Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice President of the National Rifle Association had this observation about a recent 911 call and the murder that happened while the caller was on the phone with the dispatcher.
I read a heartbreaking story the other day. A woman is on the phone with 911 to report a burglar in her home. Dispatchers hear gunshots, then silence. When deputies arrive, the homeowner is dead.
Her husband arrives a few minutes later, only to be told that his wife is dead. News reports say “he collapsed and started to cry, saying ‘No! She just called me. You lie.'”
The real lie is that gun control and gun bans make us safer. All they do is put innocent people at risk of violent criminals. In 2005, the FBI says there were more than 2,000,000 burglaries in this country. There were also more than 400,000 robberies. If you were one of the millions of victims of crime, would you not want the option to defend yourself with a firearm?
Gun bans like Washington, D.C.’s only affect the law abiding. They don’t disarm criminals, but they ensure that residents are left with one option: call 911 and hope help arrives before it’s too late. And sadly, we know all too well how that often works out.
Minstrel posted a recent article on this topic – 9.1.1 – Dial-A-Prayer for the Unarmed. In the post, there was a quote by Richard Stevens, a Washington, D.C. lawyer and author of Dial 911 and Die, wherein he gives the two reasons that 911 and police response are inadequate:
First, the police cannot and do not protect everyone from crime.
Second, the government and the police in most localities owe no legal duty to protect individuals from criminal attack.
When it comes to deterring crime and defending against criminals, individuals are ultimately responsible for themselves and their loved ones. Depending solely on police emergency response means relying on the telephone as the only defensive tool. Too often, citizens in trouble dial 911 . . . and die.
The murder in question occurred in California – whose gun control laws make it one of the most difficult places to obtain firearms for protection. The laws are intimidating – people who would like to buy a gun for self-protection find themselves faced with absurdly-high fees and a myriad of red tape not seen in most states.
The ultra-liberal majority in California state politics is as culpable for murders like this as are the perpetrators who pull the trigger of a stolen or illegally obtained gun.