Ready, A.I.M.M., Fire

Ready, A.I.M.M., Fire
by Linda A. Prussen-Razzano

When the Million Mom March was initially announced several months ago, a part of me groaned in dismay. I have no doubt these are caring women, interested only in eliminating crime from their streets and protecting their children. They may have been the victims of brutal violence, suffering terrible losses at the hands of some malicious criminal. They may honestly see "sensible measures" as a step in the right direction towards stemming future violence, particularly violence by guns.

Unfortunately, they are wrong.

First, criminals, by definition, do not obey the law. If they did obey the law, they would not be criminals; they would be law-abiding citizens. If a person is intent on committing a crime, it does not matter how many laws stand in their way; they will break them all. The kids at Columbine broke several, even before they fired their first shot.

Second, the best defense is a good offense. Instead of making a complicated and difficult process even more complicated and difficult, we should be leveling the playing field. Instead of encouraging more paperwork and restrictions, we should be encouraging firearm ownership in all homes, so that everyone has a method to protect and defend their families and property.

Additional gun restrictions are especially damaging to women, who may need them immediately as protection against a bitter or abusive ex-boyfriend or spouse, or some other menacing male figure. Far too many women have died despite court ordered writs of protection. Do frightened women, battling for their lives, really need the added obstacle of a safety lock as their attackers charge at them? Are their lives so insignificant, we can expend them? Why should they be made to pay, when others have committed the crimes? Justice is supposed to presume innocence and protect the innocent, while punishing the guilty. Safety locks presume guilt and hinder the innocent, while helping the criminals in the commission of their crimes.

Third, we, as Americans, should not be working to actively undermine any of our Constitutionally guaranteed rights. The 2^nd Amendment is about so much more than our ability to protect and defend our families and property. Individuals who fail to realize the true intent of the 2^nd Amendment have either not studied history or chose to ignore it. The defining clause, "being necessary to the security of a free State," emphatically states that our 2^nd Amendment rights ensure our ability to defend against an unjust government. Stalin, Hilter, Mao, and other dictators have butchered millions of unarmed citizens.

The 2^nd Amendment was not given such a prominent place in the Bill of Rights to protect our right to "hunt," or even our right to protect, by legal force, if necessary, our person or property. After having lived under armed occupation by British soldiers, our Founding Fathers included the 2^nd Amendment to guaranty our ability to overthrow a tyrannical government and defend ourselves against future armed occupations.

Just as the MMM, <a href="http://www.millionmommarch.com">www.millionmommarch.com</a>, sprung up from grassroots, a counter movement, SAS, has also sprung up in defense of this most precious Amendment. The Second Amendment Sisters, formed by a small group of five women, is based in Dallas. They plan to hold a counter-march, Armed Informed Mother’s March, on Mother’s Day in Washington, D.C. While the MMM has rallied corporate interests and anti-gun mouthpieces such as Rosie O’Donnell and Hillary Clinton, SAS is receiving small, individual donations from concerned citizens throughout the country.

Their efforts are not in vain. Their website, www.sas-aim.org, started just a few short months ago, boasts some 22,000 signatures for their petitions and state coordinators are popping up all over the country. They are now receiving daily requests for interviews from various media outlets. They are using hard statistics, core logic, and true survivor accounts to counter the often emotional issues surrounding gun-ownership.

As a crime survivor and gun owner myself, I joined their ranks. I understand, full well, what it’s like to be sobbing, face down on the floor, in a puddle of my own urine, a criminal holding a loaded weapon to the back of my head, threatening to blow my brains out if I did not comply with their every request. It took me several years to overcome my fear of guns, to realize that guns were not the enemy.

Guns do not commit crimes. Guns do not stand trial. Guns are not convicted and sent to prison. Guns have no feelings, hold no ill-will. We hold criminals accountable, because it takes a criminal to commit a crime.

Further, my gun affords me the ability to never be that defenseless again. Instead of begging for my life and offering silent, urgent prayers for God’s protection, I have more than a fighting chance of survival. Instead of watching helplessly while some animal abuses my future son, I can ensure that their unwelcome visit to my house is the last unwelcome visit they ever make. Instead of hiding with my baby behind a locked door, vainly hoping for the police to arrive in time, I can stand my ground and defend my child to the death.

It is the difference between being a ready-made victim, and a survivor.

The Million Moms do not understand this; the SAS women do.