Californians had a decision to make as they endure a two-year span of increased criminal violence, pushes to throttle law enforcement’s ability to protect communities and prosecutors going soft on criminals. They could choose to lawfully purchase a firearm to protect themselves or be a victim. They choose the former.
That’s got gun control peddlers worried. An opinion column in The Los Angeles Times pleaded with readers, “Thinking of buying a gun for self-defense? Don’t do it.”
Californians instead took up their Second Amendment rights. They weren’t alone either as millions of law-abiding Americans from coast-to-coast purchased a firearm last year, including more than 5.4 million first-timers.
Pleading Their Case
The Los Angeles Times opinion writers have had their heads buried on California’s beaches. Californians on the other hand have been feeling unsafe. The Los Angeles City Council cut $150 million from the police department budget in the aftermath of riots that followed the murder of George Floyd. A police shortage, including $47 million in owed backpay for overtime, has left criminals emboldened.
That led to a short-staffed LAPD issuing an unthinkable warning to city residents: if you’re the victim of a crime, just “cooperate and comply.” The LA Times-endorsed, George Soros-funded County District Attorney George Gascon has been on the receiving end of public outcry, and a recall effort, for his continued soft treatment of violent criminals, including murderers.
Criminals noticed. In 2021, Los Angeles saw a 12 percent year-over-year increase in murders. Violent crimes and property crimes were both up 4 percent. The Los Angeles Times opinion page, instead of condemning the crime, clung to fear.
“Choosing to have a gun in your home, because it will keep you safe, is a myth. And a deadly one at that.” The column urged readers to practice “common sense” and “safety,” stating, “Be responsible and be wise. Don’t buy into the myth of owning a gun for self-defense. The life you save may be your own.”
Resounding Rejection
Law-abiding Californians are tuning out “be a good victim” advice and instead are choosing lawful firearm ownership. In 2021, nearly 1.5 million verifications were run through the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) for Californians purchasing a firearm. The year before the figure was even higher at 1.6 million.
The owner of the only Los Angeles firearm retail store said business was booming and he wasn’t surprised.
“This morning I sold six shotguns in about an hour to people that say, ‘I want a home defense shotgun,’” Russell Stuart said. “Everyone has a general sense of constant fear, which is very sad.”
Debbie Mizrahie lives in Beverly Hills and described why she chose to purchase a gun. She’s “always been anti-gun” but changed her mind. She wanted to, “get myself shooting lessons because I now understand that there may be a need for me to know how to defend myself and my family. We’re living in fear.”
Geneva Solomon owns Redstone Firearms in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Burbank. Her firsthand experiences contradict the “advice” and “data” from the Los Angeles Times opinion page.
“Years ago a gentleman was charged with home invasion on my home. He forced his way into my home and I walked downstairs with a gun,” Solomon described. “I believe that my firearm deescalated what could have happened if he felt we were unarmed.”
Solomon encourages all gun owners new and old in her store to seek more training and education to be confident and safe gun owners.
National Movement
Californians buying firearms aren’t outliers. They are part of a larger firearm-owning community that’s growing by the day. NSSF retailer survey data from 2021 revealed more than 5.4 million law-abiding Americans purchased a firearm for the first time. That’s on top of the more than 8.4 million in 2020. It’s not just white males stockpiling guns either, as the media and national gun control groups often portray.
Women accounted for more than 33 percent of first-time buyers in 2021, only slightly lower than the 40 percent from 2020. A full 44 percent of retailers saw an increase of African-Americans purchasing firearms in 2021; nearly 40 percent of retailers saw an increase of Hispanic-American buyers and over 27 percent of retailers saw an increase of Asian-American buyers.
On top of purchasing their first firearm, buyers were looking for training. Retailers said that almost 47 percent of first-time buyers inquired about training and education courses and more than 43 percent of them signed up for classes.
Americans from all walks of life, including Californians, aren’t listening to the fear and loathing from newspaper opinion pages. They’re thinking, and acting, for themselves.
Larry Keane is SVP for Government and Public Affairs, Assistant Secretary and General Counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
californians.
present company excepted.
Sounds a lot like “don’t bother to try because you might fail.” Democrat motto.
Besides, I take all my self defense advice from the POTUS. Obviously he must be wise, experienced and up on all things legal to have risen to such a prominent position. The only real issue I have now is all my doors have holes in them.
That’s because Biden says you’re supposed to fire two shots from the porch, if I recall. Firing through the door will just annoy those Girl Scouts trying to sell cookies.
My granddaughter sells Girl Scout cookies 🍪 I had to a 😂 LOL moment!
Thanks for a reason to laugh 😆 good for you
“Choosing to read the LA Times, because it will keep you informed, is a myth. And a deadly one at that.”
FIFY
” ‘Choosing to have a gun in your home, because it will keep you safe, is a myth. And a deadly one at that.’ The column urged readers to practice ‘common sense’ and ‘safety,’ stating, ‘Be responsible and be wise. Don’t buy into the myth of owning a gun for self-defense. The life you save may be your own.’ “
That’s a lie, a flat out lie. I and my wife and others would not be alive today without firearms. Its proven to not be a “myth” ~8,000 times daily in the United States.
There is not one documented case where gun-control or not owning a gun has saved even one life from imminent injury or death during an in progress crime. But, there are many such documented cases where guns have.
It’s not really a lie, a gun in your home will *not* keep you safe! Jut as it will not murder someone. What it WILL do is give you a fighting chance to defend yourself, which you may not have without it. But simply buying a gun and sliding it into a drawer, will not impact your safety in any way. You have to prepare yourself, mentally and physically, to use it effectively in order to receive any benefit.
LarryinTX Wrong, yet again. A gun in the hands of an citizen is protection against your beloved criminals trying to take your property. It is like an “insurance policy” that you take out to take care of your family in the event of a tragedy or your death.
My .40 S&W cal GLOCK is on my hip whenever I leave the house. If I am going to go out to the store, it goes on my hip as soon as I am dressed. So yeah, my gun is my insurance that I will be able to defend myself against an armed attack by one of your criminals.
Don’t take ANY advice from the LA Times. Everything from potty training a toddler, to your choice of vehicles, to your choice of mates, to your choice of self defense, to your vote, is going to be wrong, wrong, wrong.
“Don’t take ANY advice from the LA Times.”
That is sound advice and that is all anyone needs to know.
Take gun advice from the LA times??!
I dont even let my bird poop on the pages of the LA Times. I respect my bird too much for that.
🤣
The upside of all these ridiculous Democrat policies is that they are destroying their own base of support on every front. They are just about left with the far left activists who don’t have the numbers nor the support any longer to carry the various agendas they are proposing. They have lost Manchin and Sinema and Dems in the House and Senate are retiring in droves or will be by 2022. If Republicans wake up and boot the RINOs it could be a great election in 2022 if we stop all the illegal voting. There is nothing better than watching the mentally challenged Democrats continue to shoot themselves in the proverbial foot.
“they are destroying their own base of support on every front”
they don’t have a base of support. they’re a propaganda outlet, getting top-down subsidies.
The LA Times? They’re still around??
Who still reads a paper? How many trees are still dying to make that paper? Daily papers are a threat to the environment.
A newspaper has only one legitimate purpose: it is how fish and chips come wrapped.
No, the MSM is where idiots like lil’ d get their information and marching orders from, sort of a silent dog whistle for miswired brains. Don’t believe me, just keep reading….
quote—————-“Choosing to have a gun in your home, because it will keep you safe, is a myth. And a deadly one at that.” The column urged readers to practice “common sense” and “safety,” stating, “Be responsible and be wise. Don’t buy into the myth of owning a gun for self-defense. The life you save may be your own.”————-quote
One hundred percent correct. Study after Study has show that people who are killed with firearms are killed by people they know and usually by someone living with them. It is a total myth that millions of criminals break into peoples homes and kill them while they sleep.
A firearm in the home ups the risk of death by a large percentage and also ups the incidents of suicide as many studies including the latest have shown. And few people survive suicide by gunshot as compared to other forms of attempted suicide. First responders have verified that many times and decades ago.
Children’s accidental deaths also skyrocket with a gun in the home because many people do not lock guns up and leaving loaded guns laying around the house results in 1,300 children a year dying by firearms and 3 times that many being crippled for life. Firearms not locked up in a safe are also a source of firearms for criminals who wait until no one is home and then use the smash and grab robbery to get them.
“Study after Study has show that people who are killed with firearms are killed by people they know”
in the studies, defined as “living within a few blocks of them”.
Remember folks. dacian the nazi is mentally ill. If you engage it will only get worse.
It makes you wonder, doesn’t it? I mean, this guy is the same as one of the prophets in the square in ‘Life of Brian,’ spouting meaningless words and incomprehensible phrases at the top of his frenzied voice, yet folks here insist upon eagerly charging in and replying to him as if he was a rational adult human being that could be reasoned with.
This makes no sense.
Consider an alternate hypothesis, John,
We have numerous trolls who infest these threads on a regular basis (MinorIQ, dacian the stupid, the nameless, brainless troll, enuf (although he doesn’t come around much, anymore). Most of them were here when I discovered this blog. For a couple years, I just ignored them. Did you notice them going away??? No, neither did I.
So, if they’re here (the are), and they’re annoying (and they are), and the babble insane, irrational nonsense (and they do), but they seem to be harder to get rid of than bedbugs in a transient motel . . . what do you do?
For myself, I get a certain guilty pleasure in kicking the crap out of them, insulting them, embarrassing them, and pointing out their brainless f***tardery. Hey, if they’re going to infest this blog, anyway, I might as well get some pleasure out of playing whack-a-mole every time the stick their emty heads up.
I could ignore cockroaches, too, but they just seem to breed when you do that (not that any of our trolls are capable of reproductive sex).
dacian the stupid,
You having a knife, or even a screwdriver, in arm’s reach is a deadly threat to you, because you’re an inept, dimwitted clod. I wouldn’t trust you with a rubber knife.
For those of us who actually DO know something about firearms, no, it isn’t. I have multiple guns within a few steps of me. I have had multiple guns around me, pretty much 24/7, for over 60 years – NEVER had an ND, never shot anyone. I can see how, for you or the nameless, brainless troll, it would be skeery – but that doesn’t apply to intelligent people.
You are pathetic, dacian, and you can’t get your mind accustomed to the fact that you are a hapless halfwit, incapable of actions that are customary and normal to many of us. But, that’s OK, you make up for it with your proved onanistic skills. Stick with that, it’s something you’re good at (at least by your standards).
Sorry we don’t have time to decipher jibberish written at a first grade level. Please try again 🖕🤡.
A Highly Educated Man For a man who pretends to be “highly educated”, you need a reading comprehension course. Maybe English is your second language?
I understood what Lamp was saying. But then I have a “higher education” not to mention common sense.
Aww, that’s so CUTE!!!! Our nameless, brainless troll doesn’t know the meaning of “onanism”, and is afraid to admit it!!
Punk, go tell your mommy you’re tired of living in the basement, and want to get an actual job. Maybe that will give you something better to do than making half-assed, ineffective attempts at insulting your betters.
dacian, the Dunderhead The hell it is. Having a gun in your home is the best way to stay safe. if the criminal element is confronted by an armed owner-citizen, he is going to be surprised and will most likely take to flight. Of course, it is in the best interest of the homeowner to take self defense firearms courses. Continued practice with your firearm is advised. People like you love to have homeowners kowtow to your criminal friends. Not happening here. your studies are so full of sh*t they are like a Christmas turkey. 99.999% the homeowner comes out on top. But you see, dacian, the Dunderhead, you have to have a set. You know what I mean? Having a firearm in the house has nothing to do with suicide. If a person is bound and determined to take their own life they will do it with or without a firearm. Not having a firearm will have not a darn thing to do with it. If a child is killed due to an “accidental discharge” that is a tragedy and there are laws already on the books to address this issue.
Tell the truth, dacian, the Dunderhead, This is all about your petulance to have control. It’s about your fear of a firearm. You allege that you are an expert on firearms but can’t seem to tell us the firing sequence of a cartridge.
It’s also about your need to disarm the public. An legally armed citizen is a threat to your attempts to impose your political ideology. Sorry bub, but normal Americans are not buying what you are selling.
I hope you speak better than you write!
I guess English is your second language too?
No, Walter, “gibberish” is his second language. “Inane babbling” is his first. English is a distant fourth or fifth.
“It is a total myth that millions of criminals break into peoples homes and kill them while they sleep.”
Well, duh, because millions of us defend our homes with firearms. The better armed the public, the less successful the criminal.
stop posting – go away
It will. . . IF people stop helping it stroke its ‘ego’ by replying to it.
‘John in AK’ move to Alaska in an attempt to evade justice for his unspeakably perverted actions while living in the lower 48 (ie real America).
Totally false. Totally. Accidental guns deaths, even as reported by leftisthellhole CDC, shows accidental gun deaths around 0.14 per 100k people. That’s about 460-470 deaths per year in the entirety of the United States. And that’s about on par with lightning strike deaths per year. That is how low that number is. Dacian is fabricating lies. And it’s annoying.
So, break ins might be low number, but homicides are not. There is about 5 per 100k intentional homicides. 5 > 0.14. So about 16,500 people kill someone else purposely each year. And 16,500 > 470. Dacian is delusional and desperate to cling to an ideology that he has been clinging to his whole life. If that bubble were popped, it would cause too much psychological/emotional damage to Dacian’s psyche, thus he must maintain the delusion by any means. But it just that – a delusion.
Uh… no. There are 470 deaths out of 330,000,000 people per year. So no. It’s actually an incredibly small percentage.
Firearms don’t “cause” suicides, so I totally disagree. And having a firearm doesn’t make a suicide more successful, disagree with that too. Take a trash bag, fill it full of computer dust spray, and duct tape it around your neck, over your head, and you will be dead in under a minute. People that really want to die, will find a means to do so. People that didn’t successfully commit suicide are more likely people looking for attention, rather than people trying to die. People that killed themselves with a gun? They were really trying to die. No question about that.
Just explained this above. If they shot themselves in the head with a gun, they weren’t messing around, and were actually trying to die. And people committed to ending their life can do so without guns. Most of the time, people that failed suicide are to a good degree seeking attention. And lastly. I”m just going to throw this in there. My rights to guns shouldn’t be curbed because someone else killed themselves with a gun. That’s ridiculous. My rights aren’t the problem here. The problem is their decision. Dacian doesn’t understand that, because he’s pro-social engineering.
I don’t believe this for even a second.
Here you go:
Accidental gunshot deaths by children handling a gun jumped 31% during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to a year earlier, new data shows.
There were 98 deaths that resulted from unintentional shootings by children from March through December 2019 compared to 128 over that same period in 2020, research by the advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety shows.
Straight from leftwing NPR:
https://www.npr.org/2021/08/31/1032725392/guns-death-children
98 deaths are tragic, but it doesn’t justify curbing my rights. Sorry no. Obviously, if you had a way to thanos style snap your finger and get rid of all guns worldwide and erase their invention from everyone’s mind, there would be no gun deaths. There would still be other But that isn’t reality. The reality is guns exist, and evil exists. The reality is that the government having guns and the citizenry not having them, is undesirable. The reality is criminals having guns and the law abiding not having guns is undesirable. The reality is there are 16,500 intentional killings every year, and not having any means at all to defend yourself is not a good plan. The realities are bigger than Dacian’s delusions here.
Locking firearms in a safe should be up to the gun owner, not dacian’s vote. Not all circumstances are the same. Not everyone lives in a safe neighborhood like Dacian. Not everyone has identical homes, or any of the like. There is a wide array of variables here, and the home owner knows their home and their firearms better than Dacian voting on it. First of all, homes are generally locked and breaking and entering them is already illegal. So now because criminals are breaking into homes and burglarizing them, Dacian wants more safety, and it wants to put it on you, the home owner, as if you should be punished for owning guns. So multiple levels of safety, mandated by government, within your own home. Hard pass. Dacian is a social engineer, and nothing seems to be off the table for him. He’s kind of like the Borg vs starfleet. The feelz of the collective rule everything kind of guy. Just say “no” people. No is No – Dacian. No means No Dacian. Just leave us alone. We don’t want it. No. No means No. No.
This is why it’s also known as the LA Dog Trainer.
Remember to stream your video to the cloud while being a cooperative and compliant victim or a good witness. If you store the video to your phone, the police won’t be able to access it after the criminal removes the phone from your corpse. If the police don’t have the video, they won’t know which criminal to release onto the street with a citation for a noise disturbance.
LA Times is for people who live in LA so I dont pay any attention to it.
How to react to someone to is trying to kill you…. overwhelming violent force against them.
“How to react to someone to is trying to kill you”
stop the threat. otherwise you’ll have some explaining to do in court.
How do you stop the threat? Show them that you are willing and able to produce more violence than they do. I never said kill them. Hurt them enough to stop them, if they die that is coincidental to their choice to begin a conflict.
“Years ago a gentleman was charged with home invasion on my home.”
We’ll, there’s your problem: you’re an idiot. Home invaders are gentlemen?
How many of those guns went to the gangs, cartel, BLM, ANTIFA and others who actually hate you?
Not possible; that would be against the law, so we don’t have to worry about it, right?
LarryinTX we all know how criminals and Leftists always “obey” the law, right ?
Pro Tip 0.0 – DONT read/listen to ANYTHING from the progs/marxists at the LA Times/NY Times/etc. Washington Times you would be good to go.
Dacien does have a point. Most murders are perpetrated by persons who are familiar with the victim. Abusive spouses, angry fathers of pretty daughters, fellow gang members, dope dealers eliminating the competition, angry branch covidians upset because their neighbor isn’t masked while mowing their lawn, or even more upset because the neighbor’s dog crapped on their lawn. The causes of the majority come from 3 reasons. Sex/love, money, drugs.
Something he doesn’t bother to explain is how suicide by firearm isn’t actually at the top of the list of methods used. Drugs and hanging are used more often. So lets outlaw rope and dope as well if we want to cut down on needless deaths.
The so called studies claiming guns in the home lead to higher risk to the gun owners have been debunked so many times it’s no longer even amusing to hear the false claim anymore. Just proof of someone stuck on stupid.
You forgot ‘actors’.
Study after study has shown that most studies are agenda-driven, cherry-picked bee ess.
And Floyd was not “murdered”. He was a small-time scoundrel who chose to shoplift, chose to pop a lethal OD of fentanyl and meth to try to hide it, chose to resist arrest, and in choosing all three, became far more valuable to the leftilibtards dead than he ever would have been alive.
An excellent summary, sir!
Floyd passed phoney money.
PMinFL Yep and that makes the man, George Floyd a CRIMINAL!
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