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The Lockean Project

Guns and personal safety

“Guns and personal safety,” Carmel Pine Cone—June 10, 2022

Government confiscation of citizens’ guns will not help people defend themselves in an era of surging crime rates, mental illness, defunded police, and political violence. Although dozens of schoolchildren have been killed by deranged shooters, that figure is minuscule in contrast to the number of deaths by “democide” (death by government). According to Dr. R.J. Rummel, a political scientist at the University of Hawaii, up to 400 million civilians were murdered in the 20th century by tyrannical governments that only permitted guns for security agencies, the military, and armed guards for politicians.

It is very dangerous for citizens to be at the mercy of street criminals and oppressive governments. The high level of deaths from the Holocaust could have been avoided if Jews and minorities had been able to defend themselves with their own weapons.

L.K. Samuels, Carmel