One killer vs. 230 million armed Americans

(AP)

The American people have always had heart, and lots of it.

Perhaps that’s why the same day as the horrific shooting of two journalists in Roanoke, Va., the White House decided to capitalize on the tidal wave of grief to push its own agenda.

Josh Earnest, White House Spokesperson, made a statement urging Congress to pass legislation to “reduce gun violence.”

This isn’t the first time Washington, D.C., has used tragedy to try and expand the regulatory strength of our ravenously power-hungry federal government. After all, doesn’t Uncle Sam know best? The current administration certainly thinks so. Following the shooting of nine Christians in Charleston, South Carolina, Obama made a personal plea for stricter gun regulations.

If one patriot had been armed in that South Carolina church, nine lives could have been saved. Now, more than ever, we must stand up and protect the second amendment rights that our Founders provided for just such a time as this -- a time when self-defense and protecting our neighbors saves innocent lives.

But don’t let clever politicians prey on your emotions. In the past two decades, violent crime in America has actually decreased dramatically. Pew Research Center reports, compared with 1993, the peak of U.S. gun homicides, the firearm homicide rate was 49 percent lower in 2010, and there were fewer deaths, even though the nation’s population grew. The victimization rate for other violent crimes with a firearm—assaults, robberies and sex crimes—was 75 percent lower in 2011 than in 1993. Violent non-fatal crime victimization overall (with or without a firearm) also is down markedly (72 percent) over two decades.

So is there any truth to it? After all, fewer handguns, fewer shootings, right?

Wrong.

In fact, Detroit’s police chief, James Craig, ran a little experiment. In 2014, Craig encouraged the city’s residents to arm themselves. His police department issued over 1,100 handgun permits. More than 8,100 guns were registered in the city.

As a result, crime dropped by 12 percent.

But Craig wasn’t finished. In a survey of 1,800 felons, he discovered that “armed citizens” were their single biggest fear.

So next time the federal government tells you more regulations are the answer, you can tell them we the people know better. Tragedies are always tragedies, but the medicine for mental illness is not to strip millions of honest Americans of their ability to defend themselves.

If one patriot had been armed in that South Carolina church, nine lives could have been saved. Now, more than ever, we must stand up and protect the second amendment rights that our Founders provided for just such a time as this -- a time when self-defense and protecting our neighbors saves innocent lives.

Today, thousands of Americans are banding together to say “enough is enough” to the abusive power of our federal government. Article V of the U.S. Constitution allows state legislators to call a Convention of States to propose amendments to the Constitution. Our nation has never been more in need of this constitutional method to limit Washington, D.C., and protect our Second Amendment rights.

One mentally deranged man versus a church or movie theater filled with armed Americans? Now that’s a country I’d be proud to call home.