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Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 17:25:17 -0500
To: Matthew Gaylor <<a href="mailto:freematt@coil.com">freematt@coil.com</a>>
From: Matthew Gaylor <<a href="mailto:freematt@coil.com">freematt@coil.com</a>>
Subject: Israeli Homeland Security Tips by John R. Lott, JR.
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<<a href="http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/34127.htm>">http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/34127.htm></a>
<p>
ISRAELI HOMELAND
SECURITY TIPS
<p>
By JOHN R. LOTT, JR.
<hr>
<p>
November 12, 2001 -- WHAT should Americans do to protect themselves?
<p>
We have all heard that we should be observant, and report strange
events to the police. But one option has not been encouraged in the
media, indeed, quite the opposite.
<p>
News articles mention the jump in gun sales that have taken place
since 9/11, but fail to mention the benefits and belittle those who
buy the guns. We could learn something about responding to terrorism
from Israel, and encourage more ordinary, responsible citizens to
carry guns.
<p>
Israelis realize that the police and military simply can't be there
all the time to protect people when terrorists attack: There are
simply too many vulnerable targets. (When the police or military are
nearby, terrorists wait until they leave.) And when terrorists
strike, their first targets include anyone openly carrying a gun.
<p>
What Israel has found helpful in thwarting terrorist attacks is
allowing law-abiding, trained citizens to carry concealed handguns.
About 10 percent of Jewish adults there now have permits to carry
concealed handguns.
<p>
In large public gatherings, a significant number of citizens will be
able to shoot at terrorists during an attack - and the terrorists
don't know who has them.
<p>
During waves of terror attacks, Israel's national police chief will
call on all concealed-handgun permit holders to make sure they carry
firearms at all times, and Israelis have many examples where
concealed permit holders have saved lives.
<p>
Americans only carry concealed handguns at a fraction of the rate of
Israelis. To catch up, we'd have to grow from 3.5 million permits to
almost 21 million.
<p>
Thirty-three states now have "right to carry" laws, which let
law-abiding citizens above a certain age obtain a permit for a fee.
(About half these states require also some training in gun use.) If
more states pass such laws, or lower fees under existing laws,
America could greatly expand the number of law-abiding citizens
carrying guns - and so become a safer nation.
<p>
States that pass concealed-handgun laws experience drops in murder
and other violent crime. Better still, they see particularly dramatic
drops in the types of attacks most similar to terrorist attacks -
multiple-victim public killings.
<p>
Studying all these attacks in the United States from 1977 to 1999,
Bill Landes at the University of Chicago and I found that deaths and
injuries from multiple-victim public shootings fell by 80 percent
after states passed "right to carry" laws.
<p>
In their warped minds, both terrorists and the murderers we studied
are kamikaze-like killers, who value maximizing the carnage they can
create. Even if the killers expect to die anyway, having guns at the
scene can help deter these crimes in the first place by reducing the
expected return on their "investment."
<p>
Just as in Israel, the type of person who is willing to go through
the process to get a permit has proven to be extremely responsible.
Permits are rarely revoked for any reason, usually very trivial
violations, with permit holders losing their permits at only tenths
or hundredths of 1 percent.
<p>
Nor are permit holders vigilantes. Up to 98 percent of defensive gun
uses simply involve people brandishing their weapon. It is only as a
last resort that people fire their weapon and even most of firings
are merely warning shots.
<p>
Of course, the discussions of gun ownership have the normal dose of
hypocrisy. Roll Call magazine reports that, since Sept. 11, some of
the strongest congressional supporters of gun control have bought
guns and gotten training. Congress certainly sees the benefits of
armed individuals for its own safety: Members of Congress can carry
guns around the capitol grounds.
<p>
A new Zogby poll indicates that 66 percent of Americans support
right-to-carry laws, so the real question is: Why the delay?
<p>
(A full 88 percent support allowing retired police and military
officers who are tested and qualified to serve as part-time air
marshals carrying concealed handguns on planes. Presumably, the
percentage is higher for these people to carry guns other places.)
<p>
The mantra that people should behave passively when confronted by
criminals seems impervious to all the scholarly research that
indicates that passivity is definitely not the safest course of
action. For terrorists whose only goal is to inflict as much carnage
as possible, the passivity makes even less sense. Before we give up
yet more freedoms, let us make the terrorists worry about who might
be armed.
<p>
John Lott is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute
and author of "More Guns, Less Crime" (University of Chicago Press,
2000).
<p>
Copyright 2001 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.
<hr>
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
---
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Some strange but true news about the government
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Interesting, funny but otherwise useless news!
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