"Cliff" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 27 Nov 2004 13:20:32 GMT, Johan wrote:

"If nobody can get guns, then there won't be any gun crimes." Well, no
kidding! Welcome back to the age of biggest and strongest rules.

The guy with the most & biggest guns?
Or the best lies?
--
Cliff

Fact Sheet: The Unintended Consequences of Gun Control


A. Waiting periods threaten the safety of people in imminent danger
* Bonnie Elmasri -- She inquired about getting a gun to protect
herself from a husband who had repeatedly threatened to kill her. She was
told there was a 48 hour waiting period to buy a handgun. But unfortunately,
Bonnie was never able to pick up a gun. She and her two sons were killed the
next day by an abusive husband of whom the police were well aware.1
* Marine Cpl. Rayna Ross -- She bought a gun (in a non-waiting
period state) and used it to kill an attacker in self-defense two days
later.2 Had a 5-day waiting period been in effect, Ms. Ross would have been
defenseless against the man who was stalking her.
* Los Angeles riots -- USA Today reported that many of the people
rushing to gun stores during the 1992 riots were "lifelong gun-control
advocates, running to buy an item they thought they'd never need."
Ironically, they were outraged to discover they had to wait 15 days to buy a
gun for self-defense.3
B. Trigger Locks can delay one's ability to use a firearm for
self-defense
* Trigger locks are dangerous and cumbersome for self-defense. The
Wall Street Journal noted how when Beretta tested a "Saf T Lok," it cause 18
of 27 rounds to "totally malfunction." And when Handgun Control's chief
attorney attempted to demonstrate the same trigger lock at an HCI-sponsored
event, he found, to his embarrassment, that he was unable to disengage the
lock.4
* A trigger lock can be very difficult to remove from a firearm in
an emergency. Maryland Governor Parris Glendening struggled for at least two
whole minutes to remove a trigger lock at a training session in March 2000.5
If it can take that long to remove such a lock -- when there's only the
pressure of being embarrassed in front of the cameras -- what will a trigger
lock mean for a homeowner who needs to use his or her self-defense gun
during an emergency, in the bedroom, in the dark?
* The Mafia favors trigger locks -- for their victims. Mafia
turncoat, Sammy "the Bull" Gravano, expressed his love for gun control in an
interview with Vanity Fair: "Gun control? It's the best thing you can do for
crooks and gangsters. I want you to have nothing. If I'm a bad guy, I'm
always gonna have a gun. Safety locks? You pull the trigger with a lock on,
and I'll pull the trigger. We'll see who wins."6
C. Real life examples of how "locking up one's safety" can result in
death
* Canada: Ian Dunbar of Green Lake, B.C. was four years old and home
from kindergarten in 1994. While playing in his back yard, a bear attacked
him. His mother jumped on the bear and hit him. A neighbor went to get a
rifle, but was unable to find the key. They finally snatched Ian away and
rushed him to the hospital, but he died in his mother's arms on the way.7
* United States: Every month, the American Rifleman magazine
publishes a column entitled the "Armed Citizen" -- a column which highlights
recent press stories from around the nation where private citizens have used
guns in self-defense. Virtually any self-defense story one reads out of the
"Armed Citizen" would NOT have occurred if a trigger-lock had been in place
on the firearm.
* Colorado: "If I'd had a trigger lock, I'd be dead." After being
repeatedly stabbed by three young men in his Colorado home, Chuck Harris
managed to grab the .44-Magnum pistol he kept in a desk drawer. Thankfully,
Harris didn't have to remember a combination or fiddle with a trigger
lock -- he just pointed the gun and fired.
That quick thinking saved his life, and has caused Harris to later
reflect upon what was, perhaps, the obvious. "If I'd had a trigger lock, I'd
be dead," he said. "If my pistol had been in a gun safe, I'd be dead. If the
bullets were stored separate, I'd be dead. They were going to kill me."8
D. California: A Case Study in Contrasts
* Merced. On the morning of August 23, 2000, Jonathon David Bruce
attacked a houseful of kids. Armed with a pitchfork -- and without a stitch
of clothing on his body -- Bruce proceeded to stab the children. Two of them
died.
The oldest of the children, Jessica Carpenter (14), was quite
proficient with firearms. She had been trained by her father and knew how to
use them. There was just one problem: the guns were locked up in compliance
with California state law. Unable to use the firearms, Jessica was forced to
flee the house to get help. Mr. Bruce's murderous rampage was finally cut
short when officers -- carrying guns -- arrived on the scene.9
* San Francisco. Contrast the Carpenter's tragic situation to that
of A.D. Parker. In February 2000, he was awakened by strange noises outside
his bedroom in the middle of the night. The 83-year-old Parker grabbed a
handgun he had not even used in several decades, went to his bedroom door,
and found himself face-to-face with a thug holding a crowbar.
Thankfully, because Mr. Parker had not obeyed California law, he
didn't have to fiddle with a trigger lock, remember a combination, or look
for a key in the dark room. He simply pointed the gun and pulled the
trigger -- which is why he survived the attack.10


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1 Congressional Record (May 8, 1991), at H 2859, H 2862.
2 Wall Street Journal (March 3, 1994) at A10.
3 Jonathan T. Lovitt, "Survival for the armed," USA Today (May 4,
1992).
4 "A Simple Invention Points Up Complexity of Gun-Control Suits, The
Wall Street Journal, April 23, 1999.
5 Gerald Mizejewski, "Device wins police praise but fails to move
skeptics," The Washington Times (March 23, 2000).
6 Interview with Sammy Gravano in Howard Blum, "The Reluctant Don,"
Vanity Fair (September 1999), p. 165.
7 The Gun Owners, April 16, 1999, p. 5.
8 Ellen Miller, "Man faces suspects accused of attacking him after
getting ride," Rocky Mountain News (March 14, 2001).
9 Kimi Yoshino, "Gun advocates say fear of liability keeps parents
from teaching survival skills," The Fresno Bee (August 26, 2000).
10 William Rasberry, "Ask A.D. Parker about gun control," The Denver
Post (March 20, 2000).