In researching my post on the Norway tragedy, I encountered a few things worth highlighting. John Lott, Jr., documented that more private firearm ownership equates to lower rates of crime in his groundbreaking book More Guns, Less Crime. But anti-2nd Amendment pundits like to point to other countries with severe firearm ownership restrictions, claiming that they have less violence. However, that’s demonstrably false and makes a joke of the new wave of anti-firearm organization names with “violence prevention” stated or implied in their titles.
I came across an interesting article from the Daily Mail in the U.K. Despite its draconian anti-gun laws, it turns out that the U.K. is the most violent country in Europe, and more violent than other non-European countries like South Africa. Here’s the list and their per capita violent crime rates:
- U.K. – 2,034
- Austria – 1,677
- South Africa – 1,609
- Sweden – 1,123
- Belgium – 1,006
- Canada – 935
- Finland – 738
- Netherlands – 676
- Luxembourg – 565
- France – 504
The U.S. wouldn’t even make the top 10! According to the Mail, the U.S. comes in at just 466. Some of the core U.N. data can be found here.
But, how is that possible? The lack of widespread civilian firearms ownership should make all these countries a virtual paradise according to progressive reasoning. But such thinking ignores basic human nature. Contrary to the modern myths, you cannot change basic human nature through education, socialization, or wealth distribution. No, evil stands immune to progressive thinking and theories, and has since the beginning of time.
The dynamics at work here include the plethora of soft targets in a disarmed society. Take the U.K. as a case in point as I’ve previously posted. Violent predators are cowards at their core, seeking easy prey. After all, you don’t see lions and tigers preying on their fellow toothy predators. They go for the prey that doesn’t bite back. Studies of criminals in prison verify the obvious: criminals don’t want to be shot.
“… arms … discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property…. Horrid mischief would ensue were (the law-abiding) deprived the use of them.” – Thomas Paine
Absent the great equalizer of an armed citizen, criminals use size, strength, numbers, and alternate weapons like baseball bats, hammers, screwdrivers, kitchen knives, pipes, etc., to prey on the helpless. The biggest losers in this game are women, children, and the disabled. It continues to amaze me that most anti-gun liberals also purport to be pro-women’s and disabled issues. Apparently they believe that a rabbit’s foot or eloquent persuasion will deter a violent predator. Graveyards and emergency rooms are populated in part with those who think this.
But then, liberals and progressives aren’t big on the facts. They prefer emotion to take away our basic human rights and freedoms. Which is why our founding fathers preserved our basic freedoms in the Constitution, hoping that succeeding generations would not fritter those freedoms away:
I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. – James Madison
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