a convergence of rights

One of the more-popular one-liners of the pro-self-defense movement is, "I carry a firearm because a whole cop would be too heavy," which adequately covers the point that police are great at drawing chalk outlines around bodies, writing up reports, and arresting people or issuing citations after the fact, but not so good at actually managing to protect and defend people while a crime is going down. This is not intended as a slight against police forces – after all, they have no duty to protect individual citizens – but simply a statement of reality and the dangers we "average" citizens live with on a daily basis.

There is also another saying that has been more heavily adopted by a narrower subsection of the pro-self-defense movement: armed gays do not get bashed:

A gay man in American Fork was assaulted only weeks after two other reported attacks against gay men, including one assault in August where a man outside a Salt Lake City club was jumped by four assailants and the victim was “curb checked”—after his attackers placed his open mouth on a curb and stomped on the back of his head. In the aftermath of such shocking violence, some have criticized the weakness of Utah’s hate-crimes law. But for Nelson, whose activism in the ’90s helped create the law, there is another means of protection against such violent acts.

“Crime-prevention techniques are great for preventing crime before the fact, and hate-crime laws are great for punishing perpetrators after the fact. But nothing is getting discussed about what you do when [violence] happens immediately,” Nelson says.

That’s why he and Tobias have issued a press release asking Utahns to consider armed self defense as the best recourse against an attack.

For those unfamiliar with the name, Dave Nelson not only owns Stonewall Shooting Sports, he has also been a tireless activist for LGBT- and firearm-related causes, rights, and organizations since 1983, with a flat-out-impressive number of victories and achievements to his name. Janalee Tobias founded Women Against Gun Control, who we discussed previously.

And, unfortunately, they are exactly right – all the laws in the world will not help any person whose jaws are spread around a curb and whose aggressors are about to bash their teeth in. On the other hand, as yet another saying goes, "A sucking chest wound is a pretty solid ‘No’."

So to put all of these quotes and quips in perspective, why do "gun control" extremists want to force homosexuals – unarguably a still-persecuted minority – to surrender one of the most effective tools to secure their own personal safety? Would a firearm have helped in the "curb-checking" attack? Maybe, maybe not. But it definitely would have given the victim a better choice than nothing more than his bare hands against four violent aggressors – not exactly good odds for anyone. Why would you take that choice away from someone? Why would you deny someone the possibility of an outcome better than "mutilated assault victim"?

It is situations like these that continue to substantiate my allegation that "gun control" demonstrably aids and abets criminals, especially given that it is a known fact that, logically enough, criminals prefer disarmed victims.

Do not be a victim – either of the anti-rights cultists‘ unconstitutional pipe dreams or of common every-day thugs. Stand up for your rights. Stand up for your ability to defend yourself. And do what you need to keep you and yours safe – that is all we have ever asked for.