Detroit News Editorial: Katrina boosts 2nd Amendment Case

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Published on Wednesday, 30 November -0001 00:00

Written by Jeff Garvas

The Detroit News' Nolan Finley wrote an amazing editorial Sunday titled: Katrina chaos boosts case for 2nd Amendment -- as one gun rights supporter put it, this is a remarkable editorial for the Detroit News to have printed.

Most notable from the editorial is this hard-hitting fact reminiscent of Benjamin Franklin’s famous quote "Those who would give up essential liberty for temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

From Nolan's editorial:

"That assurance of government-provided security has convinced individual Americans to gradually trade in their unrestrained constitutional right to bear arms."

Gradually, anti-gunners have effectively convinced the masses that they need not take up their own defense in times of peace and stability.

Now that some in the mainstream media are realizing that citizens are responsible for their own safety, is there hope that they will agree that it doesn't take a hurricane to justify owning a firearm for self-defense?

Unfortunately, for some people it takes a natural disaster, anarchy and chaos to clarify the importance of taking your safety into your own hands, every day.

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From Nolan's editorial:

But for days, there was no law in New Orleans and no government to speak of. All rules were off.

While the politically correct version of what happened is that desperate people looted stores for food and water, that's only part of the story. Bands of armed hoodlums roamed the city, smashing their way into businesses and homes, carting off jewelry, liquor, televisions and other goods that had nothing to do with survival.

People were murdered, raped, stripped of their meager provisions.

Those with the best chance of surviving were the ones who had shotguns, rifles and pistols stashed away in closets and drawers.

Homeowner John Carolan ran off a mob of young men armed with knives and machetes and intent on stealing his generator by firing a few rounds from a .357 Magnum over their heads. "They scattered," he told reporters.

After looters poured into a nursing home and carted off the food, water and medicine, administrator Peggy Hoffman told the Associated Press, "we'll have to equip our department heads with guns and teach them how to shoot."

Lots of Americans are thinking about shooting lessons today.

He's right!

OFCC Volunteer Rick Jones was recently printed in the Portsmouth Daily Times urging those who have not already done so take a class on responsible firearms use and get their license to carry a concealed handgun. (The Portsmouth Daily Times no longer has the letter on line, but we do)

When the horrible events of September 11th took place anti-gun leaders in Ohio tried to convince the legislature to put off hearings for concealed carry legislation -- their efforts to play on the emotions of tragedy yet again failed to stop the legislation from eventually becoming law.

Later, nationwide polling determined that some seventy percent of the country felt that citizens should be permitted to own and carry firearms for self-defense in the United States, letting the air out of the anti-gun claim that most people are opposed to individual gun ownership. The shift in nationwide feelings was attributed to the events of September 11th, 2001.

Will the stories of savage behavior, rape and murder turn the tide even more?

As the Nolan editorial points out, the unforgettable images and stories of chaos in New Orleans will set back the anti-gun movement to some degree.

The tiresome question, "Why does anyone need a gun?" now has its answer.

Order can deteriorate in this country to the point where nothing stands between the law-abiding citizen and the marauding mob except blue steel. It happened in New Orleans. It can happen anywhere else in America at anytime.

It will be harder now for the anti-gun lobby to convince Americans to dismantle even more of the Second Amendment.

We can only hope Nolan is right and that society as a whole will learn from the events that have taken place in New Orleans.

Unfortunately, events such as the LA riots and other natural disasters revealed the same truths about the cherished right to own firearms, only to fall on deaf ears years later when "essential liberty" is yet again traded for government promised "temporary safety" in good times.

Will it happen again when New Orleans eventually recovers?

One has to ask -- what does Nolan think of armed law enforcement taking guns from otherwise law-abiding people who wanted to enter a bus or stay with their homes?

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