Thursday, March 12, 2009

CHICAGO MURDERS SOAR: MAYOR HAS HEAD UP ASS!









Hey Major Daley: Why don’t you pull your head out of your ass?



Keep in mind three things: #1) Chicago has a complete and total ban on the possession of handguns just like the D.C. law found unconstitutional last year. #2) Illinois completely prohibits concealed carry. #3) Every State that has passed concealed carry laws has experienced a drop in violent crime and a drop in the number of murders.


508 Chicago School Students Shot In 16 Months




Twenty-five Chicago Public School students have been murdered this year. As shocking as that number is, there is another figure that's very disturbing as well: the number of students who have been shot in a 16-month period is enough to fill an elementary school - 508 students, according to school officials. CBS station WBBM-TV in Chicago's Chief Correspondent Jay Levine asks why, and what is being done to stop it. Think about it. By this time tomorrow, odds are at least one Chicago Public School student will have been shot. {{Update}} {{The writer was correct, there was one more and the number as of 3-12-09 stands at 26 for 2008-2009 school year with three months to go!}} By this time next week, there'll be seven.




It's a staggering, frightening, shameful statistic that judging from the reaction we got, those who could do something aren't anxious to talk about. "No one really wants to address this but we need to call for a state of emergency," said Pastor Roosevelt Watkins……


2008: Chicago Murders Total Tops U.S. Soldier Deaths in Iraq


by BMCWrites January 5, 2009 at 08:18 pm




Few Americans realize the number of people murdered in Chicago during 2008 was larger than the number of U.S. soldier deaths in Iraq during the same period.
In a Sept. 4 post, I noted an effort by Chicago’s CBS television affiliate to change that fact. CBS2Chicago broadcast a report that included an interesting stat — that is, the city’s 125 summer murders total nearly doubled the number of soldiers killed in Iraq during the same time period (65). Unfortunately, they seemed to stand alone.


Five days ago, Associated Press had the opportunity to share the facts for comparison. Unfortunately, they opted to publish a story containing only half of the story (i.e., that at least 314 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq during 2008, down from 904 in the previous year).


Four days ago, the folks at the Chicago Tribune had a similar chance. Unfortunately, their article that appeared in yesterday’s edition also included only half of the story (i.e., that the Windy City closed 2008 with 509 homicides, an increase of about 15 percent over 2007).
Combine the two stories, and the whole 2008 picture — the picture unpainted by members of the media — is made clear:


314 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq;
509 people were murdered in Chicago.

POLITICAL LANDSCAPE



Mayor Richard M. Daley (son of Mayor Richard J. Daley)
Cook County Board President, Todd Stroger (son of former Bd. President Stroger)
Sens. Barack Obama & Dick Durbin,Rep. Jesse Jackson, Rahm Emmanuel and several others all Democrats.Gov. Rod Blogojevich,House leader Mike Madigan,Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan (daughter of Mike Madigan)

.....our leadership in Illinois.....all Democrats.

City of Chicago Alderman – all Dems
Cook County Board Members – all Dems
Illinois House of Representatives – run by Dems
Illinois State Senate – run by mostly all Dems





Thank you for the combat zone in Chicago.


Of course, they're all blaming each other.


Can't blame Republicans; there aren't any!


State pension fund $44 Billion in debt, worst in the Country.


Cook County (Chicago) sales tax 10.25% highest in country. Look 'em up if you want).


Chicago school system rated one of the worst in the country.

Major Daley’s response to any attempt at concealed carry is to claim that it would turn our streets into the “Wild West” with shoot-outs happening all the time. Hey Dickhead: There already are shoot-outs all the frickin time on your damn streets! It’s fricken worse in Chicago than in the whole bloody country of Iraq! And it’s much worse in Chicago than in Iraq’s capital city of Baghdad. Chicago averaged 1.4 shoot-out murders each day in 2008!

Also, studies have shown that in states that pass concealed carry laws people with concealed carry permits don’t go around shooting people and in fact, people with concealed carry permits are eight (8) times less likely to be involved in a crime than the average ordinary citizen.

So Major Daley: When are you going to pull your Head out of your ASS?

You, Major Daley, are directly responsible for an inflated murder rate that would be on average around 7-14% lower if concealed carry were permitted. So in 2008 numbers, around 50 people who died could have been saved if you allowed for concealed carry. 50 PEOPLE!!!

Rant over: My $.02.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Some Issue Positions to Consider for the NCCPA

ISSUE POSITIONS

These are simply some “First Thoughts” and the NCCPA will forever remain flexible

Abortion: Abortion is wrong, it is a sin, and should be discouraged. However, we are all sinners – no one is perfect, and it should be left up to the States to determine what type of Abortion Laws they would like to have rule in their State. Federal Government money should never be used to help finance abortion and it is permissible to allow the States to put certain restrictions on abortion, such as: 1) Requiring a minor to have the permission of a parent in order to obtain an abortion. 2) Requiring a 72 hour waiting period, unless the health of the mother is at risk. 3) Limiting abortions to pregnancies that are in the first or second trimester only. 4) Prohibiting “partial-birth” abortions. 5) Requiring abortion clinics to donate a small percentage of their profits to abortion alternative groups. 6) Creating a registry of couples desiring to adopt a baby and of mothers with unwanted pregnancies in an effort to save lives in stead of aborting them. 7) Prohibiting a State from an all-out ban on abortions.

Income Taxes: Income Taxes should be abolished. For over 100 years our Country survived quite well with no Income Tax. It wasn’t until the 1900’s that the first Income Tax was put into effect. Income taxes inhibit personal ambition and penalize people for hard work. In stead we will first, massively cut our current federal budget. Second, we will be re-instituting reasonable import taxes on all foreign goods being sold in America. This will not only help raise money to run the federal government, it will also attempt to start leveling the playing field for American manufacturers. Free trade is BS because everybody else is subsidizing or taxing in one way or another. “Free Trade” has led to the loss of millions and millions of American manufacturing jobs. Fair Trade, on the other hand, will level the playing field and help American businesses be competitive in the world market.

National Defense: Get out of the over 100 treatise we are entangled in around the world. Send Germany and Japan a bill for all of the Defense costs to protect those countries for the past fifty years. Pull all our troops out of Europe and Japan and place them on the Mexican and Canadian borders. Leave a few small “staging” areas across the globe that we could use in the case of a real, international emergency incident, perhaps two or three per continent. Invest heavily in research and development for future weapons and space defense. Maintain and improve our Navy, Air Force, Army, Marines and Coast Guard. Consider making 1-2 years of service mandatory for all 18-20 year olds, men and women. In exchange for the service, give them money for college or trade schools.

Welfare: Welfare shall be limited to only those willing to participate in job training programs or those with a physical or mental disability that prevents them from working. People on welfare will be given up to one year, and one year only, to participate in free job training program(s) and get a job. After the one year is up, no more welfare. Corporations, in stead of being taxed to death, will be required to contribute to job training and job creation programs.

Promote Limited Government: Budget Cuts: The following Federal Bureaucracies will either be eliminated entirely, or in the alternative, severely diminished. 1) The Department of Education (leave education up to the States, it is a State responsibility); 2) The Environmental Protection Agency (leave it up to the States, it is a State responsibility); 3) The Department of Housing and Urban Development (A State issue); 4) The Department of Agriculture; 5) The Department of Labor; 6) Department of Commerce; 7) Department of Transportation; 8) Cut all funding to the United Nations, let them pay themselves, no more free ride on our backs; 9) Severely limit or completely abolish numerous Administrations and Agencies. Cut, cut, cut!

Gun Control: Make it a requirement that all households in America have at least one handgun and one long gun and everyone in the house is trained on how to safely use them. Permit Concealed Carry by law-abiding citizens in every state and eliminate all “Gun Bans.” Have the federal government help low income people to purchase a handgun for their self defense and learn how to use it safely (everyone gets a 10 hour gun safety and use course free of charge)(paid for by arms manufacturers and not paid for by the federal government). Ban fully automatic machine guns and prohibit convicted felons and the mentally defective from possessing firearms. After 10 years a convicted felon can petition for possession of a firearm. Every child by age 14 shall be trained and proficient in the use of a .22 caliber pistol and rifle. Every citizen by age 18 shall be proficient in the use of at least a 9mm/38 caliber pistols, a 30 caliber rifle, and at least a 20 gauge shotgun. Felons in possession of an illegal firearm and any criminal who uses a firearm to commit a crime will receive an additional penalty, on top of whatever else they get, of an additional 20 years in prison.

Bailouts: No more bailouts of failing companies. Let the free market run its course.

Intelligent Design: Permit schools to teach the theory of intelligent design along with the theory of evolution in our schools.

Immigration: Seal our borders. Build a wall or a fence or whatever is necessary to seal our borders and prohibit anyone from illegally entering our country. Take our armed forces that are currently stationed all over the world, bring them home and place them on our borders. Ease up the regulations to obtain legal entry and citizenship in our country. People here illegally can stay and have five years to apply for legal citizenship and must pay a serious fine for having entered illegally before they can obtain citizenship.

Anti-terrorism. Maintain the world’s greatest anti-terrorist network the world has ever seen. Squash the bugs while they are small, before they grow and multiply. I.E. kill the terrorists before they can kill us. Machiavelli must be studied and his strategies and tactics must be employed. Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” will be taught to all American children in High School. Intercept and destroy arms shipments from places like Iran, North Korea, and Russia that are bound for terrorist groups or terrorist friendly nations. Be pro-active in the fight against terrorism. Defeat our enemies before they can even think to oppose us!

Gay Marriage: Contrary to popular, liberal beliefs, the NCCPA loves gays and lesbians and transgendered individuals. We are not to judge, but rather to accept people as they are and love them and serve them as best we can. That having been said, we can still disagree with the homosexual lifestyle and try to convince gay people that heterosexual relationships are God’s plan for all people. Gays should have equal rights, and should be allowed to be legally joined to each other through a Civil Union Ceremony. Gays joined in Civil Union should have the same rights as Married people do with the same rights to divorce each other that married people do. However, we will not refer to Gay people as married; marriage has always been, in every civilization throughout all of recorded history, a union of a man and a woman. This will not change. But as far as rights to community property and to shared health-care benefits and in every other respect, gays will be allowed to join together in Civil Unions.

Energy Resources: Immediately begin construction of at least 100 nuclear power plants throughout the United States to provide clean, affordable electrical power to our people. Europe has gone nuclear, so should we! This will create thousands and thousands of jobs too. Lift the ban on oil exploration and drilling on the continental shelf and in ANWAR and start producing our own oil in stead of being dependant upon foreign governments for our oil, many of whom are hostile towards the United States. Immediately start to build dozens and dozens of oil refineries here in the U.S. so we can refine our own oil. This will also create thousands of jobs and secure our energy needs for the future. Invest millions into the pursuit of alternate energy sources so we can wean ourselves off of our dependence on fossil fuels and oil.

Healthy, Twelve-Step Principles. The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous can, and should be, applied by everyone to their lives. The Twelve Steps, which I believe are biblical in nature, should be taught in all of our high schools as a required course. These are only “suggestions” but they are some of the best damn “suggestions” evah. Millions and millions of people are leading healthier, happier lives thanks to their learning and employing the principles of the Twelve Steps to the everyday lives. These tools will not be forced on anyone, but they will be made available to everyone.

Fatherless children: Promote marriage and make it economically more beneficial in an effort to promote two-parent families. Fatherless children are nine times more likely to have trouble in school, or to get involved in criminal activity or with drugs. Responsible fathers should be exalted and promoted

Labor Unions: Abolish them as unconstitutional. While labor unions were necessary during the beggining of the 20th Century, ever since the middle of the 20th Century they have turned into corrupt organizations that look out more for themselves than for the common worker. Workers should be freed from the constraints Unions impose on them. Millions of American jobs have been shipped overseas thanks to the Unions who were supposed to be looking out for the common workers. The Unions ended up screwing the common worker out of decent jobs and screwing up the American manufacturing base.

No more sitting around like a bunch of morons while we let others, and liberals, take over our country. The America I grew up in the 80’s is gone and gone forever. We can’t bring that back and we are not trying to bring that back. What we are trying to do is move America in a healthy direction for the future based upon Judeo-Christian culture, beliefs and principles.

We are NOT Racist in any way shape or form. We try to love all peoples equally, as Christ would if he were here because he is here, in us. People are not to be judged and to the extent we fail in this endeavor, for we will surely fail sometimes, we will only judge the content of their character and not the color of their skin, their gender or sexual orientation.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

January 20, 2009: NCCPA is Born

On this day, the day America swears in the single most unqualified person evah for president, the single most radically liberal socialist president evah, the Right needs to come up with a new game plan to ensure that the damage that will surely be done by such a presidency, is limited to four years, and does not get eight years to wreck its havoc on our society, economy, industry and educational institutions.

The “New Christian Conservative Party of America” (”NCCPA”) is born this 20th day of January, 2009.

If we are going to dream, we will dream big! People will look back, years from now, at this day and not remember it as the day Socialist President Obama was sworn in, rather, they will remember this day as the day of rebirth of conservative christian values in America. The first day of a new era in American Politics. The day the Right stopped hiding in the corner sniveling and holding a pity-party for itself and decided to stand up and fight back against the forces of liberalism to try to win back America.

The day christian conservatives overturned the tables of the tax collectors and money changers and drove them from the temples of power. Or, we can continue to hide in the corner, sniveling and feeling sorry for ourselves as the left takes us further and further left. We do have a choice. We still are free (at least for now). Silence and sniveling; or, ACTION!

Oh Bluto, they’re to strong for us, they’re too powerful for us….

Did we give up when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell No! Let’s Do IT!!!

NCCPA: New Christian Conservative Party of America

My fellow Americans:

Politically, we, as a Nation, have been drifting left, inch by inch for the past 30 years. So much so that there has, in fact, been a huge fundamental shift to the left. What used to be the Democrat’s position back in the 70’s and 80’s is now the Republican (Dem Lite) position. What used to be radical liberal socialism has now become mainstream Liberal Democratic principles. What used to be mainstream Republican principles are now seen as extreme right wing “fringe” positions. Everything has shifted dramatically to the left. Fact, not opinion, Fact.

Unfortunately, I believe the Republican party is in its death throws. Modern day Republicans have sold themselves out by supporting bigger government, higher spending etc. They have tried to beat the Dems at their own game, but never will be able to outspend the Dems. Modern day Republicans are wimps in that they no longer stand up for the core conservative principles they used to stand up for. Truly, our modern day Republicans have become “Dem-Lite.”

America needs a New Conservative Party. I’ve looked at the “Conservative Party of America” which has some potential. But I think we need a new party even bolder, stronger on fundamental right wing conservative issues. Issues like Abortion, Gun Control – The Right to Keep and Bear Arms, Taxing, Spending, Smaller Government, Strong National Defense, Free Enterprise Capitalism, Freedom of Religion, Same Sex Marriages.

Is there a “New Christian Conservative Party?” It is time for Christian Conservatives to stand up and stop cowering in the corner and letting the liberals run the bloody show. I’m bleepin angry at the way our society has gone these last 30 years. But what to do with the anger? Use it to start something new.

Now, some may say, if you’re a Christian you can’t be angry. I call BS. The Bible says “In your anger do not sin.” It doesn’t say don’t be angry. Even Jesus got angry. Remember the tax collectors and money changers in the Temple? What did Jesus do? Did he talk to them? Try to reason with them? NO! He stormed in, turned over their tables and drove them out of the temple.

It is time for Christian Conservatives to stand up and route the modern day tax collectors and money changers from our governmental, mass media, and educational positions of power and control. They will only drive us deeper into the pit, if we let them. And for far too long we have been letting them take us further and further left by passively sitting back and watching as they take us ever further left, inch by bloody inch until we’ve seen a complete and total shift to the left of center. Enough is enough.

It is time for the pendulum to swing back to the Right! Let the Revolution Begin Today! What about it? How about a New Conservative Party, one that’s not afraid to call it like it is: “The New Christian Conservative Party of America!”

NCCPA

Monday, January 12, 2009

FROM JOHN LOTT'S BOOK: MORE GUNS, LESS CRIME

More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws
By John Lott, Jr.
The University of Chicago Press, 1998
-- A SUMMARY of POINTS
p.1 Accidental Deaths: In the entire U.S. during a year, only about 30 people are killed by private citizens who mistakenly believe the victim to be an intruder. By comparison, police accidentally kill as many as 330 innocent individuals annually.

p.3 Defensive Use of Handguns: National surveys indicate that 98% of the time that people use guns defensively, they merely have to brandish a weapon to break off an attack.

p.4 Injury from attacks, women: the probability of serious injury from an attack is 2.5 times greater for women offering no resistance than for women resisting with a gun.

p.4 Criminal’s Choice: Criminals choose victims whom they perceive as weak.

p.4 For example: Criminals in one case decided against robbing a cab driver or a drug dealer because both sometimes carry guns. Instead they chose a man walking across a parking lot carrying a musical instrument.

p.5 Criminals and Self-preservation: Criminals are motivated by self-preservation, and handguns can therefore be a deterrent.

p.5 “Hot” Burglaries: (Burglaries where a resident is home when a criminal strikes): Note: Both Canada and England have very, very strict gun control measures: In Canada and England almost half of all burglaries are “Hot” burglaries. In contrast in the U.S. with fewer gun restrictions, the rate of “hot” burglaries is only 13%. Criminals are not behaving differently by accident. Convicted American felons reveal in surveys that they are much more worried about armed victims than about running into the police.

p. 5 Simple economics: Just as when the price of apples increases people will buy more oranges or other fruit, criminals will switch to attacking more vulnerable prey. This is called “the substitution effect” by economists.

p.6 Proof of the substitution effect: 56% of convicted felons surveyed, claimed that they would not attack a potential victim who was known to be armed. Indeed, the criminals in states with high civilian gun ownership were the most worried about encountering armed victims.

p.7-8 False “gun facts”: Many commonly accepted “facts” about crime are simply not true. For example, take the claim that individuals are frequently killed by people they know. Some gun control groups claim that this figure is as high as 58%. However, this grouping includes rival gang members, a cab driver and his fare, and pimps and their prostitutes. Hardly fitting “people you know.” In fact Chicago Police Department statistics show that just 5% of all murders in the city from 1990 to 1995 were committed by nonfamily friends, neighbors or roommates.

p. 8 Law Abiding citizens are not murderers: In the largest seventy-five counties in the U.S. in 1988, over 89% of adult murderers already had criminal records as adults. From 1990 to 1994, 76% of juvenile murder victims and 77% of juveniles who murdered other juveniles had prior criminal records. Murderers are people who already have criminal records. Law abiding citizens don’t all-of-a-sudden turn into murderers because they have a gun. Criminals are not typical citizens.

p.9 Accidental firearm deaths: in 1995 there were a total of 1,400 accidental firearm deaths in the entire U.S. A relatively small portion of these involved children: 30 deaths involved children up to four years of age and 170 more deaths involved five- to fourteen-year-olds. In comparison, 2,900 children dies in motor-vehicle crashes, 950 children lost their lives from drowning, and over 1,000 children were killed by fire and burns. More children die in bicycle accidents each year than die from all types of firearm accidents.

P10 Unintended consequences of “safety” precautions: We protect aspirin bottles with child safety caps to prevent accidental deaths. However, evidence indicates that child-resistant bottle caps actually have resulted in “3,500 additional poisonings of children under age five annually from aspirin related drugs.” Why? Because consumers have been lulled into a less safety-conscious mode of behavior by the existence of safety caps.

p. 10 Query: Would stricter gun control regulations primarily reduce the number of guns held by law-abiding citizens? I.e., would “criminals” be likely to comply with gun control regulations or would they ignore them? How much would stricter gun control regulations alter the relative balance of power between criminals and law abiding citizens? (Hint: it would help the criminals!)

p.10 Query: Will allowing citizens to carry concealed handguns mean that otherwise law-abiding people will harm each other? Or, would the threat of self-defense by citizens armed with guns primarily deter criminals?

p.11 Defensive gun use: Some claim that each year there are “only” 80,000 to 82,000 defensive uses of guns during assaults, robberies, and household burglaries. However, other national polls imply much higher defensive use rates. Fifteen national polls, including those done by the Los Angeles Times, Gallup, and Peter Hart Research Associates imply that there are 760,000 to 3.6 million defensive uses of guns per year.

p.12 The fear that giving people concealed carry firearms will greatly increase incidents of “road rage” shootings or turn our streets into the “wild west.” (Chicago’s Mayor Daley’s argument). Facts: There exists only one recorded incident of a permitted concealed handgun being used in a shooting following a traffic accident, and that instance involved a case of self-defense! Moreover, no concealed carry permit holder has ever shot a police officer, and there have been cases where permit holders have used their guns to save officer’s lives!

p.14 What do police officers think about concealed carry? 76% of street officers and 59% of managerial officers agreed that all trained, responsible adults should be allowed to obtain handgun-carry permits. By similarly overwhelming percentages, these officers and police chiefs rejected claims that the Brady law would lower the crime rate.

p. 14 What do registered voters think about concealed carry? By a margin of 69% to 28%, registered voters favor “a law allowing law-abiding citizens to be issued a carry permit to carry a firearm for personal protection outside their home.” Only 16% favored a ban on handguns.

p.14 Who supports tighter restrictions on gun ownership? “The less educated and those who haven’t been threatened with a gun are most supportive of gun control.” Those most supportive of restrictions also tend to be those least directly threatened by crime.

p.15 Lawmaker and celebrity hypocrites: Senator Diane Feinstein (D-Cal.), Cybill Shepherd, Bill Cosby and Arthur O. Sulzberger (chairman of the N.Y Times) all have concealed-handgun permits! In fact, according to one U.S. Senator, “You’d be surprised how many senators have guns.”

p.18 Stiffer penalties or higher probabilities of conviction result in fewer violations of the law. The evidence consistently finds a negative association between crime rates and the risks of apprehension, conviction or imprisonment. I.e., deterrence works!

p.19 Data from 3,054 U.S. counties from 1977 to 1992, and additional available data from 1993 and 1994 were used by Lott to arrive at his conclusions and to verify his results.

p.19 And? National crime rates have been falling at the same time as gun ownership has been rising. Likewise, states experiencing the greatest reductions in crime are also the ones with the fastest growing percentage of gun ownership.

p.19 Criminals, as a group, tend to behave rationally – when crime becomes more difficult, less crime is committed. Higher arrest and conviction rates dramatically reduce crime. Criminals also move out of jurisdictions in which criminal deterrence increases.

p.19 ALLOWING CITIZENS TO CARRY CONCEALED HANDGUNS REDUCES VIOLENT CRIMES, AND THE REDUCTIONS COINCIDE VERY CLOSELY WITH THE NUMBER OF CONCEALED-HANDGUN PERMITS ISSUED.

p.19 MASS SHOOTINGS IN PUBLIC PLACES ARE REDUCED WHEN LAW-ABIDING CITIZENS ARE ALLOWED TO CARRY CONCEALED HANDGUNS.

p.19 THE LARGEST DROPS IN VIOLENT CRIME FROM LEGALIZED CONCEALED HANDGUNS OCCURRED IN THE MOST URBAN COUNTIES WITH THE GREATEST POPULATIONS AND THE HIGHEST CRIME RATES.

p.20 OF ALL THE METHODS STUDIED SO FAR BY ECONOMISTS, THE CARRYING OF CONCEALED HANDGUNS APPEARS TO BE THE MOST COST EFFECTIVE METHOD FOR REDUCING CRIME.

P22 Lott looked at both time series data and cross-sectional data. That is, one area over time and multiple areas at the same time and multiple areas over time.

P23 Lott used sets of measures that controlled for the average differences in crime rates across places even after demographic, income and other factors had been accounted for. NO PREVIOUS GUN-CONTROL STUDIES HAVE EVER TAKEN THIS APPROACH.

P23 Kellerman study: Guns more likely to kill friend or relative than a bad guy. Serious problems with methodology and facts. Only 8 out of 444 homicides established that the gun involved had been kept in the home. (See also, Chicago Police Dept. study from 1990 to 1995 only 5% of murders were by non-relative friends or roommates.)

Chapter 3:

P36 From 1988 to 1996 there was a large increase in the percentage of people who own guns. Registered voters who were gun owners in 1988 were 27.4%, And in 1996 the number was 37%! In overall general population gun ownership rose from 26% in 1988 to 39% in 1996! (Note: the violent crime rates during this time were dropping!)

P39 Rural areas have the highest gun ownership rates and the lowest crime rates. Cities with more than 500,000 people have the lowest gun ownership rates and the highest crime rates.

P43 Violent crime rates were 46% higher in 1995 than in 1976 and 240% higher than in 1965.

P43 Violent crime rates were the highest in states with the most restrictive gun control rules, Next highest was states with discretionary concealed carry permits and the violent crime rates were the lowest in the states with the nondiscretionary “shall issue” concealed carry permit rules.

P47 The difference is quite striking: violent crimes are 81% higher in states without nondiscretionary concealed carry laws. For murder, states that ban the concealed carrying of handguns the murder rates are 127% higher than the states with the most liberal concealed carry laws. For property crimes, the difference is much smaller: 24%. States with nondiscretionary concealed carry laws have less crime, but the primary difference appears in terms of less violent crimes.

Chapter 4

P50 While the initial comparison of crime rates in states with and without concealed handgun laws was suggestive, obviously many other factors need to be accounted for. The next three chapters use common statistical techniques known as regression analysis to control for these factors.

P51 The results clearly imply that nondiscretionary concealed carry laws coincide with fewer murder, aggravated assaults and rapes. On the other hand, property crimes like auto theft and larceny rates rise. THE RESULTS ARE ALSO LARGE, INDICATING HOW IMPORTANT THE CONCEALED CARRY LAWS CAN BE.

P51 WHEN STATE CONCEALED HANDGUN LAWS WENT INTO EFFECT IN A COUNTY MURDER FELL BY ABOUT 8%, RAPES FELL BY 5% AND AGGRAVATED ASSAULTS FELL BY 7%. IN 1992 18,469 MURDERS, 79,272 RAPES, 538,368 ROBBERIES AND 861,103 AGGRAVATED ASSAULTS occurred in COUNTIES WITHOUT THE NONDISCRETIONARY CONCEALED HANDGUN LAWS. If those states without the nondiscretionary concealed handgun laws had been forced to issue concealed carry handgun permits, murders in the U.S. would have declined by 1,400! (That’s one year, 1,400 lives!)

P54 Gun control proponents always stress the increase in accidental deaths from increased concealed carry permits. In 1988 there were 200 accidental handgun deaths. Of these 200, 22 were in states with concealed handgun laws while 178 occurred in states without concealed handgun laws! The reduction in murders alone is as much as 8 times greater than the total number of accidental deaths in concealed handgun states (assuming however unlikely, that all the accidental handgun deaths were caused because of concealed carry handguns.) The numbers indicate that rapes in states without concealed carry handgun laws would decline by 4,200, aggravated assaults would decline by 60,000 and robberies would decline by 12,000.

P58 When individual state time trends were included in the analysis, all results indicated that the concealed handgun laws lowered crime. Under this specification, the passage of nondiscretionary concealed handgun laws in states that did not have them in 1992 would have reduced murders in that year by 1,839; rapes by 3,727; aggravated assaults by 10,990; robberies by 61,064; burglaries by 112,665; larcenies by 93,274; and auto thefts by 41,512. The total value of this reduction in crime in 1992 dollars would have been $7.6 billion.

P60 concealed handgun laws have statistically significant effects only in the relatively high crime counties. For most violent crimes—such as murder, rape, and aggravated assault—concealed weapons laws have much greater deterrent effects in high-crime counties.

P63 The concealed-handgun laws have varying effects depending upon the size of the county. When counties with almost 600,000 people (two standard deviations above the mean population) pass a concealed-handgun law, the murder rate falls by 12 percent. That is 7.4 times more than it was reduced for the average county (75,773 people).
The most densely populated areas are the ones most helped by concealed-handgun laws.
Higher-income areas and counties with relatively more blacks both have particularly large drops in crime associated with concealed-handgun laws.

P64-67 See Bar graph figures, very dramatic!

P68 While many blacks want to make guns harder to get, the irony is that blacks benefit more than any other groups from concealed-handgun laws. Allowing potential victims a means for self-defense is more important in crime-prone neighborhoods.
Even more strikingly, the history of gun control in the United States has often been a series of attempts to disarm blacks.

P69 Lott testified before the Illinois House of Representatives and afterwards, he was approached by a black representative from Chicago who supported the bill. He told Lott that he was not surprised by Lott’s finding that areas with large minority populations gained the most from these concealed-handgun laws.
Noting the inability of the police to protect people in heavily black areas when “bad guys” already had illegal guns, the representative said he believed that the current power imbalance between law-abiding people and criminals was greatest in black areas.
NOTE: Chicago has a complete and total ban on handguns and even after the Heller decision striking down D.C.’s similar law, Mayor Richard Daley, Jr. is still fighting to maintain the total ban. He claims that the Second Amendment only applies to the federal government, not the states. While all other Bill of Rights provisions have been held to be incorporated as against the states by the 14th Amendment, he still wants to fight it and waste thousands and thousands of taxpayer dollars in stupid legal fees. What’s far, far worse is the Fact that in 2008 Chicago recorded 509 murders, more than that of U.S. Soldiers killed in Iraq. Imagine that, you’d be safer on the streets of Iraq than you’d be on the streets of Chicago! Moreover, if Illinois passed a concealed-carry law and murders dropped by 8%, as they have in other areas that passed concealed-carry laws, the number of murders in Chicago would have dropped by over 40! And since Chicago is definitely a densely populated area where the concealed-handgun laws would have three times the impact over standard population counties, passing concealed handgun laws for Chicago would have reduced the number of murders in 2008 by over 120!

P69 Perhaps it is not too surprising that blacks and those living in urban areas gain the most from being able to defend themselves with concealed handguns, since the absence of police appears most acute in black, central-city neighborhoods.

P70 Law-abiding minorities in the most crime prone areas produced the greatest crime reduction from being able to defend themselves (by concealed-handgun laws).

P73 Lott’s results consistently indicated that the concealed-handgun law lowered the rates of violent crime, rape, and aggravated assault and murder. … the nondiscretionary laws affected crime immediately, with an additional change spread out over time.
Re-estimating progressions to account for time trends in crime rates before and after the passage of the concealed-handgun laws provides consistent strong evidence that the deterrent impact of concealed-handgun increases with time.

P75 The drops [in crime rates] not only begin right when the laws pass but also take crime rates well below what they had been before the passage of the laws.
Moreover, deterrence increases with the number of concealed-handgun permits that are issued.

P79 Nine of the ten states [which passed nondiscretionary concealed-handgun laws] experienced declines in violent-crime rates as a result of these laws, and eight of the ten states experienced declines in murder rates; in the states where violent crimes, murders, or robberies rose, the increases were very small. In fact, the largest increases were smaller than the smallest declines in the states where the crime rates fell.

P81 …larger declines in crime were recorded in the most densely populated states. The differences are quite large: the most densely populated states experienced decreases in violent crimes that were about three times greater than the decreases in states with the average density.

P83 What about other gun laws? Lott looked at mandatory waiting periods to determine their impact on crime rates. Taken together, the results make it very difficult to argue that waiting periods (particularly long ones) have an overall beneficial effect on crime rates.

P90 Even using updated information, Lott found that all the results indicate that concealed-handgun laws reduce crime, and all the findings are statistically significant.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

A BRIEF HISTORY: THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS

HISTORICAL FACTS:

335 B.C.
The Greek philosopher Aristotle thought that bearing arms was necessary for true citizenship and participation in the political system (in Politics).

124 B.C.
Imperial Chancellor Kung-Sun petitioned the Emperor Han to take the people’s arms from them. The Emperor replied:

“Your subject has heard that when the ancients made the five kinds of weapons, it was not for the purpose of killing each other, but to prevent tyranny and to punish evil. When people lived in peace, these weapons were to be prepared against emergencies and to kill fierce animals. If there were military affairs, then the weapons were used to set up defenses and form battle arrays…”

The petition to disarm the people was turned down, stressing the right of the individual to bear arms for the common protection of society and the individual.

46 B.C.
The Roman politician Cicero supported bearing arms for self-defense of the individual and for public defense against tyranny (in De Officiis).

871 A.D.
King Alfred of Saxon England’s laws give every man the right to keep and bear arms, but prohibits murder and other crimes.

1020
England’s King Cnut’s laws recognize the right to keep and bear arms, the right to self-defense, and the right to hunt on one’s own land.

1181
In his Assize of Arms, King Henry II gives “every knight and freeman” the right to have weapons and armor.

1215
King John tries to disarm both nobles and commoners, but the barons force him to recognize the right to bear arms as part of the Magna Carta, which later becomes the model for the American colonists in their struggle against the English monarchy.

1252
Under Henry II, the arming of the citizens is extended to serfs. An “arming of the whole people” rather than a large standing army gradually becomes the basis for England’s defense.

1300’s
Gunpowder, already in use in China, is introduced into Europe. At first it is used primarily in crude siege cannons that can blow holes in castle walls, enforcing the power of the monarch over the nobles.

1328
In response to rowdiness by knights and others, Edward III issues the Statute of Northampton which prohibits “persons great or small” from carrying weapons in public, although it allows for defense of the home. The law is widely disobeyed, and, in practice, the courts applied it only to those who used arms to “terrify the good people of the land.” In other words, they only applied it against criminals – law abiding citizens maintained the right to keep and bear arms.

1500’s
Portable firearms such as the arquebus become more common on the battlefield. At first the unwieldy guns are fired from tripod-like supporters, but versions that can be fired from the shoulder soon appear.

1511
King Henry VIII orders that all fathers should provide each son, at the age of seven, with a bow and two shafts and to see to it that the child knew how to use them. Failure to do this resulted in a stiff fine which underlined the Crown’s seriousness in this matter.

1600’s
Permanent British settlement in America begins. The colonists use firearms daily for hunting as well as in ongoing conflicts with Native Americans and French colonists.

Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England listed in the first chapter his list of rights. After listing the Rights, he stated: “In vain would these rights be declared, ascertained, and protected by the dead letter of the laws, if the constitution had provided no other method to secure their actual enjoyment.” As an added protection, he explained, there were “auxiliary rights.” The fifth and last auxiliary right, meant to protect all the others “is that of having arms for their defense. . . . It is, indeed, a publick allowance under due restrictions, of the natural rights of resistance and self preservation, when the sanctions of society and laws are found insufficient to restrain the violence of oppression.”

A seventeenth-century guidebook for justices of the peace explained: “If Thieves shall come to a Man’s House, to rob or murder him, he may lawfully assemble company to defend his House by force; and if he or any of his company shall kill any of them in defence of Himself, his Family, his Goods or House, This is no Felony, neither shall they forfeit anything therefore.”

1670
King Charles II restricts guns and bows to large landowners (who make up the nobility), thus disarming the emerging middle class and the poor. At its time, this was the most restrictive English weapons control law ever passed.

1686
In his work Two Treatises on Government, philosopher John Locke maintains the “natural” right of citizens to have arms for their individual and collective defense.

1688
In the bloodless “Glorious Revolution,” William and Mary defeat King James II, abolish the standing army, and restore – to Protestants only – the right to keep and bear arms.

1689
The word Bill of Rights (or Declaration of Rights) is an act of the Parliament of England, whose formal name is An Act Declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and Settling the Succession of the Crown. The Bill of Rights of the United Kingdom is largely a statement of certain rights to which citizens and permanent residents of a constitutional monarchy were thought to be entitled in the late 17th century, asserting subjects' right to petition the monarch, as well as to bear arms in defence. The British Bill of Rights includes a condemnation of previous kings for disarming the people and specifies that henceforth “The subjects which are Protestant may have arms for their defense suitable to their conditions and allowed by law.”

1698
Philosopher Algernon Sidney in his book Discourses Concerning Government states that “the body of the People is the Public defense, and every man is armed and disciplines.” American colonists soon put the idea in practice in the form of local militias.

1700’s
Two new kinds of long guns come into use: The smoothbore musket has a short range and can be fired about four times a minute by well-trained soldiers. The rifle with its grooved barrel takes longer to load but has greater range and accuracy.

1739
In the British court case of Rex v. Gardner, the judge holds that the game laws did not forbid a person from mere possession of a gun for purposes of self-defense. Several later cases have similar verdicts.

1754-63
A combination of British and colonial volunteer forces defeat the French in the French and Indian War. Actually the colonists took primary responsibility for their own defense.

1770
British soldiers fire on unarmed Americans in Boston, leading to an up-surge of revolutionary sentiment. The British respond by beginning to raid colonial homes and gatherings to seize guns and ammunition.

1775
The American War of Independence is ignited when British troops under General Gage attempt to seize guns and ammunition from colonists at Lexington and Concord. Although faced down initially by the trained British troops, the American Minutemen militia begins a relentless fire, aided by accurate long-range rifles.

1776
In addition to declaring independence, the various states write constitutions that include bills of rights. In general, they refer to the danger of standing armies, the reliance on a well-regulated militia, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms.

1777
British colonial undersecretary William Knox presents a proposal concerning what to do with the colonies when they were subjugated and returned to British control. His proposals include the repeal of the militia laws, the confiscation of all arms held by the people, and the prohibition of the manufacture or importation of guns or powder in America.

1789
The Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution is approved. It includes the Second Amendment, which guarantees “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” In the Bill of Rights, the individual retained his basic natural rights; rights deemed unalienable, coming not from Society (or the State as the political manifestation of Society); but bestowed by the Almighty as inherent to the very nature of man.

1822
In the Kentucky case of Bliss v. Commonwealth, the court holds that the state constitution prohibits any interference with the right to keep and bear arms, even concealed weapons.

1836
Samuel Colt’s revolver is patented. Because it can fire six shots without reloading, it represents a formidable increase in firepower for close combat and helps the settlers repel Indian raids.

1837
Georgia passes the first ban on handguns. It is later overturned in 1846 in Nunn v. State as a violation of the Second Amendment.

1866
The Winchester repeating rifle lets its user fire up to 15 shots by working a lever every few seconds. It will become known as the gun that won the West.

The Fourteenth Amendment, the Freedman’s Bureau Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1866 all include the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms among the rights that the states are prohibited from taking from any citizen.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Thanksgiving Day Proclamation of 1789

Thanksgiving Day Proclamation of 1789

by President George Washington

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor, and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanks giving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many single favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the Service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks, for His kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the single and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of His providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, of the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have to acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge and in general for all the great and various favors which He hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humble offering our prayers and supplications to the Great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all people, by constantly being a government of wise, just and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone know to be best.