On March 16, 1975, three women living in a Washington D.C. townhouse were awakened by the sound of their back door getting kicked in. There were two invaders. One of them violently attacked one of the women who was sleeping on the second floor. She was beaten and raped. Her two other roommates called the police from the third floor. Sure that help was coming, they climbed out onto the roof to seek safety. They saw a squad car slowly drive past but it never stopped. Completely terrified, the women crawled back into the house and called the police again. They then hid for a half hour until they heard no more noises downstairs. Assuming that the police had arrived and that they were safe, they went down to the second floor where the rapists were waiting. The women were savagely beaten and raped for the next 14 hours. The police never came.
By the grace of God, all three women survived and a lawsuit was brought against the D.C. police department. Ruling on the last appeal in 1981, the D.C. court of Appeals said, “The duty to provide public services is owed to the public at large, and, absent a special relationship between the police and an individual, no specific legal duty exists.” Translation? When you’re attacked, it’s between you and the criminal. Law enforcement isn’t required to help you.
Whether or not any of these who were attacked ever wanted to own a handgun, it wouldn’t be long before they would no longer legally have that option.
Trampling the clear intent of the Founding Fathers and what they felt to be one of our most important rights, the D.C. City Council’s Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1976 completely outlawed private ownership of handguns within the city.
The consequences were catastrophic. A murder rate that had been declining prior to the new restrictions rose 200% between 1976-1991 while the overall U.S. murder rate rose only 9%.
Other cities such as New York and Chicago experienced steady increases in murders for many years after their imposition of handgun restrictions. Their recently decrease in murders has been roughly proportionate to the rest of the country as the firearm murder rate dropped 41% nationally while the number of privately owned firearms rose by about 70 million from 1991-2006.
FNC’s Jeanine Pirro, who spent many years as a DA and Judge in the state of New York, has stated that she never saw a single case in which a legal firearm was used.
Even before the U.S. Supreme Court made a decision on District of Columbia v. Heller, a bipartisan majority in congress filed an amicus brief in the Heller case supporting the individual right view of the Second Amendment. 55 U.S. Senators, 250 House members Vice President Cheney signed on, making it the largest number on any congressional brief in history.
Both presidential candidates had an opportunity to sign this brief.
McCain signed.
B. Hussein McGovern Carter refused.
Although the court’s recent decision was certainly the correct one, the thought of what may happen under future courts with Justices appointed by leftist administrations seems very disturbing given the narrow 5 to 4 vote. As Tammy Bruce recently stated, the Constitution doesn’t give us our rights but rather tells the government what rights they can’t take away. Phrases such as “CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW” and “THE RIGHT of the people to keep and bear arms SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED” make this abundantly clear.
All of this begs the question as to what the megalibtards (who insist that society would be safer if criminals were the only ones to have guns) would have to say to the families of the victims of those who were denied their God given right to defend themselves from evildoers.
We’ll end it with one of Levy’s favorite sayings.
A WELL ARMED SOCIETY IS A POLITE SOCIETY!!!
