EckerNet.Com

You know the economy is getting bad when it drives people to do things that completely go against their core beliefs….such as granting people their constitutional rights, as Sacramento is apparently being driven to do.

Budget cuts could mean fewer Sacramento County deputies on the street. And those cuts could lead the sheriff to take some drastic measures, leading to more guns on the street.

Law abiding citizens could possibly get the right to carry concealed weapons in Sacramento County – protecting yourself and your family if budget cuts wipe about 300 sheriff\’s deputies off the streets.

Got that? You cut our budget and you\’re on your own.  It\’ll be the Wild West.  We\’re all gonna die.

Ok I know I should be happy.  I\’m a firm believer that the best answer to a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.  So more people able to get what should be one of their basic rights is a good thing yeah??  How could I possibly find fault??

Well, I have a problem with the overall premise underlying the entire story, including the justification for why they might need to grant more carry permits.  Basically that because they will lose 300 deputies, they will no longer be able to protect the citizens of the community.  As if 300 deputies would guarantee safety….or 600…or 1000.  There\’s a phrase I often hear amongst Second Amendment circles, \”When seconds count, the police are only minutes away\”.  It\’s short, pithy and true.  Short of stationing an officer at every front and backdoor, there is no way you can guarantee protection.

Rather than lament over your supposedly new inability to protect the public, why not admit the truth…you never could.  Which isn\’t to criticize the important work that police officers do.  Absolutely not.  Their work is a difficult and largely thankless job, in which they deal with people in the worst moments of their life.  And the services they perform, provide part of the very foundation of a functioning society.

But let\’s deal in truth here.  You can\’t be everywhere.  Even when you can, bad things still happen, as evidenced by the Holocaust Museum shooting.  Why not give the average citizens the ability to be his/her own last line of defense?

Stop using the fundamental right of self-protection as a scare tactic.  Instead embrace it as a complementary element of crime prevention.