by Jerry Agar

The Supreme Court killed the Washington, DC gun ban and will next take on the Chicago ban in 2010.

If we let everyone have a gun this will be the Wild West all over again.  Isn't that right?

A lot of people believe that to be true, but those darn statistics keep getting in the way.

The FBI reports that crime is down for the first half of 2009, with murder and manslaughter down 10 percent.  Meanwhile gun sales are up significantly.

John Lott's book, "More Guns, Less Crime," is a major study refuting the "wild west" notion.  The theory, seemingly proven by Lott, is that when opportunistic and cowardly criminals know that there is a possibility that their intended victim may be armed, they are less likely to attack.

The complainant in the Chicago gun case, Otis McDonald, said, "The people that want to control me, my family, my property, these are the people that I want to protect myself from."

Recent events would seem to bolster Mr. McDonald's case that allowing him the basic human right to self-defense would help him, while harming no honest, law-abiding person.