PIML 06051601 / Forwarded to Patriot Information Mailing List: [Interesting subject - right to keep and bear arms argument without a second amendment] PIML Date: Thu, 16 May 1996 10:14:14 -0400 From: freematt@coil.com (Matthew Gaylor) Subject: UK: Libertarian Alliance Submission on Gun Control From: Sean Gabb Subject: Libertarian Alliance Submission on Gun Control Enclosed is the text of the Libertarian Alliance's submission to the Cullen Enquiry on gun control, established after the Dunblane massacre in Scotland. It is probably the only submission that denounces all gun control in whatever form. Please pass round the Internet. Sean Gabb London 19:42 14/05/1996 ================================================================= Submission by the Libertarian Alliance To The Honourable Lord Cullan on the Subject of Firearms Control, in the Wake of the Dunblane Massacre Submitted by Chris R. Tame & Sean Gabb The Libertarian Alliance 14 May 1995 The Libertarian Alliance 25 Chapter Chambers Esterbrooke Street London SW1P 4NN Tel: 0171 821 5502 Fax: 0171 834 2031 Email: liberty@capital.demon.co.uk Contents: 1. Introduction 2. The Case Against Further, or Any, Controls on Firearms 3. Conclusions Appendices: *Appendix I: Gun Control in Britain, by Sean Gabb, Political Notes No. 33, Libertarian Alliance, London, 1988 *Appendix II: The Case Against Gun Control, by David Botsford, Political Notes No. 105, Libertarian Alliance, London, 1990 *Appendix III: A Selected Critical Bibliography on Gun Control 1. Introduction The Libertarian Alliance is an non-party political civil and economic libertarian group which promotes its ideas by means of publications, evidence to government and parliamentary inquiries, conferences and seminars and media appearances. We publish a quarterly journal, Free Life, and have over 400 publications in print. Our academic Advisory Council is detailed on the accompa nying letterhead. The Alliance is entirely independent and funded by publications sales, subscriptions and voluntary dona tions. It receives no funding from any other political, reli gious, organisational or commercial interests. The following brief points concerning firearms controls are sub mitted in the wake of the Dunblane massacre. They should not be seen as an exhaustive statement of the Libertarian Alliance case - which is to be found in the annexed documents which include as part of this formal submission. 2. The Case Against Further, or Any, Controls on Firearms We believe that the Dunblane massacre should not be used to justify the extension or tightening-up of existing legal controls of firearms. Indeed, we believe that the massacre does not represent any form of refutation of our more fundamental argument that firearms controls generally are undesirable and unnecessary. We believe that any adult should be able to walk into a gun shop and - without showing any permit or any form of identification - buy as many guns and as much ammunition as he or she can afford. We believe further that people should be allowed to keep guns at home and carry them in public to protect their life, liberty and property. This was a state of affairs that existed in Great Britain before 1920. Before then it was widely understood that what distin guished freedom from slavery was the right to effective self defence. The restrictions on this right made during the twentieth century have all been justified on the grounds of public safety in all those countries previously free. There is an extensive litera ture that reveals these justifications as wholly untrue. We will not try to repeat in this necessarily short document the wealth of statistical and other arguments that have been deployed against the notion of gun control - arguments that for the most part have never received a reply or refutation. However, we do supply in our Appendices two Libertarian Alliance publications and a Selective Bibliography that in our view cover the main literature. We will also briefly summarise these arguments thus: *Gun control laws will be obeyed only by those who are not likely to hurt anyone. The burglars, street criminals, bank robbers and all the psychotics like Michael Ryan or Thomas Hamilton will take 2 no notice. These people will get hold of guns regardless of what the law says and regardless of any restriction in the number of guns in honest hands. Guns are easy to manufacture illegally and easy to transport to any part of the world where there is an criminal demand for them. *All gun control laws do are to disarm honest citizens in the face of criminal aggression and predation. For example, suppos ing somebody else in Hungerford High Street other than Michael Ryan had been carrying a gun; it is most unlikely that he would have been able to kill sixteen people. Even in the case of ultimately suicidal psychotics like Thomas Hamilton the prospect of armed resistance can be a real deterrent, robbing them of their sense of total control of the situation. *A further effect of gun control laws - and a especially notable one in the twentieth century, when even previously civilised nations have descended to the depths of totalitarian and genoci dal barbarism - is to deprive the people of their means of oppos ing tyranny. This is an ancient and established constitional right in England and there is no reason to believe why the justi fication for its existence has passed, even in our country. 3. Conclusion Bearing in mind what we have said above our proposals for reform involve the immediate and total repeal of all the Firearms Acts, 1920 to 1988, together with all subsidiary and supportive legis lation. We also recommend the restoration of capital punishment for murder and the establishment of a severe but rational scheme of deterrence in criminal sentencing. We believe that such legal reforms, together with other neceasary reforms in the currently demoralising and pauperising systems of state welfare and educa tion, will begin the precess of restoring law and order in this country. However, it is equally vital that "pseudo-crimes", such as drug trafficking and consumption, and all nonconformist con sensual sexual behaviour, prohibitions of which in actuality only generate real crime and corruption, should be abolished. But, we must emphasise, the responsibilty for protecting individ uals against public and private predation must lie with the indi viduals themselves. The community and the law must once again allow the maximum freedom for individuals to take control of their own lives and by the protection of themselves and their property to help restore a better society. APPENDICES *Appendix I: Gun Control in Britain, by Sean Gabb, Political Notes No. 33, Libertarian Alliance, London, 1988 *Appendix II: The Case Against Gun Control, by David Botsford, Political Notes No. 105, Libertarian Alliance, London, 1990 *Appendix III: A Selected Critical Bibliography on Gun Control APPENDIX II: A SELECTED CRITICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY ON GUN CONTROL The following bibliography is a partial listing of material - largely American - currently known to us, critical of gun con trol. Dots indicate publication details not currently known. Photocopies of some of these items are available on request from the Libertarian Alliance. *** Botsford, David, The Case Against Gun Control, Political Notes No. 47, Libertarian Alliance, London, 1990 Bruce-Biggs, B. (Fall 1976), "The Great American Gun War", The Public Interest (New York), No. 45, pp. 37-62 Carter, Harlon (November-December 1974), "The Issue Is Crime Not Guns", Option (Canada), 2(6), pp. 7-9 "The Company of Freemen", (1990), "The Real Reason for Gun Owner ship", Hoy, Michael, ed., Loompanics' Greatest Hits: Articles & Features From The Best Book Catalogue in the World, Loompanics Unlimited, Port Townsend, Washington, pp. 186-190 Cramer, Clayton E., For the Defense of Themselves & the State: The Original Intent and Judicial Interpretation of the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, Frederick A. Praeger, New York, 1995 Davidson, Bill R., To Keep & Bear Arms, Arlington House, New Rochelle, New York, 1970 Editorial (Winter 1981), "Gun Contro? No Thanks", Free Life : A Journal of Classical Liberal & Libertarian Thought, 2(1), pp. 3-7 Feder, Donald, (1976), "A Libertarian Look at Gun Control", Reason, 7(11), pp. 24-28 (26 July 1982), "The Guns of Frisco: The Trigger Pulls the Finger", On Principle, 1(4), pp. 25-28 (16 May 1983), "Seven Myths of Gun Control and the Reality of Ownership", On Principle, 11(10), pp. 73-75, 80 Fury, Gordon (1990), "Gun Control as Class Warfare", Hoy, Mi chael, ed., Loompanics' Greatest Hits: Articles & Features From The Best Book Catalogue in the World, Loompanics Unlimited, Port Townsend, Washington, pp. 181-185 Gabb, Sean, (November 1991), "Gun Control: The Lersson of Killeen", Free Life: A Journal of Classical Liberal & Libertarian Thought, No. 15, pp. 4-6 Gun Control in Britain, Political Notes No. 33, Libertarian Alliance, London, 1988 Gottlieb, Allan, The Rights of Gun Owners, Merril Press, Bellevue, Washington, 1981 1 The Gun Grabbers, Merril Press, Bellevue, Washington, 1986 Gun Rights Fact Book, ... Greenwood, Colin, Firearms Control: A Study of Armed Crime & Firearms Control in England & Wales, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1972 Halbrook, Stephen P., That Every Masn Be Armed: The Evolution of a Constitutional Right, The Independent Institute, Oakland, California, 19?? Hardy, David (November, 1982), "Gun Control: Arm Yourself With Evidence", Reason, pp. 37-41 Hook, Donald H., ed., Gun Control: The Continuing Debate, ... Karl, Jonthan, The Right to Bear Arms: The Rise of America's New Militias, ..., 1996 Kates Jr., Don B., (1977), "Gun Control Doesn't Work", Reason, 9(1), pp. 22-23 (November 1979), "If You Liked Watergate, You'll Love Handgun Prohibition", Reason, 11(7), pp. 35-38 (6 March 1995), "Shot Down", National Review, XLVII(4), pp. 49 52, 54 Guns, Murder & the Constitution, Pacific Research Institute, San Francisco, 1990 ed., Restricting Handguns:e just eral Skeptics Speak Out, North River Press, Croton on Hudson, New York, 1979 ed., Firearms and Violence: Issues of Public Policy, Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy Research, San Francisco, 1984 Kell, John (October 1991), "Positive Externalities of Gun Owner ship", The Freeman (Founadtion for Economic Education, Irvington on Hudson, New York), 41(10), pp. 374-379 Kleck, Gary, (February 1988), "Crime Control Through the Private Use of Armed Force", Social Problems Point Blank: Guns & Violence in America, Aldine de Gruyter, New York, 1991 Kopel, David B., (July 1993), "Gun Play: What Kid's Don't Know About Guns Can Kill Them", Reason, 25(3), pp. 19-23 (November 1993), "The Violence of Gun Control", Policy Review (Heritage Foundation, Washington, DC), No. 63 (Winter 1993), "Hold Your Fire: Gun Control Won't Stop Rising Violence", Policy Review, No. 63 Trust the People: The Case Against Gun Control, Policy Analysis No. 109, Cato Institute, Washington, DC, 1988 The Samuarai, The Mountie & the Cowboy: Should America Adopt the Gun Controls of Other Democracies?, Prometheus Books, Buffalo, New York, 1992 ed., Guns: Who Should Have Them?, Prometheus Books, Amherst, New York, 1995 LaPierre, Wayne, Guns, Crime and Freedom, Regnery Publishing, 2 Chicago, 1994 LaRosa, Benedict D. (June 1994), "Gun Control: A Historical Perspective", Pt. I, Freedom Daily, 5(6), pp. 32-39 (July 1994), "Gun Control: A Historical Perspective", Pt. II, Freedom Daily, 5(7), pp. 31-39 Levinson, Sanford (1995?), "The Forgotten Second Amendment", Yale Law Review McGarth, Roger D., Gunfighters, Highwaymen and Vigilantes, ... Malcolm, Joyce Lee, To Keep & Bear Arms: The Origins of an Anglo American Roight, Harvard University Press, 1994 Munday, R. A. I. (March 1991), "On Liberty", Salisbury Review, 9(3) pp. 4-9 Nisbet, Lee, ed., The Gun Control Debate: You Decide, Prometheus Books, Buffalo, New York, 1990 Norval, Morgan (1975), "Why We Need Guns", Reason, 7(6), pp. 25 27 Polsby, Daniel D. (October 1993), "Equal Protection", Reason, 25(5), pp. 34-39 Pratt, Larry, ed., Safeguarding Liberty, the Constitution & Citizen Miltias, Gun Owners Foundation, Springfield, Virginia, 1995 Richman, Sheldon (June 1994), "The Right to Life Equals the Right to Possess Firearms", Freedom Daily, 5(6), pp. 19-25 (October 1995), "What the Second Amendment Means", Freedom Daily, 10(6), pp. 28-33 Schulman, J. Neil, Stopping Power: Why 70 Million Americans Own Guns, Synapes-Cen turion, ..., 1994 Self Control Not Gun Control, ... 1995 Selick, Karen (March 1995), "Gun Control Laws: Portents of Tyran ny", Fraser Forum (Fraser Institute, Vancouver), pp. 31-32 Simkin, Jay, Gun Control: Gateway to Tyranny, .... et al, Lethal Laws, Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Owner ship, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1995 Smith, L. Neil (May-June 1975), "Gun Ownership and Individual Liberty", Libertarian Option, III(3), pp. 14-16 Sullum, Jacob, (October 1994), "Voodo Social Policy: Exorcising the Twin Demons, Guns & Drugs", Reason, 26(5), pp. 26-31 Tonso, William, ed., The Gun Culture and Its Enemies, ... 3 Warner, James H., Guns, Crime & the Culture War, Heritage Lecture No. 393, Heritage Foundation, Washington, DC, 1992 Whisker, James B., The Right to Hunt, North River Press, Croton on Hudson, New York, 1981 Wollstein, Jarret B. (August 1969), "Gun Control: The Death of Private Property", The Rational Individualist, 1(10), pp. 2-4 (July 1994), "Will You Be Safer if Guns Are Banned?: Part I", Freedom Daily, 5(7), pp. 20-27 (August 1994), "Will You Be Safer if Guns Are Banned?: Part II", Freedom Daily, 5(8), pp. 21-25 Worsthorne, Peregrine (22 August 1993), "More Guns, More Safety for Britons", The Sunday Telegraph (London), p. 22 Wright, James D. (August/September 1990), "In the Heat of the Moment", Reason, 22(4), pp. 44-45 (6 March 1995), "Bad Guys, Bad Guns Down", National Review, XLVII(4), pp. 50-51 ENDS "These may not be the opinions of Goldsmiths' College" **************************************************************************** Subscribe to Freematt's Alerts: Pro-Individual Rights Issues Send a blank message to: freematt@coil.com with the words subscribe FA on the subject line. List is private and moderated (7-30 messages per week) Matthew Gaylor,1933 E. 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