to three weeks per year from ages 20 to 42, Swiss soldiers and officers are obliged to keep their weapons at home, and may practice at the many rifle and pistol ranges managed by local communities. The old tradition of armed citizenry brought the country peace, prosperity and neutrality, which nobody, not even Hitler dared to violate. Nazi armies chose to invade other countries, those with strict gun controls, and easily controlled citizens. In Russia circa 1941, the People’s volunteer corps were fighting German troops with 1 old bolt action 1891 rifle shared between 3 soldiers.
In fact, Switzerland has more firepower per person than any country in the world, and an average Swiss citizen has more firepower than available to combat troops in many armies. Yet, Switzerland is one of the safest places on the planet, a country where crime is virtually non-existent.
Now, take England where guns are banned. Using data through 1996, the U.S. Department of Justice study "Crime and Justice" concluded that in England the robbery rate was 1.4 times higher, the assault rate was 2.3 times higher, and the burglary rate was 1.7 times higher than in the U.S. The study suggests that lawful gun ownership in the U.S. deters such crimes, which run rampant in England.
In further contrast, Swiss Federal Police Office data often sounds almost too good to be true, with no homicides at all reported in Geneva. Most crime in Switzerland, about 70 percent, is attributed to foreigners. The country had a rate of 1.2 homicides per 100,000 population in 1997, with only a fraction of those committed with firearms, and 36 robberies per 100,000. In 2000, the total number of murders in Switzerland was 69, of which 40 were committed with firearms. That’s a rate of 0.57 per 100,000, or 2.5 times less than in England. By comparison, Great Britain, where guns are banned, had a homicide rate of 1.4 per 100,000 (2.5 times higher) and a robbery rate of 116 per 100,000 of population (or 4 times higher than in Switzerland.)
The U.S. Trial Lawyers, hiding behind the facade of “good intentions” raided and destroyed many American industries, and already put many good, dedicated doctors out of practice of medicine. They also want to put gun manufacturers out of business (and split the proceeds), using baseless, frivolous lawsuits launched in well-known, plaintiff-friendly, anti-gun jurisdictions where judges view their role as being “fighters for social justice,” Neo-Marxist style. U.S. firearm manufacturers have spent $200 million in legal fees to defend themselves against frivolous lawsuits, that’s more than the entire industry’s total profits in 1999. To save the domestic gun industry, Bill Frist, Senate Majority Leader, brought to the floor of the Senate the "Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act," which has won the bipartisan support of 61 senators. Let him and your Senators know you support the bill, too.
The Soviet-style apparatchiks in all branches of the US Government of today would just love to ban gun ownership, one of the last bastions of Democracy in the US, then trample on whatever’s left of our naïve, prepubescent notions of Democracy as they “teach” in Middle School. The millions of Neo-Marxists of today masquerading behind the many “good causes” and perfectly “good intentions” recognize they cannot seize power first, then impose terror. They see a different path to the triumph of Communism, through stealth and a cultural hegemony first, in which Colleges, Universities and above all – Courts – are their powerful agents of change through a Cultural Revolution. America’s Neo-Marxists of all hues want to change the Culture first, then the power would fall into their lap like a ripened peach. Give up your constitutionally guaranteed right to bear arms, and see the Tyrants burn Constitution, redistribute property, and destroy the Western Civilization, which their rank and file is mind-programmed to hate with passion, then – materialize their vision of a World Government, in which they, of course, will remain the ruling oligarchy, and you – would be openly converted to slaves.
Far fetched? – With way over 2 million in jails, the US is already in the 1 st place in the World in absolute and per capita numbers of incarcerated, in use of prison labor, and in technologically advanced, sophisticated prison industry, demanding more bodies for its continued growth. If you are unaware of it – thank the mass media, the Neo-Marxists’ agent of change.
Eric Ross, Ph.D.
Copyright © Eric Ross, Ph.D., 2005. About the author: Dr. Eric Ross is a management consultant and an adjunct professor in the North East. He holds a Ph.D. in Information Sciences and MBA in Economics and Finance and is a member of the National Business Honor Society. He is a full-time father to an adorable 7-year-old boy, and an ardent researcher of economic and political “megatrends.” Being originally from the defunct Soviet Union and painfully familiar with the massive social injustices, first hand, he is painfully aware of the erosion of the constitutional principles, protections and liberties in the United States. He can be reached at [email protected]
http://www.mensnewsdaily.com/archive/r/ross-eric/2005/ross072905.htm
