Alphecca

Weekly Check on the Media

Welcome to the September 6th edition of the Weekly Check on Media concerning guns and the Second Amendment.

The dominant story of the past week was, of course, Hurricane Katrina. The images of destruction, the helpless stranded, the misery, were all overwhelming. We've seen things such as this before but usually beamed to us from other parts of the world; usually from impoverished nations experiencing similar catastrophies or reeling from war and genocide. No doubt we've all grimaced and said to ourselves, "it can't happen here". It did. It has. Last week, New Orleans became a third world nation.

The purpose of any government is to protect its citizens. It took a week for help to reach New Orleans and much of it was too late. Bands of armed thugs roamed the streets, looting at will while what was left of the police force stood by helplessly. Given the circumstances, I do not define "looting" as the desperate folks grabbing food and water and other needed supplies off of store shelves. That's just trying to survive. Unfortunately, we also saw some mutants using the opportunity of chaos to steal TVs, DVDs, abusable drugs, and more. Those lootings weren't confined to broken-into stores but also to peoples homes, many occupied by residents who couldn't or wouldn't evacuate the city. From Canada.com:

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - When night falls, Charlie Hackett climbs the steps to his boarded-up window, takes down the plywood, grabs his 12-gauge shotgun and waits.

He is waiting for looters and troublemakers, for anyone thinking his neighbourhood has been abandoned like so many others across the city. Two doors down, John Carolan is doing the same on his screened-in porch, pistol by his side.

They are not about to give up their homes to the lawlessness that has engulfed New Orleans in the wake of hurricane Katrina.

"We kind of together decided we would defend what we have here and we would stay up and defend the neighbourhood," says Hackett, a U.S. Army veteran with a snow-white beard and a business installing custom kitchens.

"I don't want to kill anybody," he says, "but I'd sure like to scare 'em."

[...]

"Last night I had to draw down on some people," Carolan says. A car with what sounded like a crowd of drunken, partying kids came through and stopped.

"I had to come out with a flashlight in one hand, pistol in the other," he says, crossing his arms like an X. "I said: 'Who are you? Do you live here? What are you doing here?' They said, 'We're leaving."'

[...]

In the first few days, they were especially fearful. Looters smashed windows and ransacked a discount store and a drugstore a few streets over. Three men came to Carolan's house asking about his generator and brandished a machete. He showed them his gun and they left.

"It was pandemonium for a couple of nights. We just felt that when they got done with the stores, they'd come to the homes," Hackett says. "When it's not easy pickings, they'll go somewhere else."

Those living in other cities around the US who scoff at owning a firearm for protection because "the police will protect us" are probably having second thoughts about the Second Amendment about now. Or maybe not. Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. A natural disaster can happen anywhere. So can a man-made one. And, as New York City and London and Madrid, so can a terrorist attack.

Notice that Carolan didn't need to actually shoot anyone and Hackett stated that he was just looking "to scare" any miscreants. That's how it generally works about a million times a year in this country. Showing that you can defend yourself is sufficient.

According to the New York Times, Carolan did fire a couple warning shots:

John Carolan was sitting on his porch in the thick, humid darkness just before midnight Tuesday when three or four young men, one with a knife and another with a machete, stopped in front of his fence and pointed to the generator humming in the front yard, he said.

One said, "We want that generator," he recalled.

"I fired a couple of rounds over their heads with a .357 Magnum," Mr. Carolan recounted Wednesday. "They scattered."

As an aside, those who were stealing TVs and other electronics...Since electricity isn't expected to be restored for a month or two, what were they planning to power them with?

In the end, survival often comes down to just you and the right to bear arms. From CNN:

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) -- The 21st century was swept away here. The winds and the floods and the disasters that followed took it.

Some strange, more primitive time took its place, amid the useless computers and cars of the modern world. Those stranded were left behind to forage for food and water, share what little they have with neighbors, and find somewhere safe before night falls.

[...]

"We've all got guns," said Katha Fields, who lives down the street. Weeks ago, when this city was a place of tourists and jazz and jambalaya, she was a tour guide. Now, she and her neighbors gather at dusk, weapons at hand, and keep watch.

There is no telephone service so the usual and simplistic admonitions of liberals to "just dial 911" are meaningless, even if there WERE someone able to respond. It's just you and the thugs.

I will give credit to both these AP reports because there was no editorializing that "Gee, can't we all just get along and why do they need guns?" Sometimes, only a firearm can save your life or your possessions.

Others, not directly within the disaster zone are learning, too. From the Houston Chronicle:

LAFAYETTE, LA. - Rumors of rapes, robberies and other crimes spiking with the influx of New Orleans hurricane evacuees have incited a run on guns at stores across Cajun Country.

Gun dealers from Lake Charles to Baton Rouge say they can't keep up with demand for small revolvers, semiautomatics, shotguns and stun guns, many being purchased by women and first-time gun owners, despite police denials that the crime rate has jumped.

"We have now officially sold more handguns than we normally sell in a year in the last three days," said Will Hall, lead salesman at Lafayette Shooters.

Manager Doug Brown estimates the store has sold 300 guns over the past three days, with people traveling as far as 100 miles to buy them. He said the spike was prompted by rumors of increased crime in town, recent TV images of New Orleans looting and the Big Easy's reputation for crime.

"A lot of people sit there glued to CNN and see nothing but negative images, and they're seeing all the crowds of people showing up here, and it's kind of fueling a frenzy," Brown said. "It's not a good situation."

In Lafayette, there were reports that 14 people were raped and two killed in the Cajundome, that others were mugged in the Wal-Mart parking lot and that Lafayette Shooters had been robbed.

"It is out of control. There's rumors all over the place," said Lafayette police Lt. Bill McGovern. But, he added, "Everything's fine here. The population has just about doubled in the past 72 hours, so they're just nervous with all the new people in town."

Whether the reports of an increase in crime are real or rumor, a prudent person doesn't wait until he or she becomes a victim for confirmation. There is no reason not to buy a gun for protection. There is no reason not to stock up on food and water if a hurriccane is heading anywhere near your direction. There is no reason not to buy fresh batteries for your flashlight... Well, you get the idea. Now here's where I tie it all together with ordinary life for the rest of us. The Chronicle continues:

Guy Johnston was purchasing his first gun.

The 27-year-old Tulane junior said he grew up in New Orleans and has become frustrated with the increasing crime there. Even before the hurricane, he said, he was robbed three times.

"I've avoided getting a gun for a long time and I'm not totally excited about it, but I really do feel like it's unavoidable now," Johnston said.

Regardless of the slow response of the state and federal government in New Orleans, even the average citizen in Nebraska or Seattle or here in Vermont must know that when confronted with a mutant criminal, even if it were possible to reach a phone and "dial 911," it could still take 20 minutes for a cop to show up. That's just reality. That's just (possibly) all the time needed before a crime investigation requires the coroner.

Well, there was one other story that I've been tracking and it does have something to do with the above. Owning a firearm does carry a serious responsibility to use and store it properly and safely. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just released a study showing that not everyone does the latter. What's interesting though is that the vast majority DO! But you wouldn't know that from reading USA Today:

About 1.7 million U.S. children live in homes with loaded, unlocked firearms, according to the largest survey ever done on home weapons storage, out Tuesday in the Pediatrics online journal.

[...]

Eighteen states have laws dealing with proper storage of guns to limit access by children, says Jon Vernick, co-director of the Center for Gun Policy and Research at Johns Hopkins University's school of public health. But the laws vary in strictness — 7 states make it a felony under some circumstances to give minors access to weapons — and they vary in the ages of kids covered, he says.

There's little known about how well these laws are enforced, Vernick adds. "They're great, and we absolutely need more states with laws. But often they seem to get enforced after it's too late, when a child has shot himself or someone else."

Two studies show accidental gun deaths and teen suicides decline in states with these laws, Vernick says.

The Pediatrics report says that of 1,400 children and teens shot to death in 2002, about 90% were home when it happened.

"It's a frightening problem," says Michael Barnes, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, a lobbying group that favors limiting gun ownership.

The gun storage survey may underestimate kids with access to firearms, says CDC's Mercy, because women tend to underreport the presence of weapons at home, past studies show. About 60% of survey participants were women.

Gun ownership has declined in the past decade, says Barnes, because the USA is increasingly urban and fewer adults hunt.

First of all, this "report" was compiled from other reports taken from the the public health departments of 50 states and the DC. Who can really say how closely each department followed the others in gathering the statistics. Beyond that, though, 1,400 hundred kids killed is tragic but is also rather a small fraction in comparison to the overall number of children killed from other hazards. Still, I'm not arguing that gun owners shouldn't be storing their weapons safely in homes with children present. But note the general alarming tone to the article with nothing to put the threat into perspective. Now see how the Macon Telegraph puts it:

About 1.7 million U.S. children live in homes that have loaded and unlocked guns, according to what is being called the first comprehensive national survey of gun storage in homes across the country.

The study, published Tuesday in the journal Pediatrics, found that 2.5 percent of children live in homes with loaded and unsecured firearms. Estimates from the early 1990s had put the percentage at 10 percent. The new results suggest a decline, but that doesn't mean there's cause for celebration, said Catherine Okoro, a study author.

Think about that: If 2.5% of kids live in homes with easy access to guns, then 97.5% don't! Notice also the figure is 75% lower than it was just 10 years ago. Why didn't USA Today report on that? That, in it's essence, is how media bias works. The Macon Telegraph also doesn't bother quoting from the Brady Bunch, a smart move since I goggle at Michael Barnes' statement that "gun ownership has declined in the past decade...[because] fewer adults hunt." I would say that gun ownership has increased in recent years because of crime, 9/11, and other factors. Barnes might be confusing the statement that 33% of adults own guns with the number of households where guns are present, a figure more likely about 45% depending on which of a dozen studies you believe.

In any event, in a home where children live, safe gun handling MUST be taught. That's common sense, the type that can't be legislated. Guns must not be left loaded and unattended by adults. Children -- in homes with guns or not -- shouldn't be left unsupervised and maybe that's the real message here. Whether it's a firearm or a swimming pool or a book of matches, it all comes down to the parent. That's what raising children is about.

I never leave this baby laying about:

I'll be on Cam's NRA News later today and until then, thanks for stopping by!

Posted by Jeff Soyer at September 6, 2005 10:24 AM