Gotta love it when the only thing you can legally do to protect yourself in your own home is "play nice":

[In Great Britain] when individuals are confronted by intruders there are some actions they should follow. Direct contact should be avoided whenever possible. If unavoidable, the victim should adopt a state of active passivity. In most cases the best form of defence is always avoidance. If this isn’t possible, act passively, be careful what you say or do and give up valuables without a struggle.

Now that we've had various experiments with gun regulation and control around the world for a significant period of time, some things are becoming clear:

• "Concealed carry" laws, which allow you to "pack heat" with a permit, do not result in anarchy. If crime trends are affected at all, they head downward.
• Regions (including whole countries) that ban gun ownership experience declines in gun violence but significant increases in burglaries and other theft crimes.
• In these regions, such crimes are significantly more likely to be comitted when the residents are home.

These results are not at all surprising. Criminals may not generally be the biggest heads of cabbage in the field, but like everyone they have an instinctive feel for risk versus benefit. Interviews with arrested felons quickly bear this out.

No, I will not provide hard statistics. This isn't the place for that. I'm a strong supporter of second amendment rights, and feel the vast majority of gun-related accidental deaths are the result of poor education and carelessness. I believe bloody gang wars in the inner cities are a law enforcement problem, one that gun control laws will not solve.

You can disagree. That's your right. But know this: I am damned grateful our founding fathers decided the best defense against tyranny* is an armed citizenry.

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* Yes, yes, yes, the 2nd amendment is vaguely worded and isn't "militia" a funny little word anyway? The Constitution itself is riddled with intentional vagarities throughout, not just within the 2nd amendment. However, reading the "fathers's" other writings will in my opinion clearly reveal they felt a citizenry armed with the best weapons available was required to preserve the republic.

Again, you can disagree. Just stand behind me when you do it, and here, put these hearing protectors on. I need to send some lead down range.