A visitor to this website emailed me a link to a great article on policemag.com. The article discusses cases where armed citizens have saved the lives of police officers:
Travis Neel, who, having witnessed the shooting of a Harris County deputy sheriff, pulled his own gun and fired, driving the deputy’s assailants away.
Ralph Festavan, who watched as a heroin peddler attacked a Shreveport (La.) policeman and grabbed the officer’s gun. Festavan ran to a nearby patrol car and grabbed a shotgun, which he used to shoot and kill the offender.
Vincent McCarthy, who didn’t hesitate to lend help to a police officer struggling with a man and woman at the side of the road. When his own efforts failed to deter the man’s assault on the officer, McCarthy shot the cop’s attacker once in the leg with a pistol he was licensed to carry, stopping the attack.
The article also discusses what can happen when no one comes to the aid of a cop:
For seven minutes, [Police Officer Nicola] Cotton struggled with her assailant in clear view of numerous civilian witnesses. None came forth to help the officer who was half the size of her assailant. Cotton, as well as the unborn baby she was carrying, paid the ultimate price for the apathy of those who milled around, idly intrigued by the sordid life-or-death drama that played out before them.
It is not just cops who beneift from having armed citizens around. Concealed carry permit holders have stopped acts of terrorism, unproked violent attacks, bank robberies, and school shootings. Even those who break the law and carry a gun for self defense, in states that don’t allow concealed carry, have stopped racist attackers. Indeed, the tragic and high profile mass killings occur in areas where guns are banned, and criminals therefore have a monopoly on firepower. Sadly, people such as Orange County, CA Sherrif Sandra Hutchens seem to miss these facts, and want to revoke concealed carry permits for no good reason at all.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/permits-carona-concealed-2186181-county-department?orderby=TimeStampDescending&showRecommendedOnly=0&oncommentsPage=1
Go this article and see how the rights of Californians are being trampled on.
Read the comments left by “Fairisfair”. Orange County CA needs a new sheriff, one who will stand up for the rights of the people.
“Indeed, the tragic and high profile mass killings occur in areas where guns are banned, and criminals therefore have a monopoly on firepower.”
Well, if you look at our nation’s history, gun laws started as a way to prevent blacks from shooting some murderous bas****s when they attacked. “We can’t be having an armed rebellion by the underclass.” <— Yes, that was their argument. While I can understand the fear they had, it was of their own making – people get upset about seeing friends beaten or murdered! It’s hard to retaliate when your attacker wears a mask, and more importantly, has the only rifles. This is one reason that shotguns are still very popular in the ‘old’ south, regardless of race. Mostly it’s people in the city areas that consider them impractical – but still like that sound that just says “get the heck out of my house!” to crooks.
Look up laws for dogs from the 2nd half of the 19th century. Man traps, barricades, personal weapons, animals, curfews, poll taxes, poison darts/bolts, explosives… All were made illegal only after the war. Kids these days don’t know what it’s like to be a “Boy” to humiliate. I didn’t even cover the other violations of their rights. This just covers the laws preventing self defense.
I do find it kind of sadly ironic about the history of the NRA and KKK.