Former Interpol Chief On Whether Guns Can Stop Crime
BY Herschel Smith
8 years, 6 months ago
The unnamed “experts” on whom Couric relies are apparently not expert at reading newspapers. Literally, a good guy with a gun is not the “only” way that armed criminals are stopped. But it is an important way, including in mass shootings. As I detailed in a 2015 study for the Cato Institute:
Over the last 25 years, there have been at least 10 cases in which armed persons have stopped incipient mass murder: a Shoney’s restaurant in Alabama (1991); Pearl High School in Mississippi (1997); a middle school dance in Edinboro, Pennsylvania (1998); Appalachian School of Law in Virginia (2002); Trolley Square Mall in Salt Lake City (2007); New Life Church in Colorado (2007); Players Bar and Grill in Nevada (2008); Sullivan Central High School in Tennessee (2010); Clackamas Mall in Oregon (2012; three days before Newtown); Mayan Palace Theater in San Antonio (2012; three days after Newtown); and Sister Marie Lenahan Wellness Center in Darby, Pennsylvania (2014).
Some of these cases are discussed in Eugene Volokh’s post “Do citizens (not police officers) with guns ever stop mass shootings?”
Now, Ronald K. Noble, former secretary-general of Interpol, is weighing in on the issue. During the first Clinton administration, from 1993 to 1996, Noble served as assistant secretary and then undersecretary for enforcement at the Treasury Department. This made him the direct supervisor of the main federal gun control agency, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. As such, he played a major role in the Clinton administration’s very aggressive gun control program.
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In 2000, Noble was elected secretary-general of Interpol, the first non-European ever to hold the post. Noble went on to serve three terms as secretary-general, leaving in 2014. He now runs a global security consulting firm based in Dubai, RKN Global DWC LLC.
As Noble explains, his 14 years of close involvement in global counterterrorism changed his perspective on gun control. This week, he has published a video about the 2013 mass shootings at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi. The video, “Armed Citizens Can Help Stop Terrorist Massacres Like Nairobi and Paris,” shows graphic footage of the attack and of the response of armed citizens. During the lengthy and well-planned attack, more than 60 innocent people were murdered. As Noble explains, the death count would have been hundreds more if not for the armed citizens who intervened. As Noble puts it, “This is not an American argument, nor a political argument. In these horrific situations, law-abiding armed citizens have helped protect others and literally saved lives, and the world should be made aware of this reality. . . . In the hands of law-abiding citizens, guns can and do save lives.”
See the rest of Kopel’s analysis where he explains his history with Noble, the fact that Noble still favors “a variety of non-prohibitory gun regulations” that Kopel does not, and so on. This is a very interesting analysis from a scholar and from what I can tell genuinely good man. I have followed Kopel for some time now, and briefly exchanged email with him.
As for Noble, we aren’t told what “non-prohibitory [gun] regulations” he favors, but regulations are by their very nature prohibitory, so I take Kopel at his word that he doesn’t favor such regulations (whatever they are), and that Noble does, and that Kopel is being gracious. I would just as soon he have been forthright than gracious. People like that have to be called on their equivocation.
And of course, most ordinary people don’t have to witness the results of large scale massacres in order to understand that it’s better to have a means of self defense than not. One way to tell that the gun controllers are lying is that their gun grabbing never applies to law enforcement, even though law enforcement is usually less well trained than the ordinary gun owner who shoots once a week or twice a month.
You’ll know they’re serious when they propose gun confiscations for law enforcement, thus disarming everyone in the face of crime. Don’t hold your breath. What they really want is a monopoly of force, which is always what all statists want. What they hate is your liberty. Never relinquish it.
On May 18, 2016 at 8:50 am, Big Boss said:
Facts and gun grabbing hoplophobes rarely go hand in hand… I saw a quote once that I kept. “If the cause of gun control was so righteous, they would not have to lie to promote it”
I’m currently reading Kopel’s book, “The Samurai, the Mountie and the Cowboy”. It is pretty interesting. It compares gun control vs crime in Japan, England, Australia, USA, Canada, Switzerland and Jamaica. I’m only into the first chapter and I had no idea Japan was such a police state. It dates from 1992, but still it is very informative.
On May 18, 2016 at 9:09 am, Fred said:
The US disarmed Japan after WW2. Interestingly, Japan used to have the worlds second largest .mil in the 80’s and 90’s. But the surrender treaty forbids it from having ‘blue water’ or global reach and no ‘offensive’ weapon systems. It probably remains around number 2 for total active duty personnel.
On May 18, 2016 at 9:20 am, Big Boss said:
Their dance with weapons restrictions goes back to even shortly after the Portuguese began trading matchlocks to the Japanese warlords in the late 1400s.
Once the Japanese mainland was *united* under a central rule, one of the first things they did was to outlaw personal possession of firearms, bows and swords so that they could tax the population without fear of revolt….
As of the writing of this version of the book in 92, Japanese police keep dossier’s on ever person and can do checks on your home, apartment, etc and stop you walking down the street for no reason to check your person or belongings.
On May 18, 2016 at 9:23 am, Fred said:
I should check out that book. Taxation without fear of revolt. It’s always the power and money.
On May 18, 2016 at 9:15 am, Haywood Jablome said:
I would go a step further. Progressives of every stripe seem immune to facts. All one needs to do is look at the current President and Presidential nominees on both sides. No amount of facts can penetrate their fanatacism. I believe we are starting to pay the price for losing our education system to the liberal weenies. It is rare to find people who are critical thinkers anymore…they just regurgitate lines they have heard without any understanding of facts or principles. The indoctrination has finally taken root. It’s sad.
On May 18, 2016 at 9:20 am, Big Boss said:
I agree completely.
On May 18, 2016 at 9:26 am, Haywood Jablome said:
I enjoy this site because I have found you can debate MOST of the people and disagree without being disagreeable. My problem is that most people cannot differentiate facts from opinions (once again, the education system at work). I was on our debate team in high school. Unfortunately those skills have nearly vanished as I have allowed myself to be pulled in the mud. So, thanks for the insightful comments. It is fun to learn something new.