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September 30, 2005
Arms are for hugging!* And for politeness!
According to the Brady Bunch, it's now open season on tourists in Florida. Tourists are being warned that Floridians now have the dangerous right to self defense: Florida's £30 billion tourism industry is under threat from a campaign launched by a gun-control group which warns visitors they could be killed.They are? Merely because the Brady people placed an asinine ad? If an anti gay marriage group placed an ad warning them that they would not be allowed to marry a partner of the same sex in Florida, would this mean they'd be "caught up" in the gay marriage dispute? The Florida law, supported by the National Rifle Association, was approved by the state legislature in April.So, not only are you unsafe in Florida and all "caught up" in an ongoing row, but when crazed Florida rednecks shoot you to death, it'll all be the fault of the evil Bush Dynasty! The Brady Campaign to Control Gun Violence, based in Washington DC, has pledged to "educate" tourists by placing adverts in US cities, and in key overseas markets such as Britain.Thanks to the Bush Dynasty and the NRA, armed Floridians might now have dangerous feelings? Is that the message? Apparently so. There's also an erroneous assumption that armed citizens are rude. To the contrary; they're much more likely to be polite. But let's assume that someone, somewhere in Florida, now has a "feeling" that there's a "right" to use deadly force to settle a road rage argument. Legally, the notion is preposterous, as the Florida statute conveys no such right, nor does it provide justification for such feelings. It merely resuscitates the common-law "man's home is his castle" doctrine which had (along with self defense generally) been under attack. What the law actually says is explained in detail here. Basically, if attacked with deadly force you have no duty to retreat when you are in your home, or at your business. As to "road rage," the following excerpt explains that the law does not allow someone in that situation to settle a dispute by shooting: Q. When can I use my handgun to protect myself?I don't think European tourists traveling to Disney World have much to worry about from Florida's armed law abiding citizens. Why, unless they're planning on invading homes and businesses, they're free to act like total assholes and even start fights, and still, Floridians will not be allowed to shoot them. But "feelings" may persist. The Brady Campaign would conveniently have us forget about the notorious tourist shootings which plagued Florida in the early 1990s. What fewer people recall is that they were preyed on because they stood out as tourists, and local criminals knew they were unlikely to be armed. In 1993, as research by Prof. Gary Kleck of Florida State University has shown, Florida crime rates were actually plummeting, due to new laws which allowed far more law-abiding citizens to carry concealed weapons. As that beneficial change took place, the only motorists who criminals could be assured would be unarmed were newly-arrived tourists driving rental cars with big fluorescent rent-a-car stickers. Once the airport rental lots started removing those stickers, Florida's "tourist murder crime wave" disappeared virtually overnight.With history in mind, I think it's reasonable for Florida to consider a sensitivity outreach program for European tourists who feel threatened. In conjunction with the NRA, they could offer fearful tourists welcome and safety kits consisting of NRA bumperstickers to place on their rental cars, and NRA hats to wear. That way, they could not only blend in with legally armed Floridians irrationally suspected of harboring "feelings" about shooting tourists, but the hats and stickers would tend to intimidate criminals who'd be inclined to prey on tourists -- not because of mistaken feelings, but because of the logical assumption that tourists are unlikely to be armed. An "arm the tourists" pilot program might not be a bad idea either. Tourists are already pre-screened when they enter the country, so the background checks wouldn't be too much of a problem, and they could be issued temporary right-to-carry permits which would allow them to rent guns for the duration of their trips. Tourists would be safer, Florida would be safer, and everybody would be more polite. And when they returned home to Europe, the tourists would have something to talk about with their friends that might be more interesting than Mickey Mouse. MORE: Jeff Soyer cleverly spoofs the ridiculous Brady "warning" poster by offering one featuring Chicago, where self defense is disallowed -- and where gun control has worked (to increase homicides, that is....) UPDATE (10/01/05): I'm delighted to see that Michelle Malkin liked this post and gave me a link! Many thanks. AND MORE: Why are there no tourist warnings about Switzerland -- described as "awash in guns" and where even children have guns: At all major shooting matches, bicycles aplenty are parked outside. Inside the firing shelter the competitors pay 12-year olds tips to keep score. The 16-year-olds shoot rifles along with men and women of all ages.(HT Justin.) Sounds at least as dangerous as Florida. UPDATE: My thanks to Tammy Bruce for linking this post and for her kind words. I also enjoyed her comments on the irony of Floridians being targeted by a smear like this in England: Ironically, England implemented its own gun control legislation in 1997 with disastrous repercussions. They now have a higher violent crime rate than not only New York, but every state of the union, including of course, Florida.
posted by Eric on 09.30.05 at 09:30 AM
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» Brady Warning: Floridians will Shoot You! from Stuck On Stupid
The Brady Campaign is trying to scare the wits out of tourists planning a visit to Florida. This courtesy of the Scotsman.com: IT IS Britain's most popular transatlantic holiday destination, attracting more than 1.5 million visitors a year with its [Read More] Tracked on October 2, 2005 09:17 AM
Comments
Every time these assholes tell a lie, I go out and buy another gun, or buy one for someone I know who doesn't have one yet. JP · October 1, 2005 06:52 PM Why is this such a big deal? It's been the law in California for a long time that you have no duty to retreat in your own home, and I'm sure in other states as well. This is nothing new. Bill Moon · October 1, 2005 09:12 PM The use of deadly force to protect one's home, one's person, to protect/preserve the life of another person, or to prevent a 'violent crime against a person' (such as rape) has been the law in ALL states of the United States since its founding, and has been the law in the Common Law world: i.e. U.K. - for 500+ years - and in Canada, Australia, NZ, South Africa, etc. since those countries' inception. IT STILL IS THE LAW IN ALL OF THOSE COUNTRIES. alwyr · October 1, 2005 09:54 PM Alwyr your ignorance of the state of self defence is astounding. In Michigan if you shot someone in your home he had A)better be heavily armed. Anonymous · October 2, 2005 08:52 AM Castle Doctrine IS important. Anyone who says that you have the right to shoot a dirtbag criminal in your home in all the states in America is fooling themselves. After all, the US invented the concept of criminals suing homeowners when they injure themselves while breaking and entering. Besides, in certain regions of the US such as the District of Columbia, citizens aren't even allowed to own operational firearms, and no one can buy a hand gun; you can't even joke about it. Hey, I've got some bumper stickers in which you might be interested. "Ultra RightWing Constitutionalist Commie-Hating Fundamentalist God-Fearing Uber-Nationalist War-Mongering Jingoist Gun Nut On Board" "Free Black Americans From Liberal Tyranny" "Show Me A Smart Liberal And I'll Show You A Confused Conservative" "Peace Through Strength" with nuclear symbol... This one really pisses off the hippies because they just can't reconcile the word peace in conjunction with the word strength. If you want, email me and I'll mail them to you, no charge. Strength and Honor, LittleJoeMcCarthy · October 2, 2005 08:36 PM Little Joe McCarthy -- excellent! The style of those stickers! Stick it to those Commies! I am a Right-Wing Ultra-Conservative Reactionary Counter-Revolutionary Goddess-Worshipping Gun-Loving Western Imperialist Warmonger. Steven Malcolm Anderson the Lesbian-worshipping man's-man-admiring myth-based egoist · October 5, 2005 06:42 PM |
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I have had it the endless abysmally stupid and dishonest arguments, i.e., lies (and none too clever), spewed out daily by the gun-ban lobby. Jeff Soyer's satire was exactly what I was thinking of when I started reading this post.
Never give up your freedom. Never give up your gun.