Crime drops while gun ownership soars

When I talk with people about my support for sex education in Santa Monica’s public schools, I hear cheers at how enlightened I am. I also hear how stupid these people believe religious types are for preaching abstinence. What surprises me is how conservative these sex education proponents become when I bring up the subject of gun education. Firearm education saves lives.

Let’s put irrational phobias and emotions aside and look at the facts. In 2004 the Federal Assault Weapon Ban expired, resulting in more people purchasing guns in the United States than ever before. Since the end of the Assault Weapon ban, the murder rate has dropped according to U.S. Census Statistical Abstract and the FBI Uniform Crime Report. Proponents of the ban claimed that the good economy was the reason for the lower numbers in 2004-08. But in 2009 violent crime was still down even though we almost slipped into a depression and the worst economy since the Great Depression took place. Six years after the ban, 37 states have decided to issue “shall carry” permits resulting in the lowest murder rate in the United States since 1965. More people are purchasing firearms then ever before and more states are letting people carry firearms in public yet the murder rate is dropping?

To better understand this phenomenon we only need to look towards the peace loving people of Israel. If you visit the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ website, they have a list of every Israeli murdered by terrorists. For comparison, Israel has a population about the size of Los Angeles County. They have neighbors that want to kill them, yet arming and educating every adult on the use and responsibility of gun ownership has resulted in some of the lowest crime rates in the world! Israeli’s have fully-automatic machine guns and anti-tank weapons in their homes. Training and service in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) combined with firearm ownership has helped to eliminate the youth gang problem as well.

Here are some fun facts to play with:

• Since 2000 Israel has had 542 people die from homicide;

• In 2000 alone Los Angeles County had 1,006 homicides;

• In 2007 Israel had 167 homicides with three civilian deaths from terrorism;

• In 2007 Israeli murders committed by youths was 13 (most adults have a weapon);

• Israel had 15 civilians murdered by terrorists in 2006.

Israel has less murders than Los Angeles County from all acts including terrorism. For the last 22 years the people of Florida demanded the right to carry a firearm, and struck down failed gun control laws. Over the last 22 years, the state of Florida has processed 1.59 million concealed-carry permits and has only had to revoke 167 for firearm-related infractions. Statistically, the Florida permit holders commit fewer felonies than police officers. Maybe the Santa Monica Police Department should issue training and permits as well.

The president of Mexico is bold-faced lair for blaming the U.S. for its current power struggle with the narco-terrorists. Mexico outright bans civilian firearm ownership, yet their country is going the way of Somalia and Afghanistan and is now run by narco-terrorists. Mexico proves if you ban guns, the criminals end up with them. What everyone seems to forget is, the United States is the largest manufacturer of weapons in the world. Just remember that the United States has fought communism around the world and has put millions of firearms into the hands of freedom fighters in Central and South America. Do you believe those firearms were sent back to America when they were done using them? Of course not, the narco-terrorists bought them. Why buy a civilian rifle that holds 10 rounds and is not fully automatic, go through the hassle of bribing the gun store owner and sneak it out of the U.S. when you can walk up to any ex-freedom fighter and buy a top-of-the-line, fully-automatic, untraceable, military-grade killing machine for $50?

The fact is the narco-terrorists have a great deal of money and the need to protect a large amount of drugs transported around the world. The narco-terrorists are purchasing firearms on a global scale. Are you daft enough to think the Taliban is purchasing rifles at your local Wal-Mart as well? Univision and Telemundo have a nasty habit of showing raw video feeds of the Mexican government storming narco-terrorist training camps. The police proudly show off the equipment captured for the cameras. At a Zeta training camp outside of Higueras, Mexico, the narco-terrorists possessed the following equipment not available at any U.S. gun store: Barret .50 caliber rifles, fragmentation grenades, M-72 LAW anti-tank rockets, RPG’s and the list goes on. If they can get this kind of American military firepower, it’s irrational to believe they have any reason to stand in line at the local Big 5 to buy a neutered civilian rifle.

History has shown us that banning something is a failed policy. Education works best. Banning books failed. Banning free speech failed. Banning alcohol failed. Banning sex fails. Banning abortion failed. Banning marijuana failed. Banning firearms is still failing.

David Alsabery is a Cadillac driving, meat eating, cigar smoking, Scotch drinking, gun owning, Anti-Neocon New School Republican, NRA lifetime member/competition shooter, former small arms tactical specialist and all around nice guy. He can be reached at alsabery@gmail.com.