PA Bill Number: HB335
Title: In inchoate crimes, further providing for prohibited offensive weapons.
Description: In inchoate crimes, further providing for prohibited offensive weapons. ...
Last Action: Re-committed to APPROPRIATIONS
Last Action Date: May 6, 2024
Opinion: On equality and gun rights :: 06/06/2016
The Second Amendment is often tossed around the political football field with stunning misstatements from activists advocating more restrictions. These individuals misstate studies and statistics in an effort to push their agenda. In the end, all they provide is spin and fear.
As a father of four grown women, I have a little different perspective. My daughters own weapons, and some have concealed weapons permits. Each has been trained on how to handle a weapon safely. I go to bed every night knowing that if a horrible event occurs, they are capable of calmly confronting the situation.
Now, for the anti-gun crowd, we are entitled to our opinions, but not our facts:
- Hundreds of thousands of times a year, women use firearms to protect themselves. In fact, the Crime Prevention Center noted women obtaining concealed carry permits rose 270 percent since 2007.
- A study conducted by the Heritage Foundation pointed out that in the past 14 years (2002), of the "54 mass shootings * in which the assailant intended to kill large numbers of people at random," 69 percent occurred in gun-free zones while 31 percent occurred where citizens were allowed to be armed. (* defined as three or more victims)
- A Pew Research study from 2014 pointed out that 57 percent of Americans believe that gun ownership protects people from being victims of crime.
- Business Insider points out that ownership in Colorado is 34.3 percent, and the ATF National Registry shows Colorado has 63,000 registered guns.
- Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy concluded a negative correlation of gun ownership and violent crimes. In plain language, more guns mean less crime.
As these numbers show, the American people care a lot about the Second Amendment and their gun rights. That's what the anti-gun activists miss: This singular constitutional right is in the end about equality.
Perhaps Samuel Adams best captured the importance of the Second Amendment when he wrote, "The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms." This wisdom from the founder of the Sons of the Liberty is relevant today.
Nearly 225 years after ratification of the Bill of Rights, the Second Amendment - the great equalizer - stands ready to help Americans safeguard their liberty.
http://gazette.com/on-equality-and-gun-rights/article/1577596
