Pop Friday: Ice-T Stands Up for Gun Rights

Firearm prohibitionists use tragedy to stifle debate and advocate new restrictions. It’s called the “Argument from Catastrophe,” a particularly infectious logical fallacy in any sniveling panty waist culture. So, it’s important for gun rights advocates to stand their ground and fire back (proverbially) whenever this happens. Among the most boisterous celebrity voices for the uninfringed right to self defense is rapper and actor Ice-T who openly opposes any gun control legislation.

During an interview on the UK’s Channel 4 News he was asked to comment on the tragic shooting in Colorado. When asked his opinion regarding guns and the right to bear arms Ice-T said:

“I’d give up my gun when everybody else does. Doesn’t that make sense? If there were guns here, would you want to be the only person without one?”

When asked if he owned a gun he said:

“Yeah, it’s legal in the United States. It’s part of our Constitution. You know, the right to bear arms is because that’s the last form of defense against tyranny. Not to hunt … It’s to protect yourself from the police.”

Ice-T is essentially expressing the Constitutionalist view. It is without question that Ice-T is expressing the original intent of Second Amendment, which is why when Michael Moore was asked to rebut Ice-T’s comments on Piers Morgan the next day he had to attack the Constitution itself.

I tend to take Lysander Spooner’s view on the Constitution when he said:

“The Constitution has either authorized such a tyranny as we have seen, or has been powerless to prevent it.”

If gun rights alone had the power to prevent tyranny they would have prevented tyranny in Iraq where every Iraqi was free to own an AK-47 under Saddam Hussein. If I had to bet I’d say they likely have less gun rights now. Liberty is won in the mind, not on the battle field. Whether you win your freedom at the ballot box or the ammo box matters little if you’ve failed to change the way society thinks about freedom. So I thought I’d share some information that might change the way you think about firearms and the police.

Ok, let’s take a look at some case studies, in chronological order.

• 1966
  Charles Joseph Whitman kills his mother and his wife, and the following day climbed a clock tower at the University of Texas and picked off passers by with a sniper riffle. 15 dead and 31 injured. Charles was shot and killed by Austin police.

• 1997
  Luke Woodham slit’s his mother’s throat and entered Pearl High School in Mississippi with a rifle. 3 dead and 7 injured total. As he fled the scene he was confronted by vice principal Joel Myrick who had retrieved a handgun from his trunk, and was roaming the school looking for the killer. Myrick apprehended Luke without firing and held him until authorities arrived. Investigators later learned that Luke intended to go to Pearl Middle School next.

• 1997
  Satanist Michael Carneal opens fire on a small prayer group killing three and injuring 5 before being tackled by another student.

• 1998
  Andrew Wurst takes a pistol to a middle school dance, killing a teacher and wounding 3 others. James Strand, a local merchant, apprehended Andrew with a shotgun without firing and held him until authorities arrived.

• 1999
  Eric Harris, and Dylan Klebold kill 13 people and wound 24 at Columbine High School in Littleton Colorado. What many people do not know is that Columbine high school had an armed security guard on staff who stayed outside while the attacks when on, and once police arrived they stood outside the library while execution style murders happed right inside.

• 2002
  Peter Odighizuwa takes a semiautomatic handgun to Appalacian Law School in Grundy Virginia. He kills 3 and injures 3, starting with the dean. Three students, Mikael Gross, Ted Besen, and Tracy Bridges, all retrieved handguns from their cars and apprehended him without firing.

• 2007
  Seung-hui Cho opened fire inside the West Ambler Johnston Hall of Virginia Tech. Authorities apprehend the boyfriend of one of the victims. Meanwhile Cho walks over to Norris Hall and opens fire two hours later. 33 dead in all.

• 2012
  Also in Aurora, Colorado, convicted felon Kiarron Parker entered the parking lot of a church and opened fire. He killed one person before being shot and killed himself by another member of the congregation who was carrying concealed… but you didn’t see that story on the news.

• 2012
  And now this recent attack. James Holmes goes into a crowded movie theater in Aurora, Colorado and opens fire with an AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle. 12 people were killed, 59 were wounded, making this the largest mass shooting in US history.

So what’s the point? What’s the theme? In almost every case activist groups swarmed like locusts to blame the violence on the cause de jour. But look at the difference between cases were the shooter was apprehended by police and cases where the shooter was stopped by a proactive civilian. In every instance handled by police, officers failed miserably to control the situation. They either stand around until the shooter executes people and eventually commits suicide or they shoot and kill the shooter. And in most instances where an armed civilian (and often an unarmed civilian) intervenes the shooter is apprehended and brought to justice. And just look at the numbers. Based on this sample the average number of people killed by shooters apprehended by police is 18.25, but the average number of people killed by shooters apprehended by civilians is 2.2.

What makes the most sense to you? Who do you trust more to protect you? A bumbling police force or a proactive, and hopefully armed, civilian? Bottom line, would you rather live in a world with unrestricted gun rights and no police, or a world with unrestricted police and no gun rights? Because on a long enough timeline those really are your only options.

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