LAS ARMAS DE FUEGO son peligrosas, pero también salvan vidas y aseguran los derechos civiles:

In the wake of last week’s horrific mass murders at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the debate over the proper scope of gun rights and gun control has focused largely on the evil deeds some individuals have done with the help of firearms. That focus is understandable in the aftermath of this terrible event. But it’s important to also remember that privately-owned guns have often been a tremendous force for good in American history. For evidence of this, look no further than the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s, where the right of armed self-defense played an indispensable role in the battle against Jim Crow.

“I’m alive today because of the Second Amendment and the natural right to keep and bear arms,” declared John R. Salter Jr., one of the organizers of the famous non-violent sit-ins against segregated lunch counters in Jackson, Mississippi. Writing in 1994, Salter noted that he always “traveled armed” while working as a civil rights organizer in the Deep South. “Like a martyred friend of mine, NAACP staffer Medgar W. Evers, I, too, was on many Klan death lists and I, too, traveled armed: a .38 special Smith and Wesson revolver and a 44/40 Winchester carbine,” Salter wrote. “The knowledge that I had these weapons and was willing to use them kept enemies at bay.”

Poca gente sabe que la NRA surgió tras la Guerra Civil estadounidense tras la abolición de la esclavitud, precisamente para promover que se armase a los negros y que así se pudiesen defender de los racistas que se resistían a aceptar que eran hombres libres.

La realidad es que masacres como las de Newtown en realidad funcionan psicológicamente como un accidente de avión: un evento que acapara primeras páginas y que es utilizado demagógicamente por alarmistas pero que no demuestra en sí mismo que los aviones, o las armas, sean intrínsecamente perjudiciales.