1.0 "You don't need a gun, the police will protect you."
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This article is from the talk.politics.guns Official Pro-Gun FAQ, by Ken Barnes (kebarnes@cc.memphis.edu) with numerous contributions by others.
1.0 "You don't need a gun, the police will protect you."
Recommended reading: "In The Gravest Extreme,"by Massad Ayoob
[available from Police Bookshelf, P.O. Box 122, Concord, NH 03301],
ISBN 0-936297-00-1, (1980)
"The Truth About Self Protection,"by Massad Ayoob, Police Bookshelf,
ISBN 0553-23664-6, (1983)
"Armed and Female: Twelve Million American Women Own Guns, Should You?,"
by Paxton Quigley, St. Martin's Press, ISBN 0-312-95150-7, (1993)
"Not An Easy Target,"by Paxton Quigley, Simon and Schuster,
ISBN 0-671-89081-6, (1995)
"Strong On Defense: Survival Rules to Protect You and Your Family
from Crime,"by Sanford Strong, Pocket Books, ISBN 0-671-52293-0, (1996)
"Firing Back,"by Clayton E. Cramer, Krause Publications,
ISBN 0-87341-344-X, (1994)
"Stopping Power: Why Seventy Million Americans Own Guns,"by J. Neil
Schulman, Synapse-Centurion Books, ISBN 1-882639-03-0, (1994)
"Gun Laws and the Need for Self-Defense (Parts 1 and 2),"hearings
before The Subcommittee on Crime of the Committee on the Judiciary,
U.S. House of Representatives, 104th Congress, 1st session, March 31,
1996, SuDoc# Y 4.J89/1:104/43/Pt.1, and 2nd session, April 5, 1995,
SuDoc# Y 4.J89/1:104/43/Pt.2 [These hearings, called in response
to the fledgling Republican Congress' efforts to repeal the 1994
Clinton/Feinstein gun ban (see 3.3 and Appendix I), featured testimony
from a number of scholars cited elsewhere in this FAQ, including
James Wright, Joyce Malcolm, David Bordua, Robert Cottrol, and
Daniel Polsby, as well as law enforcement officers and crime victims.]
A selection of relevant cases [most of which are listed and
discussed in 'Dial 911 and Die!' by JPFO (Jews for the Preservation
of Firearms Ownership) 2872 S. Wentworth Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53207,
Ph: (414) 769-0760, FAX: (414) 483-8435 JPFO also has a website:
http://www.jpfo.org/ ]:
[Note: For convenience of the reader, legal citations in this FAQ
have been rendered in a more familiar "bibliography" style form,
rather than standard legal citation form. Real lawyers would cite
the first case below as 59 U.S. (18 How.) 396, 15 L.Ed. 433 ]
South v. Maryland, U.S. Reports (18 Howard) v.59 p.396, Lawyer's
Edition v.15 p.433 (1856)
Riss v. City of New York, N.Y. Supplement 2nd series v.293 p.897,
N.Y. Reports 2nd series v.22 p.579 (1968)
Keane v. City of Chicago, Illinois Appellate Court Reports
2nd series v.98 p.460 (1968)
Hartzler v. City of San Jose, California Appellate Reports
3rd series v.46 p.6, California Reporter v.120 p.5 (1975)
Reiff v. City of Philadelphia, Federal Supplement v.471 p.1262
Eastern District of Pennsylvania (1979)
Warren v. District of Columbia, U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit
2nd series v.444 p.1 (1981)
Bowers v. DeVito, Federal Reporter 2nd series v.686 p.616
U.S. Court of Appeals, 7th Cir. (1982)
Morgan v. District of Columbia, U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit
2nd series v.468 p.1306 (1983)
Cuffy v. City of New York, N.Y. Reports 2nd series v.69 p.255 (1987)
Lynch v. N.C. Dept. of Justice, Southeastern Reporter 2nd series
v.376 p.247 North Carolina Court of Appeals (1989)
Kircher v. City of Jamestown, New York Reports 2nd series v.74
p.251, Northeastern Reporter 2nd series v.543 p.443 (1989)
Marshall v. Winston, Southeastern Reporter 2nd series v.389 p.902
Virginia (1990)
Berliner v. Thompson, et al., Appellate Division (NY) 2nd series
v.174 p.220, New York State 2nd series v.578 p.687 (1992)
In summary: Police can only act once a crime is occurring or has
already been committed. They cannot be held liable for failure to
arrive in time to save any particular individual from harm, so long
as they aren't someone who has a special relationship with the police,
like a protected witness. Indeed, it's_extremely_unlikely that police
officers will be able to arrive and_save_you from harm faster than
an attacker can harm you. There aren't, and there ought not to be,
sufficient police to act as personal bodyguards for every citizen,
24 hours a day, and any guarantee to that effect would be extremely
expensive in terms of both money and liberty.
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