Professor?s Times Op-Ed Torments Anti-Gunners
Date: Feb 11, 2007 11:34 PM
The New York Times publication of this piece could
make you believe miracles can and do happen.

The New GUN WEEK, February 10, 2007
Page 4

?InstaPundit? Blogging Professor?s Times Op-Ed Torments
Anti-Gunners

Glenn Reynolds kicked over a hornet?s nest in The New York
Times on Jan. 16 when the traditionally anti-gun newspaper
published his op-ed column entitled ?A Rifle in Every Pot.?

Reynolds, a law professor at the University of Tennessee at
Knoxville, is the author of the blog Instapundit and of ?An
Army of Davids: How Markets and Technology Are Empowering
Ordinary People to Take on Big Government, Big Media and
Other Goliaths? His pro-gun views are highly regarded in the
academic world and he is one of several academics who appear
in David T. Hardy?s new two-hour DVD, ?hi Search of the
Second Amendment? (See Hindsight column on Page 15 of this
issue)

The ink was barely dry on that issue of The Times when
anti-gunners began screaming and whining, depending on their
style. It is unclear whether the antis are more appalled at
Reynolds? views or the place where he was allowed to express
them.

In either case, the complete text of Reynolds? op-ed piece
in The Times follows:

?It?s a phenomenon that gives the term ?gun control? a whole
new meaning: community ordinances that encourage citizens
to own guns,? Reynolds began. (His views continue below.)

Last month, Greenleaf, ID, adopted Ordinance 208,
calling for its citizens to own guns and keep them
ready in their homes in case of emergency. It?s
not a response to high crime rates. As The
Associated Press reported ?Greenleaf doesn?t really
have crime … the most violent offense reported in
the past two years was a fist fight. Rather, it?s
a statement about preparedness in the event of an
emergency, and an effort to promote a culture of
self-reliance.

And it may not be a bad idea. While pro gun laws
like the one in Greenleaf are mostly symbolic, to
the extent that they actually make a difference, it
is likely to be a positive one.

Greenleaf is following in the footsteps of
Kennesaw, GA, which in 1982 passed a mandatory gun
ownership law in response to a handgun ban passed
in Morton Grove, IL. Kennesaw?s crime dropped
sharply while Morton Grove?s did not.

To some degree, this is rational. Criminals,
unsurprisingly, would rather break into a house
where they aren?t at risk of being shot. As David
Kopel noted in a 2001 article in The Arizona Law
Review, burglars report that they try to avoid
homes where armed residents are likely to be
present. We see this phenomenon internationally,
too, with the United States having a lower
proportion of ?hot? burglaries? break-ins where the
burglars knew the home to be occupied?than
countries with restrictive gun laws.

Likewise, in the event of disasters that leave law
enforcement overwhelmed armed citizens can play an
important role in stanching crime. Armed
neighborhood watches deterred looting in parts of
Houston and New Orleans in the aftermath of
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Precisely because an armed populace can serve as an
effective backup for law enforcement, the ownership
of firearms was widely mandated during Colonial
times, and the second Congress passed a statute in
1792 requiring adult male citizens to own guns.

The twin purposes of self and community defense may
very well lie behind the Second Amendment?s
language encompassing both the importance of a
well. regulated militia and the right of citizens
to keep and bear arms. As the constitutional and
criminal law scholar Don Kates has noted in the
journal Constitutional? Commentary, thinkers at the
time when the Constitution was written drew no real
distinction between resisting burglars, foreign
invaders or domestic tyrants: All were wrongdoers
that good citizens had the right, and the duty, to
oppose with force.

Greenleaf’s ordinance is consistent with this
approach. But it may also serve another purpose.

Experts don?t think the Kennesaw ordinance, which
has never actually been enforced, did much to
change gun ownership rates among Kennesaw
residents. And, given that Greenleaf?s mayor has
estimated that 80% of the town?s residents already
own guns, the new ordinance can?t make all that
much of a difference. But criminals are likely to
suspect that towns with laws like these on the
books will be unsympathetic to malefactors in
general, and to conclude that they will do better
elsewhere.

To the extent that?s true, we?re likely to see
other communities adopting similar laws so that
criminals won?t see them as attractive
alternatives. The result may be a different kind
of ?gun control.?

The Second Amendment IS Homeland Security !