LearnAboutGuns.com

This is part 3 of 5 in the series looking at how civilian disarmament is a step on the road to tyranny. General background information on this series can be seen in Part 1.

With the November 4th general elections over, some people don’t realize that there are still elections coming up in some parts of the country.  Please be sure to check in your area to see whether there are any local elections coming up.  For example, the people in Louisiana’s 4th Congressional District have an election coming up on December 6th, in which a strong supporter of the Second Amendment is running: Read the rest of this article »

As reported, the village of Winnetka, Illinois has repealed is 20-year-old ban on handguns, thanks to the NRA and 3 law abiding citizens who fought to restore their right to have handguns for self defense: Read the rest of this article »

This is part 2 of 5 in the series looking at how civilian disarmament is a step on the road to tyranny. General background information on this series can be seen in Part 1. Read the rest of this article »

Piracy at sea remains an ongoing problem, as this week’s hijacking of the MV Sirius Star (a supertanker that was carrying $100 million worth of crude oil) shows. This is a problem that the world’s navies have have been unable to solve in either the age of sail powered ships or today.  Whether at sea or in one’s home, self defense is often the only viable option, as seconds count and neither the police nor navy warships can be everywhere at once: Read the rest of this article »

The John Birch Society released a 5 part series addressing civilian disarmament and how it is a step towards tyranny. This is part 1 of 5. Read the rest of this article »

A 6 year old girl lost her life in a tragic and completely preventable shooting. The anti gun crowd is already trying to blame guns, rather than the individual who is at fault: Read the rest of this article »

I’ve heard quite a few gun control arguments that conflict with themselves and each other.  A few of these arguments, and their flaws, are discussed below: Read the rest of this article »

There is an effort in the United Nations to pass international gun control laws.  This video clip show the issue being debated. Read the rest of this article »

As long as there are guns, the individual that wants a gun for a crime is going to have one and going to get it. - Ronald Reagan

Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the Act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest. If we want the Arms Act to be repealed, if we want to learn the use of arms, here is a golden opportunity. If the middle classes render voluntary help to Government in the hour of its trial, distrust will disappear, and the ban on possessing arms will be withdrawn. - Gandhi

You cannot invade mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass. (Explaining one of the reasons the Japanese choose not to invade the continental US during World War II.) - Admiral Yamamoto

If gun laws in fact worked, the sponsors of this type of legislation should have no difficulty drawing upon long lists of examples of crime rates reduced by such legislation. That they cannot do so after a century and a half of trying–that they must sweep under the rug the southern attempts at gun control in the 1870-1910 period, the northeastern attempts in the 1920-1939 period, the attempts at both Federal and State levels in 1965-1976–establishes the repeated, complete and inevitable failure of gun laws to control serious crime. - Senator Orrin Hatch

Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of citizens to keep and bear arms. This is not to say that firearms should not be very carefully used, and that definite safety rules of precaution should not be taught and enforced. But the right of citizens to bear arms is just one more guarantee against arbitrary government, and one more safeguard against a tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved to be always possible. - Senator Hubert Humphrey

Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom. - John F. Kennedy

If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun. - The Dalai Lama

Just as the First and Fourth Amendment secure individual rights of speech and security respectively, the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. This view of the text comports with the all but unanimous understanding of the Founding Fathers. - Attorney General John Ashcroft

There’s no question that weapons in the hands of the public have prevented acts of terror or stopped them while they were in progress. - Israeli Police Inspector General Shlomo Aharonisky

The world is filled with violence. Because criminals carry guns, we decent law-abiding citizens should also have guns. Otherwise they will win and the decent people will lose. - James Earl Jones

The ruling class doesn’t care about public safety. Having made it very difficult for States and localities to police themselves, having left ordinary citizens with no choice but to protect themselves as best they can, they now try to take our guns away. In fact they blame us and our guns for crime. This is so wrong that it cannot be an honest mistake. - Senator Malcolm Wallop

If the constitutional right to keep and bear arms is to mean anything, it must, as a general matter, permit a person to possess, carry and sometimes conceal arms to maintain the security of his private residence or privately operated business. - David Prosser, Wisconsin Supreme Court justice

Hoplophobia is a mental disturbance characterized by irrational aversion to weapons, as opposed to justified apprehension about those who may wield them. - Jeff Cooper

A woman who demands further gun control legislation is like a chicken who roots for Colonel Sanders. - Larry Elder

Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. - Benjamin Franklin

The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes….Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man. - Thomas Jefferson

A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks. - Thomas Jefferson

The Constitution of most of our states (and of the United States) assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed. - Thomas Jefferson

To disarm the people is the most effectual way to enslave them. - George Mason

A free people ought to be armed. - George Washington

No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. - Thomas Jefferson

To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them. - Richard Henry Lee

Foolish liberals who are trying to read the Second Amendment out of the Constitution by claiming it’s not an individual right or that it’s too much of a public safety hazard, don’t see the danger in the big picture. They’re courting disaster by encouraging others to use the same means to eliminate portions of the Constitution they don’t like. - Alan Dershowitz

What the Subcommittee on the Constitution uncovered was clear–and long-lost–proof that the second amendment to our Constitution was intended as an individual right of the American citizen to keep and carry arms in a peaceful manner, for protection of himself, his family, and his freedoms. - Senator Orrin Hatch

The conclusion is thus inescapable that the history, concept, and wording of the second amendment to the Constitution of the United States, as well as its interpretation by every major commentator and court in the first half-century after its ratification, indicates that what is protected is an individual right of a private citizen to own and carry firearms in a peaceful manner. - United States Senate, Report of the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the Constitution, 97th Cong., 2d Sess.

As we have seen, the first public expression of disenchantment with nonviolence arose around the question of “self-defense.” In a sense this is a false issue, for the right to defend one’s home and one’s person when attacked has been guaranteed through the ages by common law. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

A gun is a tool, Marian. No better, no worse than any other tool. An axe, a shovel, or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that. - Shane, played by Alan Ladd, in the movie Shane

An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it. - Jeff Cooper

If I had my way, sporting guns would be strictly regulated, the rest would be confiscated. - Nancy Pelosi (Speaker of the House)

One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them. - Thomas Jefferson

When seconds count between living and dying, the police are only minutes away. - Philip Van Cleave

This newest school of thought is backed by research by an Ohio police trainer, which reveals that most active shooters do not take on police, instead preferring defenseless victims. - PoliceMag.com, 10-01-2008

He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. - Luke 22:36 KJV

As reported, the Obama administration’s job application requires applicants to disclose whether they or their family members are gun owners: Read the rest of this article »

This week there was “only” one armed robbery reported in Oak Park, although the criminals seem to have made up for it by beating and robbing some other Oak Park residents: Read the rest of this article »

Laws that take away gun owership rights are particularly unfair to women: Read the rest of this article »

“Negroes with Guns” is an interesting book that anti gun rights people like Jessie Jackson really should read: Read the rest of this article »

The American Hunters and Shooters Association tries to falsely portray itself as a gun rights group. However it is really a gun control organization that was created by the anti gun rights crowd, with the intent of deceiving and confusing gun owners. Read the rest of this article »

It is no secret that the 2008 elections results are a blow to gun rights.  However not all is lost, so long as gun owners continue to support gun rights at the local, state, and national level: Read the rest of this article »

As the ISRA reports, 14 counties in Illinois had a non-binding CCW referendum on the ballot yesterday. The question on the ballots was generally worded like: Shall the General Assembly enact legislation to permit the carrying of concealed firearms? While non-binding, these resolutions mark an important step in the path to concealed carry in Illinois - which is one of only 2 states left without some concealed carry right.  Here are the results from those 14 Illinois counties: Read the rest of this article »

Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States.  The Democrats control both the House and the Senate.  Obama has repeatedly called for a new and permanent ban on so called “assault weapons” - the type of guns best suited for self defense purposes.  Now is a good time to purchase guns and magazines. Read the rest of this article »

In the video clip below, Barack Obama states his opposition to concealed carry.  Obama supports the passage of a federal law that would take away concealed carry rights in every state that currently grants such a right: Read the rest of this article »

Chicago has had a handgun ban since before I was born, and yet it is the murder capital of the United States.   The majority of Chicago’s murders are committed by handgun ban ignoring criminals, while law abiding citizens are left without a gun for self defense against these very criminals.   Against this backdrop, Mayor Daley has used the murder of Jennifer Hudson’s family to push his gun control agenda, despite the gaping flaws in his reasoning, and failure of existing gun control.  I respond to each of Daley’s unfounded contentions below. Read the rest of this article »

Gun control has cost the Democrats multiple elections, however the party leadership continues push ineffective gun control.  Gun rights fit in with liberal values, and the Democratic party leadership needs to support the individual right to gun ownership. Read the rest of this article »

As reported, there was another armed robbery in Oak Park, despite the handgun ban: Read the rest of this article »

As I’ve previously discussed, residents of Illinois who wish to own a gun need to first get a Firearms Owner Identification Card (FOID).  The law requires that the FOID be issued within 30 days, however the Illinois State Police have been breaking the law by taking longer than 30 days to issue FOID cards.  In this discussion forum thread, more people have reported these wrongful delays that can stretch for weeks or even months.  I also see at least a dozen people arrive at this site each day after searching for terms such as “where is my foid card” and “foid card status”.  I’ve started a petition to help end this wrongdoing on the part of the Illinois State Police: Read the rest of this article »

LearnAboutGuns.com is written in English, as I (the author) am an American, and my readers are primarily American. However gun rights are an important issue for all humans, regardless of their native language and nationality. In recognition of this fact, and my desire to promote gun rights across the globe, I have added machine translated versions of this website in many different languages.  You can access the translated version of your choice by clicking the appropriate language name, shown in the lower left corner of every page. Read the rest of this article »

As it stands, Illinois is one of only two states that has no law allowing concealed carry.  The result is that criminals are armed, while law abiding citizens are defenseless.  In the hopes of changing this situation, a petition was started to bring concealed carry to Illinois: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/IllinoisCCW/

Below is an open letter from Richard A. Pearson, Executive Director of the Illinois State Rifle Association.  In the letter he discusses his first hand experience in dealing with then-state-senator Barack Obama, who was the most anti gun rights politicians that Pearson ever met: Read the rest of this article »

As reported, Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell signed House Bill 1845 into law.  This pro gun bill includes the following components: Read the rest of this article »

A recent home invasion in Chicago ended with a mother and her young daughter landing face first on the pavement, with the kind of injuries one would expect from such a fall. They jumped from a second floor window to escape an armed and masked home invader who was about to kill them.  This is yet another reason why I oppose handgun bans. Read the rest of this article »

This video clip shows the process through which a gun control ordinance was passed in California, despite the city council’s recognition that identical ordinances have not reduced violence in other cities.  Instead, the end goals were to advance political careers and whittle away at gun ownership rights: Read the rest of this article »

It is no secret that Oak Park’s armed robberies are up a staggering 250% this year, in spite of the handgun ban.  This week’s armed robberies continued that trend, and included a brazen armed robbery that took place right across the street from the Oak Park police station. Read the rest of this article »

I’ve previously discussed the abject failure that is British gun control, and how some of that county’s law abiding citizens are trying to regain their gun rights. A recent conviction in a murder that was committed by a gun-ban-ignoring criminal further highlights the pointlessness of such anti gun rights laws: Read the rest of this article »

I’ve noticed that many people seem to (incorrectly) believe that the NRA is a wing of the Republican party, rather than an entirely independent organization that focus only on gun rights. The fact of the matter is that the NRA endorses candidates from any political party that support our Second Amendment rights, and recently endorsed Democratic Senator Rosalind Kurita. Read the rest of this article »

It seems that many people fail to grasp the difference between law abiding gun owners and criminals, and lump both groups together.  The fact is that law abiding gun owners are the polar opposite of criminals - and are a criminal’s worst nightmare. The comparison chart below highlights the profound differences between law abiding gun owners (such as this author) and criminals. Read the rest of this article »

In the historic D.C. v. Heller case, the Supreme Court made clear that the federal government cannot infringe the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms for self defense and other traditional lawful purposes.  One of the issues not addressed, however, was the incorporation of the 2nd Amendment into the 14th Amendment. Information about what “incorporation” means,why it is important, and what the Nordyke v. Alamenda case is about can be seen below: Read the rest of this article »

The NRA has produced the Obama gun rights compatibility quiz shown below, for those that still don’t believe that Obama and Biden are two of the most anti gun rights politicians in US history. Read the rest of this article »

I noticed a link to LearnAboutGuns.com coming from this site, whose author states that she would rather “hold the burning end of a lit cigarette than a gun.” She describes herself as a Pacifist, and believes that it is wrong to use a gun in self defense, even to stop a would-be rapist and murder that breaks in during the night.  While I understand and share the respect for human life that underlies the Pacifist philosophy she embraces, I cannot join in the naive and dangerous belief that a person should allow a violent criminal to kill them or another innocent person: Read the rest of this article »

It seems that armed robbery in Oak Park, Illinois is becoming a weekly topic for me to write about, and since armed robbery is up 250% this year, I have had plenty of material.  This week is no different, with multiple armed robberies reported - despite the longstanding handgun ban which only serves to leave Oak Park’s law abiding citizens without a means of self defense: Read the rest of this article »

The primary (and untrue) argument used by the anti gun crowd is that banning guns will make all safer. This has proven untrue in countless US cities and other countries, but the fact that such an argument is tried shows that the Second Amendment right to own a gun for self defense is mistreated in a manner that few would mistreat our other constitutional rights:

Read the rest of this article »

It is a well understood principle that as a right becomes more difficult to (lawfully) exercise, fewer people will (lawfully)exercise that right.  This holds true for guns, and many of the so-called “reasonable restrictions” on guns actually amount to de facto gun bans: Read the rest of this article »

As I’ve previously mentioned, the murder rate in Chicago is up 18% this year.  Instead of hiring additional police, or at least maintaining the same number of police, Chicago has intentionally allowed hundreds of vacancies to remain unfilled in the police department to cut costs: Read the rest of this article »

Barack Obama and Joe Biden are likey the two most anti gun candidates in presidential history, and they know that this may cost them the election. They are therefore attempting to confuse gun owners by (untruthfully) casting themselves as pro gun.  Biden did it last week, and now Obama is at it, making the utterly untrue statement that “Illinois sportsmen know him as an advocate for their rights”.  The ISRA has set the record straight: Read the rest of this article »

I recently read about a few vocal gun owners that have become disillusioned with the NRA, and are suggesting that people join other pro gun organizations instead of the NRA.  Basically, their complaints are that the NRA is overly concerned about raising money for itself, or that it does not do enough to protect the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.  I happen to disagree with these complaints, however there is a much bigger issue at play - the need for unity in the pro gun right cause: Read the rest of this article »

I’ve noticed an interesting anti gun argument that (incorrectly) assumes gun owners are more likely to be killed by their own gun than to stop a criminal in their home, then assumes that such an (incorrect) statistic applies to each and every gun owner.  This is one of the more flawed anti gun arguments I’ve heard, so I thought I would take a moment to discuss the flaws with such reasoning: Read the rest of this article »

Tony Peraica is running for the Cook County State’s Attorney office, which is the state prosecutor’s office that covers the city of Chicago and many surrounding suburbs. Peraica is a republican, and is running against the extremely anti gun and anti self defense Anita Alvarez. For the reasons discussed below, I support Tony Peraica for Cook County State’s Attorney. Read the rest of this article »

I’ve previously discussed how Joe Biden, the running mate of Barack Obama, is one of the most anti gun rights politicians in America.  Biden has called gun owners mentally unstable simply because they wish to own a gun (see this video clip), and has pushed for a variety of draconian gun bans.  Joe Biden is also highly rated by the leading anti gun rights groups.  Now, Biden is trying to pass himself off as a pro gun rights guy in order to get votes from gun owners: Read the rest of this article »

As reported, armed robberies in the village of Oak Park, IL are up a staggering