Glenn On Guns Fires Blanks

I cannot possibly imagine what possessed the New York Times to allow column space to Glenn Reynolds this morning so he could pontificate about guns, but that is exactly what they did.

The Perfesser took aim at laws in Greenleaf, Idaho and Kennesaw, Ga. promoting gun ownership and noted as follows:

As David Kopel noted in a 2001 article in The Arizona Law Review, burglars report that they try to avoid homes where armed residents are likely to be present. We see this phenomenon internationally, too, with the United States having a lower proportion of “hot” burglaries — break-ins where the burglars know the home to be occupied — than countries with restrictive gun laws.

Likewise, in the event of disasters that leave law enforcement overwhelmed, armed citizens can play an important role in stanching crime. Armed neighborhood watches deterred looting in parts of Houston and New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

I would seriously hope that disasters such as those cited by Reynolds are occurrences of such infrequency that it would not be necessary to arm citizens as a last resort (which, actually, is a bad idea anyway as far as I’m concerned, and I think some of the “deterrence” in the wake of Katrina and Rita was either anecdotal or the stuff of urban legend).

And yes, I know there is statistical evidence to note that gun ownership can reduce crime. However, I would ask that anyone who believes that read the information from this link, in particular the following paragraph.

The issue of "home defense" or protection against intruders may well be misrepresented. Of 626 shootings in or around a residence in three U.S. cities revealed that, for every time a gun in the home was used in a self-defense or legally justifiable shooting, there were four unintentional shootings, seven criminal assaults or homicides, and 11 attempted or completed suicides (Kellermann et al, 1998). Over 50% of all households in the U.S. admit to having firearms (Nelson et al, 1987). Persons who own a gun and who engage in abuse of intimate partners such as a spouse are more likely to use a gun to threaten their intimate partner. (Rothman, et al) It would appear that, rather than being used for defense, most of these weapons inflict injuries on the owners and their families.

Also in the link, there’s information presented on firearms involved in the death of kids 15 years or younger, and even if you don’t read all of it, I would say that the color-coded chart showing fatalities in this country as opposed to the rest of the world is dramatic enough to make the case all by itself.

And, as Reynolds actually notes himself, the laws in Idaho and Georgia really aren’t necessary, because most of the residents legally own guns anyway (making me wonder what the point is of the column aside from more propaganda, and Reynolds also misinterprets the Second Amendment again as many gun proponents do, recalling this country’s frontier history and stating that that’s an excuse for residents throughout the country – even inner city areas, presumably – to arm themselves).

However, I think Reynolds makes a point worth considering, believe it or not. He is advocating that communities should be allowed to decide for themselves what gun laws they want to pass and enforce, and I think it’s high time that they were allowed to do that (as noted here, only the Pennsylvania state legislature is allowed to pass gun laws for this commonwealth, as opposed to letting Philadelphia pass its own law, thereby ensuring that the NRA will forever hold sway, though that doesn’t mean that the battle for common-sense gun laws should be automatically conceded…and by the way, new PA House Speaker Dennis O’Brien, I’m talking to you when I say that).

I don’t know how much has been spoken and written about gun laws in this country (I probably couldn’t even estimate how much), but I assume that this is a battle which we will have to fight indefinitely as long as people in this country think it’s more important to own weapons of death than to keep the rest of this country safe (and in the former category, I present Bob Sarb courtesy of J.D. Mullane; I will have more to say about Mullane later).

One final thought; it would be nice if members of law enforcement were more vocal about opposing the NRA instead of just filthy, unkempt liberal bloggers such as myself and other real/imagined do-gooders out there (I know some are, but we need more). After all, they’re on the front lines in this battle along with the rest of us.