Op-Ed: A tale of two cultures proves value of firearms, bankruptcy of gun bans

By Dave Workman

Separated by several states and an obvious cultural gap, two recent
stories about crime - one from Ohio and the other from Oregon - perhaps
best illustrate why a growing number of American citizens have concluded
that the police can't protect us, and neither can gun control laws or
anti-gun corporate policies.

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Police were quick to apprehend a suspect in the May 4 armed
robbery of a Dairy Mart convenience store in Akron; perhaps much quicker
than many Ohioans were able to grasp why so many of their neighbors are
arming themselves, getting licenses to carry concealed handguns, and
choosing not to shop in establishments that ban their legal firearms.

Clerk Mustapha Taoufik was struck in the head by an armed bandit
who ignored the sign posted in the glass double door of the Dairy Mart
on West Market Street. That's the sign warning customers: "No Weapons.
Pursuant to the Ohio Revised Code, no person shall knowingly possess,
have under the person's control, convey, or attempt to convey a deadly
weapon or dangerous ordnance onto these remises. A valid license does
not authorize the licensee to carry a weapon onto these premises.
Violators will be prosecuted!"
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That sign certainly did Taoufik's head, and the nerves of six
unarmed customers in his store at the time, a lot of good, didn't it?
Such signs are being posted by gun-phobic businesses in Ohio, Minnesota
and elsewhere. They accomplish two things: They tell law-abiding
firearms owners that the management thinks social bigotry is okay, when
practiced against armed citizens, and they alert thugs to a risk-free
environment.

In the Buckeye State, a group called Ohioans for Concealed Carry
has established a "Do Not Patronize" list on its website of businesses
where armed citizens are not welcome, and neither, evidently, is their
money. Smart economic move, turning away potential customers simply
because they choose to exercise a civil right; they might as well post
signs reading: "Gun-Free Zone. Armed robbers welcome. Come in, plunder,
and assault anyone because nobody will be able to stop you."

Click on the "Read More..." link below for more.

Meanwhile, out in Scappoose, Oregon, a woman identified as
Sheryl Fitzwilliams won't be calling the police anymore. She tried that
once, on May 8, and it took more than two hours for her town's only cop
on duty to respond, even after some guy tried to break into her home
before she screamed and he fled. She was at home with her daughters at
the time.

Fitzwilliams put her indignation tersely: "I do have an armed
neighbor. And from now on, that's who we call. We do not call 911."

Fitzwilliams has a keener perspective than the management of
Akron's Dairy Mart, but still hasn't figured out that her safety is not
the neighbor's responsibility, it's hers. Instead of counting on police,
stupid signs, or armed neighbors, Fitzwilliams should visit the nearest
gun shop and take a self-defense course.

Or, maybe she should just get herself elected to the Scappoose
City Council, and follow the example set by Chicago Alderman Arenda
Troutman, who lives on Chicago's South Side. Her home having been
burglarized twice in recent weeks, Troutman reportedly demanded-and
received at a whopping $366 per day cost to the taxpayers-individual
police protection of her home. A patrol car is parked outside her house
several hours a day on Saturday and Sunday, and beat cops have been
ordered to check her property on every shift, every day of the week.

Troutman's arrogant justification for this elitist treatment:
"Deserve it? Damn right. I should receive the protection I am receiving.
I am an elected official." Well, we're all impressed.

Chicago, incidentally, is a city in which the average
law-abiding citizen can't buy a handgun, much less legally carry one for
personal protection.

Anti-gun signs, like restrictive gun control laws and the
pontifications of those who support both, do not prevent crimes, nor
deter criminals. Elitists who get special police protection deny it to
everyone else in the process.

It is refreshing that in a society where so many have flocked to
the false promises of gun control laws and stupid warning signs, an
increasing number of sensible American citizens have decided they are
not sheep.

Dave Workman is senior editor of Gun >ek (a publication of the Second Amendment Foundation), and a
nationally-published firearms writer.

Related Story:
Store on Do Not Patronize While Armed list robbed, clerk pistol-whipped