Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Being a Thug is More Dangerous Than Ever

13 years ago, Tennessee joined a new breed of states by granting its citizens the right to carry firearms for self-defense. Its laws on citizen self defense have been successively broadened since then. With the close of 2007, the Memphis Police Department has reported almost 3 times as many justified self-defense killings as in 2006. Christopher Conley, of Memphis newspaper The Commercial Appeal, opens his article on the increase this way:

The number of justifiable homicides in Memphis jumped from 11 in 2006 to 32 in 2007.

No one is sure why, but one man has a theory.

"The thugs have started running into people who can protect themselves," said Tom Givens, owner and instructor at the firearms training school RangeMaster, 2611 S. Mendenhall in Memphis.
He goes on to mention that the thugs aren't winning as much as they used to, either:
There were 19 fewer criminal homicides in 2007 compared to 2006.
Looks like yet another example of when law-abiding citizens have guns, more good guys win, more bad guys lose, and everyone is safer all around.
[Comments on this post are now closed. -Ed.]

3 comments:

  1. " As many as 35,000 people in Shelby County have carry permits, which means they have had some training on the laws governing self-defense"

    Go Shelby County!

    ReplyDelete
  2. "granting its citizens the right to carry firearms for self-defense"

    I disagree with that wording. A state cannot grant a right. It can only legally recognize that right, which comes to us from a Higher Authority than any government. The right to self-defense is inherent in the right to life itself.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Heinlein said it best:
    An armed society is a polite society.

    ReplyDelete