Law-Abiding Citizens Packing Guns: A Benefit Or A Risk?

Law-abiding Citizens Packing Guns: A Benefit or a Risk?

Friday night October 1983, my girlfriend was shopping at the Pasadena Mall in California. She was buying those last minute items needed for her wedding the next day. Around 9:00 pm, she left the Mall and walked the underground parking garage towards her car. At midnight her frantic parents and fiancÐ"© received the dreaded call from the Pasadena Police Department; my girlfriend had been attacked in the garage, robbed, raped, and stabbed twenty times to her death. Would this scenario have ended differently, had my girlfriend been packing a gun?

How many times have you walked to your car late at night, alone, especially in an underground parking garage? Imagine as you walk to the car, you hear a noise. Instantly your brain races to locate where the noise came from; your heart starts pounding, your palms become sweaty, and the hairs on the back of your neck raise up. The pace at which you were walking begins to increase; all your senses are on full alert. When you arrive at the vehicle, your hands are trembling as you try to open the car door. Suddenly, a person appears from nowhere, grabs you and secures their hand over your mouth and whispers in your ear "don't scream". I'm sure at that moment a number of scenarios are racing through your mind. Am I going to be raped, robbed or worse yet killed? This scenario and the death of my girlfriend years ago, has entered my mind many times. I've had to walk alone through the deserted underground parking garage to my car, late at night after working at the hospital. For this reason I have chosen to bring to your attention the need for the CCW law, better known as the Carry Concealed Weapon law. There are many reasons why I believe this law should be implemented nation wide; without having to obtain a permit, without a fee, without any kind of waiting period and only an expedient background check.

The first reason we should be able to carry a firearm is for self-protection. Wayne Lapierre states that, "Self-defense, the most basic of all human reactions, is triggered by the threat or fear of harm" (Crime and Freedom 23). Unfortunately, law enforcement cannot be at every crime all the time. Then there are instances when violent people and criminals are made known to law enforcement, yet they still do nothing to protect, until the victim is either dead or severely attacked. In his book Guns, Crimes, and Freedom, Wayne LaPierre gives us an example of the necessity for protection:

Take the case of twenty-two-year-old Rayna Ross. Ms. Ross is the Marine lance corporal who shot and killed he bayonet-wielding ex-boyfriend, Corporal Anthony GoreeÐ'--also a MarineÐ'--in June of 1993. George had broken into her apartment at least twice before, and after further beatings, stalking, and threats, Ms. Ross finally went to military authorities and pressed charges. The Marine Corps did little to protect Ms. Ross. They confined Goree to the brig for six days, put him on base restriction, and ordered him to stay away from Ross. Almost immediately after being released from the brig, he disobeyed orders and left the base. The Marine Corps and civilian police couldn't find Goree, but he found Rayna Ross. Wielding a bayonet, he broke into her apartment at 3:00 A.M. and entered her bedroom, where she was sleeping with her infant daughter. Forced to defend herself and her baby, she shot and killed him with a handgun she had just purchased three days before (24).

Daily people are protecting themselves from criminals, yet we seldom hear about such instances. Rayna Ross had to shoot and kill her attacker, but there are many documented cases where criminals where frightened away by simply pointing a gun at them. Sonya Dowdy was given a gun to carry by her father, apparently the same day she received the gun, a drifter tried forcing her into her vehicle and then pulled a gun on her. When he looked away for a split second, she pulled her gun on him. He ran from the car terrified. "It was later discovered that the drifter had raped a twelve year old girl earlier that day" (LaPierre, Crime and Freedom 26).

Typical news coverage about school related shootings, rarely informs the public of heroism from a gun packing citizen. Neither do they divulge information about citizens having concealed weapons that deterred offenders and stopped crimes in progress. According to John Lott Jr. two out of four school shootings between 1997 and 1998 were stopped by citizens who displayed a gun (More Guns). I remember a few years ago the news reported about a school shooting in Ediboro, Pennsylvania, and how a bystander stopped the shooting. Nothing was ever mentioned about the bystander pointing a shotgun at the shooter while he was reloading, which is why the incident came to an end. The news media only reports half the story to the public. If people were to further investigate shooting incidents, they would realize that many of them were stopped by gun-packing citizens, long before the police arrived.

"Since the U.S. Supreme Court and lower courts have held that the police are not obligated to protect individuals from crime, citizens are ultimately responsible for their own defense" (Reynolds 2). So we must ask the question, who is protecting the people? According to David Kopel, Research Director of the Independent Institute, "If a criminal attacks you on the street or in your home, you cannot afford to wait 30 minutes, 20 minutes, or even 10 minutes for the police to arrive Ð'- assuming that you even get the chance to call police and they respond" (2).

Expert testimonies and public opinion suggest that there are many instances when having a concealed weapon could have saved lives. Suzanna Gratia, a thirty-two year old chiropractor, was having lunch with her parents at a local cafe in Killeen, Texas. Suddenly, a crazed maniac drove through the front window of the cafÐ"© and opened fire on everyone. Suzanna's first instinct was to reach for her purse where she normally carried her gun. Terrified she realized the gun was 100 feet away in her car outside. She was forced to leave it in her car before entering the cafÐ"© because Texas does not allow its citizens to carry concealed weapons. Tragically, Suzanna had to watch as both her parents were shot and killed point blank. The gunman then turned the gun on himself. Twenty-two innocent people died needlessly that day. Had Suzanna been able to carry the gun with her in the cafÐ"©, lives could have been saved (LaPierre, Crimes and Freedom 30).

The second reason for implementing the CCW law is that guns save far more lives than they take, and prevent more injuries than they inflict. "Criminals commit 10 million