“The rising case of insecurity in [Nigeria] has given room for many debates,” allafrica.com reports, “one of which included the creation of state police to tackle the spate of general insecurity in the country.” Oh joy. “However, the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) added a new twist to the whole debate when it recently called the Federal Government to consider the relaxation of gun ownership laws as a way to reduce crime. In other words, [they] wanted more private citizens to have access to guns.” Wow. Nigerian doctors want their country’s 162m citizens to be able to exercise their God-given/natural right to keep and bear arms. Yes, well, according to allafrica.com, the docs’ desire to see their countrymen tool-up wasn’t entirely born of altruism . . .
The NMA argument also came amidst concern that “several doctors have been kidnapped even while on emergency and call duty within hospital premises.” . . .
NMA argued that over time, its members have become targets of kidnappers who make quick and easy money from the collection of ransom. One of such cases was the kidnap last year of a certain Dr. Stanley Uche, the proprietor of Victory Christian Hospital, Aba, Abia State. His corpse was recovered after a ransom of N30 million had been reportedly paid.
A few months ago, another doctor, Adegboyega Rufai, in Oko-Oba area of Lagos, was reportedly shot dead by unknown gun men who walked into the premises of his private hospital and requested an audience with him. Many medical directors of hospitals, including Dr. Adebowale Saddiq of Mount Arafat Hospital, Nsukka and Prof. Michael Ibadin of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Edo State, have also been victims of kidnapping since the escalation of the vice across the country.
The arguments ranged against the NMA’s push for gun rights indicate that gun control advocates are the same the world over. You know; more guns, more crime. More guns, more suicides. More guns, more political instability. Take it away (so to speak) Dr. Emmanuel Oga of the Society of Nigerian Doctors for the Welfare of Mankind:
As rife as gun violence is in Nigeria, there is reason to believe it could and would not be abated with easy accessibility of guns. Also, the “deterrent” argument is flawed; a criminal (who had no plan to kill ab initio) is more likely to kill his victim if he perceives the victim as a threat to his own life, such as a victim who owns a gun. If the to-be victim has a pistol, the criminals will show up with automatic rifle and so on. It is difficult to see how this benefits society.
Hard to say really. Unless you consider the most recent entries under “Nigeria” at genocidewatch.org, such as 14 October’s “Gunmen have opened fire on Muslim worshipers as they were leaving a mosque in northern Nigeria, killing at least 20 people, a local official said.”
Or look a little further back and consider the genocide (forced starvation) during the Nigerian Civil War (1967 – 1970) which claimed the lives of somewhere around three million civilians.
To combat religious persecution (a.k.a., terrorism), to establish a bulwark against government-sponsored mass murder, to create a right to keep and bear arms, Nigerians would have to ditch their firearms act, which states that . . .
No person shall have in his possession or under his firearms control any firearm… except in accordance with a licence granted in respect thereof by the Inspector-General of Police, which licences shall be granted or refused in accordance with principles decided upon by the National Council of Ministers.
Who’d a thunk it? Doctors on the front lines for gun rights? Educated people! It’s a fact which has not escaped the notice of one Ishiaku Abdul:
“That will mean lawyers, teachers and even journalists should also carry guns because they have often been targeted as well,” Abdul argued.
Yup. And the rest. Imagine that.
I’m an educated man, but I’m I’m afraid I can’t speak intelligently about the travel habits of William San…
Wait.
Wrong movie.
Part of an education is adopting the belief in rational thought. The error that well-educated people can fall into is thinking that everyone holds the same value. There are many human beings who choose brute force over thought. They require a sword, after which, we write our analysis of them with a pen.
In nature, few wild animals have the audacity and temperament to attack other dangerous animals that have the potential to hurt or kill them. Even many predators will often make a fast initial strike and then leap back letting the prey gradually weaken and die such as occurs with the great white shark and seals. People can be defenseless sheep or powerful sheep dogs in a world where wolves exist.
The headline made me think this was going to be a story about a grassroots movement to overturn the asinine gun laws in NY and/or NJ. I guess I was being naive.
The bad guys always have weapons and the good guys always have to fight their own G for the right to play catch up. Does this make any sense?
In a world ruled by common sense the UN would be devoting all of it’s energy to ensure that every household in the world had at least one gun.
Oh come on now. Isn’t one much better off facing armed criminals with nothing but your stern voice?
Okay, all sarcasm aside, isn’t it obvious why governments want their subjects disarmed? Because an unarmed populous is much more dependent on government. If many citizens are armed — and are truly, freely able to take their firearms with them wherever they go — government plays a much less important role in society.
Look at it this way. There are three groups of people that want to exploit the masses and stand to gain much from an unarmed populous. Those three groups are criminals, government personnel, and certain special interest groups. The crazy part is that both government personnel and those certain special interest groups benefit (in a perverted way) when there is lots of crime because citizens look to government to solve the crime problem. Thus it really shouldn’t be a big surprise that there are lots of efforts to infringe on a citizen’s right to bear arms.
“They Want Their Gun Rights Back”.
“Gun rights” are a natural, God given right. It’s not so much “gun” rights as it is the natural right to defend one’s self and family (and many people choose firearms to do so).
Their government cannot take or give them a natural right. THEY chose to give it away and now they want it back. Too late. Too late.
There are three kinds of men:
1)The ones who learn by reading.
2)The few who learn by observation.
3)The rest have to pee on the electric fence to find out for themselves….
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