Well it is back in the media again after another unfortunate highly publicized shooting at a college in Oregon. The Gun Grabbers are at it again. This of course got me into many heated debates in the social media world. It seems that there are still quite a few people out there that don’t seem to get it. They don’t seem to understand why the 2nd amendment was placed into our constitution by the founding fathers, what it means or why more gun restrictions won’t do any good.

I read a pretty good opinion article the other day that shows that there is no direct correlation between Homicide rates and gun laws state by state. Here is the link to the article.Gun Laws vs. Homicide Rates. The writer gave a good explanation about where he gathered the information and why he used the statics that he did. For those of you that are too lazy or just don’t feel like furthering your education that much…I will give you a brief synopsis on the information he shared.

The writer decided to use the statistic of total homicides as opposed to gun homicides, which I agree with. He also decided not to use all gun deaths in his example, for reasons I also agree with. (I am not going into too much detail, if you want more…read the damn article) As for the gun law statistics, he used the gun law scores and grades from the Brady Campaign. This is a listing of scores based on how strict or how relaxed gun laws are by state. The results are not what most people would expect. Based on the data and looking at the scatter-plot, it is clear that there is no correlation between gun restrictions and the number of homicides in each state. The information that is being given to us by the Liberal government and our Commander in Chief a skewed. They are using all gun deaths as their basis of comparison, which includes homicides, suicides, accidental, and even self defense deaths…all gun deaths. They don’t want you to know this fact, because it takes away from their cause.

What is their cause? Well I will tell you. The reason the Government wants to increase gun restrictions is for control. That is all. They want to control us, and they know that if we are armed and able to defend ourselves, they will never have total control. This is precisely the reason that our founding fathers created the 2nd amendment to the constitution. The Bill of Rights. Read this carefully…A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. Let me break it down for you. This was written not long after a lengthy battle against British tyranny. The founding fathers new too well that it must give the American people the right to not only defend themselves against a tyrannical government.. So they gave Americans the right to form a well regulated militia in order to maintain our freedoms. They also gave Americans the Right to keep and bear arms in order to defend themselves against a tyrannical government. These were some pretty smart folks. They left a little room for debate the way this was written. And I agree that there are certain gun restrictions in place that are necessary. Of course we should not allow repeat criminals to own firearms, and of course we need to restrict crazy people from getting weapons of all kinds. These laws are already in place. These restrictions already exist. But here is the thing, criminals do not obey laws!! That is the definition of a criminal.

Lets look at other laws that criminals don’t obey. Murder is illegal, using illicit drugs is illegal, driving drunk is illegal, stealing is illegal. All of these things happen everyday in America, they are all illegal. How often do you hear about multiple people dying in a motor vehicle crash caused by a drunk driver? Quite often. And how often, after one of these terrible drunk driving tragedies do you hear about more laws restricting driving privileges? NEVER!! Why is someone not pushing to have breathalyzers installed in all new vehicles? This is certainly a viable option, and would be easy to do with very little up front cost during manufacturing. But it is not discussed. In 2013, 10,076 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for nearly one-third (31%) of all traffic-related deaths in the United States. In that same year, there were 8,454 total gun homicides.

One of the debates I was in recently on Facebook about this subject, I brought up this statistic. The question was asked to me what the intended purpose of a gun was compared the intended purpose of a motor vehicle. That person said they believed that  the intent of a Motor Vehicle = Transportation and a Firearm = Take Lives. This is where I have a good argument against that statement. I believe that a Firearm = Save Lives.  Let me explain why. I am a responsible gun owner, never once have I had the thought in my mind to use a firearm to take a life. I keep and carry my weapon in order to defend my life and the lives of my family in friends.

I like to define the purpose of any tool based on the manner in which it is used most. A Motor Vehicle is a tool that is mostly used to get people from point A to point B. It is sometimes used as a weapon to take lives. A hammer is a tool that is mostly used to pound nails. It is also sometimes used as a weapon to take lives. A firearm is a tool mostly used in self defense, protecting life and as a deterrent against crime. It is sometimes used as a weapon to take lives. Everyday, firearms are used to defend and protect. This is why police officers carry guns. They don’t carry a gun with the intention of taking a life, they carry with the intention of defending their own life and protecting others. I would be willing to bet that more American lives are saved or protected everyday with a firearm than there are lives being taken away. That being the case, Firearm = Save Lives.

If more people would figure this out, if more people would come to realize this reality…we wouldn’t be discussing gun restrictions. We would be discussing Drunk Driving and how to prevent it. You hear the argument from many Pro-Gun people that if more good guys would carry guns there would be less crime. This is a proven fact, guns are a deterrent towards crime. Criminals have been asked time and time again about the likelihood of them committing a crime if they knew there was a chance that the victim was armed. Most criminals avoided crimes like this, they like knowing that their victims are not armed. Criminals like GUN FREE ZONES, because their likelihood of getting away unharmed is greater.

Don’t be a victim. If you do not already own a gun, I recommend you buy one. Take a class and learn how to use it. Go to the range and practice your skills. If you live in a gun friendly state, carry it with you when ever legally possible. If you already own a gun and are not very good with it. Take a class, they are offered for free in most states. Go to the range, practice and carry whenever legally possible. Practice situational awareness. Be aware of your surroundings and the people in it. The better prepared you are the less likely you are to be harmed. Taking guns away will not stop violent crime. Restricting guns and making them more difficult for Law abiding citizens to get will not prevent violent crime. Criminals will get guns, or whatever weapon they need to commit their crime no matter what laws are passed in attempt to stop them. Don’t let our Government turn us into victims.

The facts are out there. Look at the countries that have banned firearms. Firearms still exist, they are still used. Their violent crime rates are just as high, if not higher than they were before guns were banned. Restricting firearms or banning them only make victims out of Law abiding citizens. Criminals don’t care about laws..that’s what makes them criminals.