posted on Dec, 10 2008 @ 10:29 AM
The argument that armed citizens prevent terrorism really holds no water.
People in Iraq still own and hold a LOT of guns (just ask anyone in the military who served there) and it still doesn't prevent car bombs or similar
acts. Tribal people around the world are armed to the teeth, and none of them (Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc, etc) has ever stopped terrorism from
gaining a foothold.
Those who think that individuals being armed produces a safe society should read Mark Twain's accounts of living in Silver City, Nevada, when he was
the ONLY man in town who did not carry a gun. He said it was very common to go out each morning (in a city of 50,000 or so) and find 2-3 dead bodies
on the streets.
And it wasn't from terrorism. Just ordinary citizens with guns resolving quarrels.
If you want safety from terrorism, you beef up your intelligence and your military response units. I might carry a Glock (okay, I actually wouldn't
but we could pretend that I would), but that would have absolutely no effect if I was sitting in a restaurant and six guys ran in and started
machine-gunning the place... or firebombed it. The brain takes a few seconds to adjust and recognize the change in the situation and then another
second or two to think to go for the gun... and in that time, the room's been hosed with bullets 2 or 3 times.