How to stop the slaughter of the innocents
12/21/2012 09:30
by Joseph Farah
In the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre, leave it to the state-run media and politicians who surround themselves with armed security at all times to offer up exactly the wrong prescription to stopping the slaughter of more innocents.
It was as predictable as clockwork that those who seek a state monopoly on firepower would exploit a tragedy like this to push for unconstitutional, counter-productive, anti-American solutions to a mess they helped create.
Let me give you some things to think about – things you won’t likely hear or read elsewhere.
First, consider why Israel, a nation surrounded by madmen who seek to kill innocent Jewish children any way they can, has rarely seen the kinds of mayhem America witnessed in Newtown, Conn. I can show you in one simple photograph that doesn’t require any further explanation.
It’s a fact that many mass murders like the one we witnessed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School were averted because innocent children and adults were not left defenseless. Here are just a handful of examples:
- On Oct. 1, 1997, Luke Woodham, 16, part of a satanic cult, stabbed and bludgeoned his mother before driving her car to Pearl High School in Pearl, Miss., where he shot dead two students and wounded seven others with a rifle he made no attempt to conceal. He then got back into his mother’s car and planned to go to Pearl Junior High School to kill some more. But assistant principal Joel Myrick retrieved a .45-caliber pistol from the glove compartment of his truck and subdued Woodham.
- On Jan. 16, 2002, Peter Odighizuwa, 43, of Nigeria, went to the Appalachian School of Law campus in Virginia with a handgun and killed three and wounded three others. At the sound of gunfire, two other students – both police officers – retrieved guns from their cars. Meanwhile, another police officer and former Marine jumped Odighizuwa and disarmed him by the time the other officers got to the scene.
- On Aug. 23, 1995, a band of crack cocaine addicts entered a store in Muskegon, Mich., with a plan to kill everyone and steal enough cash and jewelry to feed their habit. One member of the gang shot store owner Clare Cooper in the back four times. He still managed to grab his shotgun and fire on the gang as they fled. They were all apprehended.
- On Dec. 9, 2007, a 24-year-old gunman named Matthew Murray launched an attack on the congregants of the New Life Church in Colorado Springs that left two victims dead. A former police officer, Jeanne Assam, a member of the security team for the church, shot Murray 10 times, killing him, as he was shooting at her. Murray had killed four others at a church 70 miles away earlier in the day.
- On July 24, 2012, Richard Gable Stevens rented a rifle at a shooting range in Santa Clara, Calif., and herded three employees out the door, saying he intended to kill them. One of the employees, however, was carrying a .45-caliber handgun and shot the assailant.
- On Dec. 17, 1991, two men armed with stolen pistols herded 20 customers and employees of a Shoney’s restaurant in Anniston, Ala., into a walk-in refrigerator and locked it so they could rob the establishment. However, one customer was armed with a .45-caliber handgun hidden under a table. He shot one of the gunmen dead. The other robber, who was holding the manager of the restaurant at gunpoint, began firing at the customer. But he was wounded critically by return fire, ending the incident.
- On July 13, 2009, an armed man entered the Golden Food Market in south Richmond, shooting and wounding a clerk while firing at store patrons. He was shot by another customer who had a concealed-carry permit, likely saving the lives of eight other people in the store.
- On July 29, 2012, Charles Conner shot and killed two people and their dogs at the Peach Tree RV park in Early, Texas. Vic Stacy got a call from one of the neighbors, got his .357 magnum and shot Conner in the leg. Police arrived before any further killings could take place.
The truth is that every single day mass murders are averted by armed civilians.
Yet, every time there is a horrendous slaughter like we saw at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, there is a knee-jerk outcry for stricter control of guns.
Yet, every time there is a horrendous slaughter like we saw at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, there is a knee-jerk outcry for stricter control of guns.
Wait a minute! The perpetrator of this crime stole his weapons from his mother’s house after murdering her! He tried to buy a rifle days before, but was turned down.
No law could have stopped that short of disarming all law-abiding Americans. And that would just mean more death and carnage – and the end of liberty for all.
The massacre at Sandy Hook could have been minimized, if not averted completely, if just one teacher or administrator at the school was armed – one teacher like you see in that picture from Israel.