Why the Left hates Self-Defense
By Doug Hagin (04/24/07)
One week ago, evil visited itself upon the campus of Virginia Tech. An evil man, and YES, the killer, whose name I will not soil your eyes with, was definitively evil. Yes, he was most assuredly mentally deranged. Yes, he should have been institutionalized years ago. Still, all things weighed and considered, he was evil, and he committed evil acts upon innocent human beings, in this case college students and teachers. We do no one any service by calling his deeds anything but evil.
After this horrible event, I chose not to write about it for a while. I knew, of course, that the tragedy pimping gun grabbers on the left would jump al over this, trying to use it to further their agenda of disarmament. They view this issue very differently than gun right’s folks do, and I suppose that is their right. The people who buy the lies of the gun control ideology have one mindset that seems, to me anyway, to cloud their ability to view events like the murders at Virginia Tech with any objectivity at all.
They view guns as the problem, not people who do evil things, Leftists are not big on recognizing evil to begin with, or criminals who have no interest in being governed by laws. To the gun-grabbing left, guns ARE the problem. Guns, you see, are tools, and millions of Americans use these tools every year to defend themselves, their loved ones, and their property against robbers, rapists, murderers, etc. In fact, armed citizens stopped four of America’s school shootings, including one in Virginia in 2002. Those who want more gun control also claim to desire less crime. Obviously, if their desired aims of more gun restrictions were to be placed upon America violent crime would rise. So why do they not embrace, rather than fight against, law-abiding Americans owning guns?
Ah, here lays the ugly truth about the left my friends, they hate self-defense, and guns, more than any other tool, are used by Americans to defend themselves. Why, though, do those on the left despise self-defense? They are collectivists, and Socialists. They believe that people should think, and act, collectively, not individually. They also deeply believe in collective self-defense. The government should be responsible for your protection, not you. Listen to all the left’s talking points concerning guns and self-defense. They never talk about Americans who use guns in self-defense. Rather, they paint armed Americans as morons, or trigger happy rednecks. Honestly, how many times have they laid out the tired old line about shootouts in the streets if states allow concealed carry permits? Never mind that such events have not happened in the 30-plus states that allow concealed carry.
If you really want a great example of how the left views gun owners and particularly self-defense, look at a recent news story out of Oakland. There, restaurant owner Catarino Piedra recently shot and killed an armed man who tried to rob him. Piedra’s wife and three children were in the restaurant and he feared for the armed robber would hurt them. So, acting in defense of his family, he pulled his 9mm and shot his attacker, killing him. Now stop right there my friends. This is clearly a case of a man, seeing his life and that of his family in peril acting reasonably in defending himself and his family.
Those on the left, though, see it quite differently. Consider how Oakland Police Department spokesperson Roland Holmgrem described the actions of Piedra. "This thing had potential -- who knows where the suspects were going to take the situation? But by no stretch of the imagination are we agreeing with or justifying what the owner did."
Excuse me? How can anyone DISagree with a man defending his family? How can anyone question the justification of this restaurant owner? He is the victim, a victim who chose, honorably, to fight back, to defend himself. Yet, he has his actions questioned? He has his self-defense ridiculed. He has become the bad guy now.
Holmgrem continued his anti-self-defense rant. "We're not saying that we want citizens to go out there and arm themselves and take the law into their own hands. We want citizens to be good witnesses, to be good report-takers and to identify suspects. The shooting has left two families traumatized, there are no winners in this whole case," Holmgren said.
Good witnesses? Good report-takers? No winners? What in the Hell is this guy smoking? Is he really saying we should just cower, while our lives are threatened, while our loved ones are murdered, and cede our right to self-defense? Moreover, I suppose if we are lucky enough to survive THEN, we are allowed to call the police and be good witnesses! Talk about a load of BS!
The insanity of the anti-self-defense does not stop there in this story though. A near-by store manager of a store, which has been robbed numerous times, had mixed feelings about the shooting. "Of course they have a right to protect themselves, but from what? If we have law enforcement, should businesses have guns? I do not think so. They're inviting trouble."
Hmmm, did he actually ask what Piedra protected himself from? Maybe he protected himself from the thug who stuck a gun in his face and threatened him. Maybe that was what Piedra was acting on? Moreover, please note that the manager questioning Piedra’s actions believes if police are armed, no storeowner should try to defend himself or herself. Typical leftist thinking on display there my friends! We are not to defend ourselves. That is the government’s job according to left-leaning ideology.
Also, take note that this manager says storeowners who arm themselves are inviting trouble. Yes, of course, how DARE Piedra assume he has a right to defend his family! I am just so happy those students at Virginia Tech were not inviting trouble by arming themselves! They were, instead in a “gun-free” zone. That certainly stopped any harm befalling them now didn’t it?
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