"Seniors Feel Safer When They Carry Gun"

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Published on Wednesday, 20 June 2007 05:21

Written by Mike Kinsey

The Cleveland Plain Dealer has published an article reporting on the fact that many senior citizens choose to carry a handgun for personal defense. The account does a fair job of explaining two things. First, it describes how some senior citizens realize they are at a disadvantage to younger, faster, stronger criminals that prey on our streets. Second, it accurately depicts the illogical, elitist, and dangerous mentality of anti-gun zealots that want to tell a 75 year old woman that she shouldn't be able to protect herself effectively and should be left to duke it out with a 22 year old 6'2" 230 lb crack addict.

"You are out in a park, riding a bicycle trail and all of a sudden you're confronted by a drug addict who would kill you for $5," Geis [a licensed senior] said. "Are you going to sit there and say, 'Boy, I hope the police show up?'...

Seniors make up 40 percent to 50 percent of students at concealed-carry license certification classes at the Phoenix Center in Painesville, said Mike McKenney, who runs the 12-hour courses. Some are recent victims of violent crime, he said.

"An 87-year-old woman with a gun is equal to anybody," McKenney said...

Jeff Garvas, president of Ohioans for Concealed Carry, said seniors should consider carrying a gun because criminals can interpret their physical weakness as an opportunity. John R. Lott, author of the book "More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun-Control Laws," said guns are a safer method of self-defense for seniors because they may run slower or have less strength...

A 64-year-old Lodi man preparing to teach a training class at Stonewall Gun Shop & Firearms Range in Broadview Heights agreed. "I've had two heart surgeries. I literally can't run, can't fight," he said.

The man said he carries the gun whenever possible for protection.

"I feel naked without it," he said. He lifted up his gray polo shirt, revealing a silver revolver inside a belt holster...

And now for the other side's position:

But gun-control advocates say society is safer with fewer armed citizens, not more. Senior citizens are no more at risk of being attacked than any other demographic group, said Toby Hoover, executive director of the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence.

Also, despite the vulnerability older people might feel, there is a "code" among criminals against attacking women, children and the elderly, said Lt. Reginald Eakins, who's in charge of the division of the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office that issues concealed-carry licenses.

"I personally don't think that criminals target senior citizens, but I do think senior citizens are better targets -- for obvious reasons," Eakins said. "Even criminals tend to frown on other criminals targeting the elderly."

Apparently, Ms. Hoover and Lt. Eakins don't pay much attention to the real world. Senior citizens are constantly attacked on our streets by predators seeking easy prey. Obviously, any "code" that criminals have concerning the elderly isn't working very well. Even if it was, would you want your mother and father relying on an alleged "code" supposedly held by gangbangers? I certainly wouldn't. Thanks, Ms. Hoover, but no thanks. I would like my elderly parents to have the ability to protect themselves.

Even the Plain Dealer article went on to dispute this ridiculous notion and gave Lt. Eakins some information about his jurisdiction that he might want to research further:

The Cleveland area has had a spate of high-profile attacks on seniors. Two seniors were killed in the city's Slavic Village neighborhood in recent months, including the March beating death of 78-year-old Joseph Krasucki.

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