“You can get much further with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone.”

-Al Capone

Introduction

The percentage of Americans who think local crime is getting worse hit the highest level in five decades, according to an October 2022 Gallup Poll. A record 55 percent said they believe there is more crime locally now than there was a year ago.

A Harvard-Haris poll published in October 2022 shows 65 percent of Americans blame “Woke Politicians” for the crime spike.

Violence Reaches Epidemic Levels

20 percent of Californians experienced either physical or sexual assault in the past year.

Opening a wet-weather gear store in Portland, Oregon seemed like a no-brainer when Marcy Landolfo launched “Rains PDX” in September 2019. In December 2022, after 15 burglaries in 27 months, she shut the store down.

With the great unraveling of Chicago’s justice system under a leadership class obsessed with soft-on-crime legislation, motor vehicle thefts have soared from 35 a day during the first half of the year to 100 a day in October 2022.

In San Francisco, with California laws changed to make all merchandise thefts below $950 a misdemeanor rather than a felony, shoplifting has evolved into systematic looting.

Many in San Francisco have left the city and 40 percent of those still there say they intend to move in the next few years.

Supreme Court Ruling on the Right to Carry Guns

In June 2022, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote, “we know of no other constitutional right that an individual may exercise only after demonstrating special need. That is not how the First Amendment works when it comes to unpopular speech or the free exercise of religion. It is not how the Sixth Amendment works when it comes to a defendant’s right to confront the witnnesses against him. And it is not how the Second Amendment works when it comes to public carry for self-defense.

William Kirk of Washington Gun Law said, considering this ruling, “I don’t see how restrictive gun measures around the country are going to survive constitutional scrutiny.”

Americans Are Locked and Loaded

The number of U. S. adults carrying handguns doubled from 3 million in 2015 to 6 million in 2019. The number of adults carrying handguns in October 2022 skyrocketed to 16 million.

30 percent of gun owners have used a firearm to defend themselves or their property. 80 percent did not have to fire their gun. Brandishing a firearm was enough to eliminate the threat.

The most used firearm for defense, at 65 percent, was a handgun.

Conclusion

As Americans have watched cities looted and burned, with no regard for personal property rights, they have decided to take advantage of their right to bear arms for personal protection.

The freedom to own a firearm is guaranteed by the Second Amendment. This peculiar and vital freedom is what distinguishes the U. S. from every other nation on the planet.

Photo by Maze Man 2011

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