So which is it...?

You would have to be deaf or just awakening from a coma not to have heard about the record set in Chicago this past weekend; 8 dead, 44 wounded. Of course, as would be expected, a major rallying cry is, as usual, a need for more gun control, with comments that decry lax state and federal gun laws.  When a Mayor and police commissioner have no ideas, then the best strategy is to blame it on guns.

Now this is Chicago, which is really famous for two things and, in this case, neither of them is pizza or a baseball team; this has historically been the home of some of the most restrictive gun laws in the country (and still is as it tries to resist change in the state of Illinois) and is also the undisputed murder capital of the world.  the sad commentary is that these records have co-existed for many years.  The only guns in the city were in the hands of the criminals and the ineffective police force.  Of course, the answer to this is always write another law that criminals will disobey.  In fact, I am sure that Rahm Emanual would say, just as Michael Bloomberg would suggest, that Chicago's problem is the rest of the countries fault, so the rest of the the country needs to have stricter gun laws.

So, to recap; draconian gun laws and rampant murder.

Of course, today new gun rights legislation was signed into law in Georgia - the "Safe Carry Protection Act".  Gun control factions are up in arms; Huffington is simply astounded as usual - the story gets top billing.  Colin Goddard is up in arms, completely flabbergasted.  Everytown for Gun Safety (or is it MAIG or Moms demanding something - the rebranding is so frequent, one never knows) is up in arms. So what terrible thing does this law do?  It allows licensed gun owners to carry their firearms into public places, including bars, nightclubs, schools, churches and government buildings (Churches, My God - Churches!). Oh, the tragedy! People who abide by the law, who have passed background checks, being treated like free citizens? Preposterous!

Please look at the data.  Exceedingly few crimes are committed by those who are capable of legally carrying a firearm - data suggest that permit holders are more law-abiding then the general population.  The only reason you might think otherwise is because each time one of those rare crimes happens, Goddard, Bloomberg, Sharpton, and every other worm crawls out to talk about it.  Be honest, Trayvon Martin was one black kid (and I will not review the merits of the prosecution of Zimmerman) - criminals in possession of guns kill many more each night, but Sharpton isn't smearing their blood all over this hands in agony. 

News flash; The places where these high-profile shootings occur - such as Columbine, Colin Goddard's Virgina Tech or Fort Hood TX - are places where a law-abiding person cannot carry.  Read that again - active shooters, multiple target events, carry is illegal.  Well, how the hell does that happen?  If laws prevent such shootings, how can this be?  Oh, it be - because making a law that says you cannot carry here does not deter those who want to kill. It only deters those who do not, who want to protect themselves.  If the laws work as advertised, why didn't Cho Seung-Hui spare Colin Goddard his injury and suffering, why didn't he wake up that day and think "Well I was going to shoot up campus today, but I just realized I am not allowed to carry there"?  Because, frankly, only an idiot would think that way (sorry Colin, Mike, and Al) and while Cho might have been crazy, he seemingly was not as stupid as you all seem to be.

Of all of them, Colin Goddard, the victim of a shooting by a criminal in a gun-free zone where the laws had no deterrent effect, must be the most clearly deluded.  One has to wonder if the career he has wandered into with Bloomberg (note, the new Everytown for Gun Safety is not his first gun control gig) as a function of his survivorship and lack of logic has somehow dulled his senses.

But here we are; which is it?  Chicago, the murder capital with a still-largely-disarmed law-abiding population (the new gun laws have barely taken effect) or Georgia, which allows its law-abiding citizens to carry firearms into those places where criminals may be more likely to strike?  Check out the data on murder (nah, you really don't need to). 

Every time a criminal commits a criminal act with a gun, the termites come out of the woodwork to stand on the dead bodies their laws created by herding people into pens for the slaughter.  No mention of the fact that the victims were disarmed law-abiding citizens or those who could have been protected by legally armed citizens.  Every time a new law passes that allows law-abiding gun owners to exercise their freedom they set off alarms that there will be gun fights in the streets.  No follow-up to show it has not happened. No follow-up to note that as gun rights and ownership have gone up, murder rates in those areas have gone down.

Every time one of you opens your mouth, you denigrate each and every one of us who abides by the law and carries a firearm.  You call us potential murderers every time you suggest that we cannot be trusted to carry our firearms into forbidden zones.

Colin, I am glad you survived, but that does not make you an expert on this.  It means you were one of the fortunate sheep who got out of the pen with his life when a wolf decided to kill.  You should know better.