Second Amendment Sisters, Inc.

Finally, CDC statistics are showing what we all know, gun ownership does not increase homicides, it prevents them. 

Last month I attended a conference held here in Arizona. I went because I got an e-blast from a fellow freedom lover with the subject line, “anti-gun-rights gathering scheduled,” urging “us” (pro-gun-rights folks) to attend the event. The event was billed as an opportunity to “promote involvement in gun violence prevention,” was backed by the usual suspects (Brady Campaign), and hosted by Arizonans for Gun Safety.

The organizers knew that members from the pro-gun community were in attendance, we didn’t try to hide it and it was funny when one woman gasped, pointed, and said, “the NRA IS here” (my friend was proudly wearing his “NRA Life Time Member” cap and I my SASter t-shirt). There were other (less obvious) signs that an audience member was “one of us” such as cammy cuffs and multiple utility pockets and pouches on ones pants.

I was not going to write about this event, didn’t see much point in it, mainly because I found that I am not “against” most of what was said by the distinguished speakers and panels at this event. They promote education as a solution, they advocate getting guns away from the criminal element, they care about what happens in their community and are involved. Not much to disagree about there. Plus some of the speakers proudly proclaimed to be NRA members and gun owners themselves, they were also LEOs.

But then, less than 2 weeks after this event, something happened here in Arizona that came and went with almost no notice. A mother was compelled to use lethal force to protect her life and the life of her 13-year-old daughter: http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2011/11/28/20111128phoenix-woman-critically-wounds-intruder.html

I was at a recent gathering to promote awareness of the peril we subject our college students, faculty and staff to when we forbid them the God-given right to self defense.  This event was at Virginia Tech, a school which has experienced firsthand the tragedy that is wrought when a deranged killer targets unprotected victims like fish in a barrel.  The VT Libertarians in concert with the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) coordinated the event and shared their belief that had concealed handgun permit holders been allowed the same rights inside campus buildings as they are allowed outside, the massacre may not have happened or the outcome might have been much less tragic.

While we were educating the public about this issue, a small group of people wanting to severely restrict access to guns by law abiding citizens staged a protest next to our lawful assembly.  They were handing out papers with their reasons for not allowing permit holders to exercise their right to self defense while on campus.  I would like to take a moment to examine their reasoning.

They state the following (quoted from a handout from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and handed out at Virginia Tech):

Reason #1.  Academic debate cannot flourish in a room full of guns.

Freedom of expression.  Protecting free expression of teachers and students is the most obvious way in which academic freedom must be secured.  Teachers must be able to address even the most controversial subjects, in their research and writing endeavors as well as in the classroom, without fear that they will be punished for challenging conventional thought or espousing provocative ideas.  Students must have the same ability to pursue knowledge without risk of being penalized or restrained by those who might disagree with the students’ views.  All of these cherished values of our educational process would be greatly diminished if college classrooms were filled with armed students and teachers.