Firearm a Matter of Self-Defense

Effective policing reduces the chances that a person will be a crime victim, as New York Police Commissioner William J. Bratton and his department are demonstrating. The crime rate dropped dramatically when the NYPD began taking back the streets. But police can’t guarantee my individual safety, and I want the legal means to protect myself and my family. I want to carry a concealed weapon.

People use firearms for defense. A monthly column, “The Armed Citizen,” in the National Rifle Assn. magazine The American Rifleman, describes ordinary people using guns to save themselves and others, stories gathered from newspapers nationwide. A study released by the U.S. Department of Justice appears to show that armed victims are less likely to be severely hurt than unarmed victims.

Civilians aren’t as well trained as police officers, but I’d rather be killed while going for my gun than be shot in the back of the head after being duct-taped, terrorized and abused for several hours; possibly, in my wife’s case, raped and sodomized.

Self-defense experts refer to three awareness states. White is unconscious, to be used only when locked in a bank vault. Yellow is alert caution, appropriate when out and about and not much different from the awareness it takes to be a good automobile driver. Red is used when someone near you acts suspiciously. Senses go into high gear, situational assessment is constant. If there appears to be a potential threat, one should move away from it. Only if the threat follows is a weapon a consideration, and even then deadly force is only appropriate in defense of human life.

Training is easy to find. Many gun clubs and firing ranges have NRA-certified instructors. Even Glendale Community College offers a course. These aren’t only about shooting bad guys. They teach the legal, ethical and moral issues of taking a life. The best ones teach how to avoid having to use your gun, a concept also found in a series on self-defense in the magazine Guns and Ammo. A good place to start learning is Paxton Quigley’s book “Armed and Female.”

Some fear that the legal carrying of concealed firearms will bring an increase in emotional misuse by angry people. However, there appears to be little correlation between the legal availability of guns and the murder rate. Despite predictions of a blood bath, the gun murder rate declined in Florida (although it remains high) when legal concealed-carry became easier. In Vermont, with one of the lowest murder rates in the country, legal concealed-carry doesn’t even require a permit.

In New York City, the homicide rate has declined since the laws on illegal concealed-carry have been more rigidly enforced. And the homicide rate is down nationwide in places where nothing else has changed. There are relatively few homicides in Japan, where firearms are severely restricted. Yet there are also few homicides in Switzerland, where every able-bodied man younger than 50 is in the military reserve and keeps small arms at home.

I agree with Sgt. Jeri Weinstein (“Empower the Police to Take Back the Streets,” Valley Perspective, Jan. 28) that the balance of power must be restored. However, she discourages legally arming the citizenry. I, in turn, suggest that potential victims should be allowed the means for armed self-defense.