By Gerard Valentino

The movie Pale Rider starring Clint Eastwood is typical of old-time Westerns. For those that don’t know the story, a group of prospectors is terrorized by a greedy mining company owner that wants control of their soon to be rich mining claim.

Our villain sends armed men to terrorize the unarmed prospectors only to be stopped unexpectedly by a gun-toting preacher played by Clint Eastwood. Over the course of the movie the preacher eliminates the greedy mining company owner and his henchmen, freeing the prospectors from their tormentors.

Anti-gun groups cautioned that allowing law-abiding people the right to carry concealed weapons would be a return to the wild-west with shoot-outs over road rage incidents and in the parking lot of the local Wal-Mart. A willing establishment media bought into the argument and the anti-gun movement had a rallying cry. Pro-gun groups openly attacked the notion as more and more Americans were given the right to carry and the so called wild-west did not materialize.

Taking the Pale Rider example one step further we need to be reminded that it isn’t until Clint Eastwood’s character arrives and defends the prospectors with a gun that they are freed from torment. The same is true of the law-abiding American public who for years were disarmed by the anti-gun movement and terrorized by criminals only to be rescued by concealed carry laws and the end of gun-control as we know it.

Much of what we know about the wild-west is created by movie myth and Pale Rider is just one more example of the legend. There is truth to the story however because since the dawn of time the armed have preyed on the unarmed and weak. Due to their emotional hatred of guns the anti-gun crowd refused to acknowledge that disarming citizens left them without a means of self-defense and therefore easy prey for the criminal element. Yet, with only criminals armed somehow the anti-gun movement still believed their weak-willed response to crime would undo thousands of years of history.

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By Linda Walker

On Wednesday night, seven members of Buckeye Firearms Columbus group disarmed and made their way to Capital University during "Gun Week" to hear a forum by John Lott, the author of "The Bias Against Guns". The event was put on by the Capital College Republicans, who invited us to join them. We arrived and settled into our seats with more than 120 college students and listened intently to what Mr. Lott had to say.

Dr. Lott began by speaking of the way the media chooses to only report the bad things about guns, because it grabs the attention of the readers, but never choose to print the good things that happen or are prevented because of guns. He pointed out that fewer than 1% of all stories will include the fact that a gun was used to stop a crime. A prime surprising example was that during the rash of school shootings beginning in the early '90's, 26% of all those shootings were stopped because of an armed citizen. This was never reported.

Dr. Lott also pointed out to the audience the fact that Federal Government studies have always focused on the money that it costs because of gun crime, but have never once conducted a study on the money that is saved because of the prevention of crime when a firearm was used.

Other notes from the forum:

A recent Gallup Poll entitled "Gun Ownership and Use in America" shows that 4 in 10 Americans report having a gun in their homes, that most gun owners say they use their guns to protect themselves against crime, for hunting, and for target shooting. What may come as surprise to sexist anti-gun extremists is that the poll's findings also found that women more likely than men to use guns for protection.

From a story by Joseph Carroll, Gallup Poll Assistant Editor:

The poll, conducted Oct. 13-16, finds that 4 in 10 Americans report they have a gun in their homes, including 30% who say they personally own a gun and 12% who say another member of their household owns it. These results show
essentially no change since this question was last asked in 2000. At that time, 27% of Americans said they personally owned a gun and 14% said another household member owned one.

Certain groups of Americans -- men, older Americans, Midwesterners, Southerners, Republicans, and whites -- are more likely than other groups to say they personally own a gun.

Nearly half of men (47%) report personal ownership, compared with just 13% of
women.

Americans aged 18 to 29 are slightly less likely than those who are older to
be gun owners. Only one in five 18- to 29-year-olds (21%) say they own a gun,
while 32% of 30- to 49-year-olds and 31% of those aged 50 and older report
ownership.

Roughly one in three Americans who live in the Midwest (34%) and the South
(36%) say they personally own a gun. Ownership is lower among those residing in
the East (22%) and the West (23%).

Forty-one percent of Republicans say they own a gun, compared with 27% of
independents and 23% of Democrats.

One in three whites (33%) own a gun, while only about one in six nonwhites
(18%) do.

Perhaps more interesting than who owns firearms is what the poll finds about the purposes for which gun owners use their gun.

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