by Robert Heston

Created on: January 20, 2010   Last Updated: February 24, 2010

"For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration!  Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient and the world will follow our lead to the future!"  These words were spoken by Adolf Hitler in 1935.

"Gun control" appears to be an incremental approach to the elimination of gun ownership.  There's two arguments used to justify gun control.  One is that by outlawing guns the rate of violent crime will be reduced.  The other is based on an incorrect interpretation of the Second Amendment.  This one maintains that the militia referred to in the Second Amendment is now the National Guard, exclusive of everyone else.

Self defense is a natural part of the "fight or flight" syndrome that we all experience when faced with danger.  There are numerous examples of times when criminals have the upper hand and their victims don't have the time or the opportunity to call 911 and wait for the police.  This is when our right to self defense comes to the forefront. I maintain that the right to self defense is a God given right. 

The media bears a lot of responsibility for much of the bad publicity that guns are getting.  Stories of people using guns to defend themselves, their family, or property can be found in magazines published by the National Rifle Association, and a few other publications.  But these stories are seldom mentioned in the mainstream media.  Usually, just the appearance of a gun in the hands of an intended victim is enough to send criminals running.  But "if it bleeds it leads" seems to be the mantra of the press.  So we're bombarded with stories of rapes, robberies, and killings, and yet it's not politically correct to use a gun in self defense.

Gun control advocates would have us believe that guns will disappear and violent crime will be reduced if we outlaw guns.  Statistics don't bear that out.  Washington D.C., New York City, California, and other cities and states with stiff gun control laws consistently rank as areas with high rates of violent crime.  Switzerland has a very high rate of gun ownership, yet they also have a low crime rate.  There's a lot of evidence that points to cultural factors as contributing to violent crime more than gun ownership, Switzerland seems to bear this out.

The Second Amendment to the Constitution reads, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep

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