By Gerard Valentino
Several spree killings in non-permissive places like colleges or in states that don’t have concealed-carry laws have blasted the gun-control debate back onto the national stage. Pro-gun advocates accurately pointed out that in Illinois, where two of the spree killings took place, citizens are denied their constitutional right to self-defense through the right to bear arms. Being disarmed in the face of a deranged killer must be a terrifying experience.
Even worse, however, is finding yourself at the mercy of an armed thug after you made the decision not to carry because you were just running to the store.
A spree killing in a state like Florida that has a good shall-issue concealed-carry law is a truly tragic occurrence, because people there have the right to carry a gun. Most people won’t take advantage of their right and instead walk around oblivious to the danger around them. It is not their fault, however, since modern liberal theory says we should meekly submit to armed attackers.
Such advice is dangerous, and people are dying because the establishment media continue to put forth the ridiculous notion that fighting back will lead to an increase in violence.
Such a notion is laughable, but with the number of people who meekly surrender to armed attackers in today’s society, the end result are criminals who have a sense of entitlement. They expect complete submission from the people they attack. When society as a whole makes the decision to fight back, however, it throws conventional thought out the window and gives the upper hand back to the law-abiding citizen.
Since the creation of the failed social experiment gun control has become, the establishment media have taught everyone simply to give up their possessions to criminals. The liberalism pervasive in schools has also created generations of people who were taught not to fight back if attacked by another student. Students who are victimized are prohibited from fighting back as a means of protection, which has left us with a generation incapable of dealing with the tyranny of common thugs that prey on people.
Being submissive to criminals has left us with an element in society that uses the false hope of pacifism as an invitation to attack people with impunity.
The first step to stopping criminals from acting like they are entitled to rob, rape and murder is to get as many honest, law-abiding citizens as possible out in society carrying a gun. If the deranged killers knew they wouldn’t get a shot off before being gun downed, they would find a different outlet for their rage. Instead, they are most likely to find a location where everyone turns and runs like sheep or choose to meekly submit.
Usually, after a person submits he is shot.
Instead of kneeling down to be executed or running like frightened rabbits, people should use their right to bear arms and fight back. Only by stacking the deck in favor of the law-abiding can we hope to stop criminals from preying on innocent people. Two things need to happen to put criminals on alert.
First, states need to pass laws that return the presumption of innocent back to law-abiding Americans who are forced to defend their own life. Commonly called “Castle Doctrine” laws, they generally remove the duty to retreat if an honest person is attacked outside the home and also create the presumption that anyone breaking into a home while occupied is there to do them serious bodily harm.
The Castle Doctrine law and shall-issue concealed-carry laws are only beneficial if law-abiding people make the decision to fight back and do so with speed and violence of action. Putting criminals down for good, like a concealed-handgun license holder from Toledo, Ohio, did recently when a street thug attacked him with a gun, is the type of outcome that will make criminals think twice about their chosen profession.
That criminal won’t be around to prey on anyone else, and that is the best possible result. Not only did the citizen in Toledo act properly, he acted proficiently with his firearm and ended the life of someone who was a predator and common thug.
Americans need to stop thinking that the lives of those who choose to prey on innocent defenseless people are equal to the lives of those who go through life peacefully. There is no moral equivalence between the lives of the monsters that live among us and the lives of innocent men, women and children. Although the sanctity of life is a vital part of what makes Western Civilization special, the fact that we care so much for everyone, regardless of station in life, at time blinds people to what is right.
What is right and what people need to learn is that there are people out there who have no value to society – and although that doesn’t mean their life is worthless, it means their life is not worth the same as an honest citizen.
That may sound harsh, but only by treating the violent among us with a higher level of violence can we hope to change their behavior. Meekly submitting when they rob, rape or kill innocent people breeds fearless, experienced criminals.
Liberalism, in all its sad incarnations, has done more to damage the psyche of the law-abiding than any other modern phenomena. The willingness of the leftists to force their misguided and meek answer to criminals on everyone in society might be their most lasting and dangerous legacy. Their willingness to empower criminals at the expense of people who work hard, play by the rules and are a benefit to society borders on the insane. If it weren’t so dangerous to the safety of citizens, their views would be pitiful.
Instead, they are likely to get even more honest people killed in the same way they have over the last 40 years.
Liberalism and the modern leftist movement must be stopped. Honest people need to take back their lives and fight back against the street thugs who have acted with impunity for far too long. Only by giving honest people the ability to fight back will criminals go from feeling empowered to fearful – or dead.
The first step to that end is for everyone with a concealed-carry permit to carry a gun, all the time and everywhere they go. Otherwise, the net benefit to society of having honest people out there with a gun is lessened.
The leftists in society have irreparable damaged the psyche of the law-abiding so that they can no longer judge the difference between a life worth saving and a life that unfortunately doesn’t deserve the same courtesy. That isn’t the premise that built America into what Ronald Reagan so eloquently called “the shining city on a hill.” America was founded on the belief that honest people have a right to self-preservation and a God-given right to defend what they work so hard to attain.
It’s time we kick the backward liberal agenda to the curb and return our country to the law-abiding – and if, on the way, a few common thugs are sent to their maker, then so be it.
I, for one, could go to my maker knowing that I did the right thing by stopping a predator from attacking me and consequently the next innocent victim.
The question is, can you?
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“Shooting Back: The Right and Duty of Self Defense”
“Armed Response: A Comprehensive Guide to Using Firearms for Self-Defense”
“America Fights Back: Armed Self-Defense in a Violent Age”
Gerard Valentino is the Buckeye Firearms Association Central Ohio coordinator and writes for the ValentinoChronicle.com.
