Arizona Citizens Defense League Statement on Sandy Hook

[cmhbob]

This came across a gun list I'm active on. Nice to see a clear, calm statement on this mess. I'd be curious to see what other groups are saying. I like that the NRA waited a few days, but I suspect it's going to backfire on them, and I'm nervous as to what they're going to say Friday.

> From: The AzCDL-List <[email protected]>
> Date: December 19, 2012 10:40:01 AM MST
> Subject: [AzCDL-list] AzCDl Statement Regarding the Tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut


Above all else, our deepest sympathies are with the families and friends of
the victims of this terrible tragedy. No one should ever have to endure the
horror of having their precious loved ones ripped from their lives in such a
horrific and needless act, and our hearts ache along with theirs. We all
have families, and most of us can only imagine what these people are going
through.

Unfortunately, it took mere minutes for some to attempt to turn this
terrible event to their political advantage. In utter disregard for the
actuality of what has happened, immediate cries were issued for the banning
of certain types of firearms, or of certain types of ammunition feeding
devices, or of certain kinds of people from the possession of firearms, etc.
We've even seen a few calls for the complete repeal of the Second Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution.

In all of this cacophony, we seem to have lost track of a few salient
points. First and foremost, all of the "gun control" measures being
proposed now are the same measures that have been proposed before, many
times. Many have been tried before, and have been shown to have no
measurable effect on criminal activity. Several of them are actually
ALREADY IN PLACE IN CONNECTICUT, where this tragedy took place. So the
obvious question becomes, what are we supposed to gain by doing any of these
things? Most credible research has shown that these "gun control" proposals
accomplish nothing of substance, and are instead designed merely to seem as
if they're "doing something". We have only to look around us and see that
these issues don't go away no matter how many laws we pass. Something more
must be done.

Another key point, one that's obvious to many of us who own guns for sport,
recreation, and self-defense, has been lost in the rush to blame the object
instead of the deranged individual who wielded it. That is the fallacy of
the "gun free zone". Schools throughout the nation are designated as "gun
free". Apparently this twisted individual did not get the memo. The
obvious problem is that anyone in the school who might have done anything
about the shooter did get the memo, and was tragically helpless to stop him.
Reports from Connecticut indicate that several brave school employees did
indeed make their best effort to stop this madman, but they died in the
attempt. This should not surprise any thinking individual. Contrary to
media reports, the main issue here is not that a deranged individual gained
access to a firearm, as there is very little anyone could do to prevent
that. It's that anyone who could have stopped his rampage could not gain
access to a firearm.

Many people, especially in the media, keep repeating that we must do
anything we can to keep our children safe. We wholeheartedly agree.
However, it's been said that one definition of insanity is doing the same
thing over and over and expecting different results. Let's stop the
insanity! We will not protect our children by throwing reams of paper laws
at evil people. It's long past time to, at the very least, allow our school
faculty and staff the option to be trained and armed. Only then will they
be capable of dealing with a situation like this. When the Israelis found
themselves in a similar circumstance back in the 1970's, their response was
to train and arm teachers, and even parent volunteers, to protect their
children. How can we do any less?

We need to stop pretending that doing "something" will solve the problem,
and start focusing on doing the right thing. We don't hang little plastic
signs on policemen that say "No crimes allowed". We give them badges and
guns, and teach them how to deal with bad guys. Why should we do any less
for the people that we entrust our precious children to nearly every day?

It's time to change the way we think about this, as a state, as a nation, as
a people. It's just a shame that it takes a tragedy like this to get people
thinking about it.

These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL),
an all-volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization:
http://www.azcdl.org/html/join_us_.html .

AzCDL - Protecting Your Freedom
http://www.azcdl.org/html/accomplishments.html .

Copyright C 2012 Arizona Citizens Defense League, Inc., all rights reserved.

 

[tRidiot]

I like. Very to the point. Of course, pointing out to politicians that gun bans have been proven NOT to reduce violent crime is pointless. They are no interested in logic, only in ratings and exhibitionism.