More guns, less crime

The attempted criminal assault on a student last week, who happens to be a friend of mine, and the much-reported crime wave that College Park has had to deal with, made me ponder this question: Would these assaults have occurred if the criminals in question thought that their soon-to-be victims were armed? The answer is most probably not, and crime statistics verify this.

Maryland has some of the strictest gun laws in the country. Unless one is a current or former member of the military or police, it is nearly impossible to be granted a license to carry a concealed firearm. You would think with such stringent gun laws, Maryland would have a low crime rate, and yet, compared to states with more relaxed gun laws like Virginia, Florida and my native Texas, Maryland's violent crime rate per capita is higher. Statistics comparing crime from state to state can be seen and verified on the U.S. Department of Justice website.

The reason for this is simple enough: Criminals are deterred by higher risks much like any other rational person is. A street thug is much less likely to try to mug someone for a mere $20 if there is a possibility that he (the thug) can be shot dead for it. A common criminal would much rather target a victim he knows will not be able to resist him effectively. It should then be no surprise that states that allow responsible citizens the right to arm and defend themselves see lower crime rates. John R. Lott Jr., a former law and economics professor at the University of Chicago, found that following the passage of a law allowing people (who are licensed and given a background check) to carry concealed handguns, the murder rate drops 3 percent per year.

Now, I am not advocating every student in College Park get a permit for a concealed handgun. I am not quite sure I would trust every drunken college student, including myself, to handle a gun after a fun night at Cornerstone or Bentley's. Nevertheless, Maryland's gun laws are at least in part responsible for the high levels of violent crime. It may sound like a political slogan to declare that when guns are banned, the only people with guns will be the criminals, but it's true. I do not carry around a gun in Maryland because I respect the laws of this state - can the same be said of a gang member?

Finally, Maryland's gun laws tread awfully close to violating our Second Amendment rights. Some people refuse to see gun ownership as a "right" simply because they do not like guns. Well I do not like some people's political or religious views (or lack thereof), yet I would not seek to deny them freedom of speech and conscience for that reason. The Second Amendment declares "the right of THE PEOPLE to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." The Fourth Amendment assures the right of THE PEOPLE to be free from "unreasonable searches and seizures"; no one cares to argue with that. Why is it that one right of the people can be swept under the rug, but not the other? The right of the people to bear arms and protect themselves was one of the things James Madison pointed to in "The Federalist No. 46" as an explanation for why Americans were freer and more secure in their persons than Europeans.

It is part of our Anglo-American traditions, stretching as far back as the 11th century, that free men (and women) need not be completely dependent upon government authority for their own security and liberty. I am not advocating that individual citizens be their own police force, but we have the right to defend, with force, our lives and our property when no other alternative is available. The sooner Maryland and the rest of the nation recognize this, the safer we all will be.

Benjamin J. Rodkin is a senior government and politics major. He can be reached at B212bb@aol.com.