'Telling a murderer to "wait" till his papers are processed 
is like telling a rapist to "wait" till he is married to have sex.'

Handgun waiting period won't decrease crime

© The Marquette Tribune, 4/2/91, editorial

Firearm Statistics 

Washington, D.C. has the strictest gun control laws in the country -- and the highest murder rate.

Guns are used 430,000 times a year to commit crimes, but
2 million to 2.5 million times a year in self-defense to prevent deaths, rapes, assaults and other serious injuries. In only 2% of the cases was the gun actually fired, usually just as a warning. 

80 million Americans own 250 million guns.

To say 12 children a day die from guns (an oft-repeated statistic)  is misleading. Most of those "children" are between the ages of 17 and 19 and involved in gangs or drugs. 

In 1996, 21 children under age 15 died from accidental handgun deaths. Every year, 40 under the age of 5 drown in water buckets, and another 80 drown in bathtubs.... The risk of a child drowning in a swimming pool is 100 times greater than the risk of dying from a firearm-related accident. 
Source: The Centers for Disease Control

Up-to-the-Minute

by Diane Dew

Waiting periods as a form of gun control never can reduce crime. In Los Angeles, for example, where the waiting period is two weeks, there has been no decrease in the homicide rate since the law's inception. The same is true of other cities, as well.

     Telling a murderer to "wait" till his papers are processed is like telling a rapist to "wait" till he is married to have sex. "In the heat of passion," criminals do what they want, when they want to do it -- without regard to human life, and regardless of the law!

     Gun registration does not deter crime. Anyone hateful enough even to consider taking another's life, is not going to reason with reality (or conscience) long enough to: drive to the gun store, choose a weapon, arrange for payment, fill out the registration forms and go home and patiently await the day of rejection/acceptance. He simply will choose another means to murder: choking, stabbing, drowning or beating.

     Most killers are repeat offenders. And no one is so stupid as to believe, especially with previous convictions, that their registration for a firearm would pass -- "if only they will wait." Besides, since when have criminals begun following legal processes? Criminals don't purchase their murder weapons in gun stores anyway; they buy them on the street.

     The availability of guns is not really the issue, any more than the number of knives in my kitchen drawer has tempted me to kill. In Milwaukee, which last year had one of the highest homicide rates in the nation, many murders involved such everyday "weapons" as: a glass bottle, baseball bat, knife, rope or the human hands.

     Realistic attempts to reduce the rate of homicide -- such as a change in the nation's attitude toward recreational drinking -- certainly would require a restructuring of many societal attitudes. According to a recent study by Milwaukee County Medical Examiner Jeffrey Jentzen, half of Milwaukee County's 1990 murder victims aged 15 to 50 were drunk at the time of their death. Another 26 percent had cocaine in their systems. Individuals concerned about the increasing rate of homicide might consider attacking some of the real causes of the problem: alcohol and drugs.

     Waiting periods as a means of controlling crime are unnecessary and illogical. Such legislation merely tells the criminal that if he's planning to break the law and kill someone, he'd better make sure he does it legally -- with all the right papers.

© Copyright 1991 Diane S. Dew

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"No Free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." (Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Constitution, 1776)

"The Constitution preserves the advantage of being armed... which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation... where the governments are afraid to trust their people with arms." (James Madison, a selection from The Federalist, No. 46)

"Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world... Horrid mischief would ensue were the law abiding deprived of the use of them." (Thomas Paine, Thoughts on Defensive War, 1775)

"The constitution shall never be construed to... prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms." (Samuel Adams, Massachusetts U.S. Constitution ratification convention, 1788) 

"The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws... because the body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops." (Noah Webster, An Examination of The Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution, Philadelphia, PA 1787)

"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will protect it but downright force. When you give up that force, you are ruined." (Patrick Henry, Virginia's U.S.Constitution ratification convention)

"Arms in the hands of individual citizens may be used at individual discretion...in private self defense..." (John Adams, A Defense of The Constitution of Government of the United States of America, 1778)

"The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion." (Edmund Burke, Speech at country meeting of Buckinghamshire, 1784)

"To preserve liberty it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms..." (Richard Henry Lee, Additional Letters From The Federal Farmer, 1778)

"They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety... deserve neither safety nor liberty." (B. Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759)