Many people think that policy disagreements are like clothing style disagreements: there’s no right answer, it’s all personal preferences. Lazy people love this view, because it allows them to not have to read anything. I try to read 1 or 2 books on every policy topic, and that’s because I want to be able to persuade people to cote for the policies that I support. One of those areas is gun rights.

And there’s a new study from the Crime Prevention Research Center about gun policy, and it was written up in The Federalist.

It says:

In non-gun-free zones, where civilians are legally able to carry guns, concealed carry permit holders stopped 51.5 percent of active shootings, compared to 44.6 percent stopped by police, CPRC found in a deep dive into active shooter scenarios between 2014 and 2023.

Not only do permit holders succeed in stopping active shooters at a higher rate, but law enforcement officers face significantly greater risks when intervening. Our research found police were nearly six times more likely to be killed and 17 percent more likely to be wounded than armed civilians.

The article has a lot more interesting findings, for example, of the 180 total instances where an armed civilian stopped an active shooting, only one permit holders accidentally shot a bystander. But in the 156 cases stopped by law enforcement, police accidentally shot the wrong person in four cases, killing fellow officers twice and civilians twice.

And:

27 police were shot and killed while trying to stop an active shooter, a 7.7 percent rate, which is nearly six times higher than the rate for permit holders.

One hundred police were wounded, a 28.6 percent rate, compared to 24.4 percent for permit holders.

You might find this surprising, but in many of these big city police forces, they have a DEI appointee in charge, and all the hiring is governed by DEI. So, a lot of the time, it’s just people like the Secret Service agent who hid behind Trump when he was being shot at, or the one who couldn’t even re-holster her weapon without looking.

Anyway, let’s head over to the Daily Signal, and hear the latest defensive gun usages from Amy Swearer, who busies herself with these sorts of things.

She writes:

• Jan. 4, North Charleston, South Carolina: When a man saw his neighbor dragging a woman by her hair through the front yard of a nearby home, he called 911, then grabbed his handgun before successfully intervening to protect the woman without having to fire a shot. Police arrived and arrested the neighbor, who was “visibly intoxicated” and smelled of alcohol. He was charged with first-degree domestic violence.
• Jan. 9, Clarion, Pennsylvania: After a woman and her husband discovered a serial stalker had come to their home and parked in their driveway, one of the woman’s employees responded to their call for help and detained the stalker at gunpoint until police arrived. Police arrested the stalker, who they described as engaging in “an escalating pattern of concerning behavior” over the last two years. He’d been released on bail just 17 days earlier after a different stalking incident involving the same victims.
• Jan. 11, Brooklyn, New York: A concealed carry permit holder fatally shot a man who tried to rob him at knifepoint in a park. The robber allegedly put the victim in a chokehold and held a knife to his neck while demanding all of his money, but the permit holder drew his gun and shot his assailant. Police said the permit holder is unlikely to face criminal charges.
• Jan. 15, San Antonio, Texas: When an apartment complex manager and two maintenance workers confronted a suspicious man who’d been peering into residents’ vehicles, the man “became hostile” and physically assaulted them. A resident then tried to intervene, but the man pulled out a knife and a taser. The resident responded by drawing a handgun, causing the man to flee. The resident chased him in a “brief pursuit” before the man turned around and “postur[ed] like he was about to stab or attack the resident,” at which point the resident shot and wounded him.
• Jan. 26, Kansas City, Missouri: A knife-wielding man entered a convenience store, jumped over the counter, and tried to stab the manager. The manager, however, drew a gun and shot the attacker, wounding him. A bystander in the store was also armed and “stood guard” over several customers (including an 8-year-old) who barricaded themselves in a back room during the assault. The injured suspect was charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action. The 8-year-old’s father, meanwhile, told reporters that he believed the armed intervention saved their lives.

I think it’s important for every American to be able to explain both the studies AND the examples of defensive gun usage by concealed carry permit holders to people who don’t understand why lab-abiding people should be allowed to own guns. It’s not enough to have your one vote, you have the duty to convince other people to vote for the right policies.

 

One of the things that happens when secular leftists get control of a country is that they make it illegal to criticize the beliefs of the government. For example, in some countries, you can’t criticize global warming mythology. In other countries, you can’t disagree with abortion rights. And in other countries, you can’t disagree with LGBT lifestyles. Not even respectfully. Not even in private.

To give an example, Canada supports LGBT so much, that they’ve made it illegal for people to disagree with it.

Christian Post reported this:

On Wednesday, Canada’s House of Chambers unanimously passed Bill C-4, a bill that if — or when it passes in the Senate, will make conversion therapy an illegal offense punishable by up to five years in prison.

The Canadian government believes the Bible is filled with harmful myths about homosexuality and transgenderism — therefore, it is necessary to strip freedom of expression and freedom of religion from Canadian Christians.

When Bill C-4 becomes law, anyone who preaches what the Bible says about homosexuality and transgenderism could be sentenced to up to five years in prison.

That includes pastors and Christian counselors who believe what the Bible says about homosexuality and transgenderism.

Pastors and Biblical counselors who teach that homosexuality and transgenderism are unnatural and sinful thoughts and behaviors could be sentenced to prison. Christians who attempt to help homosexual and transgender people repent from their sins so they can have freedom in Christ might lose their freedom and be sentenced to prison.

The bill passed on December 9, 2021. This is why I keep telling you never to visit Canada. You don’t have the same rights to free speech  there, as you do here. It’s a police state. During the freedom convoy protests against vaccine mandates, the RCMP was trampling old women using walkers with their horses. That’s normal for Canada.

Look at this Bill C-4. That’s where the secular left in America would like to go. They also want prison sentences of up to 5 years for Christians who disagree with them on LGBT issues. Even in a private conversation. Even if you do it respectfully. Even if you’re just quoting the Bible. It doesn’t matter to them – it’s a criminal offense to be offensive to secular leftists.

So, how is the secular left doing in America?

Here’s an article from The Federalist from this week:

Kaley Chiles is a Christian counselor in Colorado. When the state passed a law forcing mental health professionals to advance radical gender ideology, she challenged it. Now, the Supreme Court has agreed to review the case — in what could bring a landmark ruling for free speech.

Chiles challenged Colorado’s law banning so-called “conversion therapy” in 2022, according to The Hill, saying it hindered her efforts to assist those with “same-sex attractions or gender identity confusion” who “prioritize their faith above their feelings.” She “never promises that she can solve” these issues but works to help clients “accept the bodies that God has given them and find peace.” Chiles sought an injunction, citing the law’s violation of her First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

She lost her case at the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, but it’s not over:

The 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled against Chiles, but in November, her attorneys petitioned the Supreme Court to consider the case, according to SCOTUSblog.

ADF said the Colorado law violates Chiles’ freedom of speech by banning counselors from “having any conversation with clients under age 18 that ‘attempts or purports to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity.’”

“Significantly, the law only prohibits counseling conversations in one direction,” reads the ADF release. “For example, it allows counseling conversations that aim to steer young people toward a gender identity different than their sex but prohibits conversations that aim to help them return to comfort with their sex when they desire that.”

I think it’s really important for Christians to understand that secular leftists are the ideological heirs of Nazis and Stalinists and other totalitarians. Atheists don’t have any rational grounding for human dignity and human rights. They think the universe is an accident, and human beings are just machines made out of meat. Just another animal. And morality? They believe in survival of the fittest.

Today’s secular leftists are great admirers of police states. They think it is wonderful when the centralized government uses threats, imprisonment, torture and even murder in order to force their ideologies onto citizens. Why think that our secular leftists are any different than the secular leftists of North Korea, or the Soviet Union? They believe the same things. The only difference is that here, they haven’t won. Yet.

So, Justin Trudeau, a former part-time drama teacher and snowboarding instructor, resigned as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. He was the Prime Minister. The Liberal Party has selected a new leader, Mark Carney. Mark Carney has a record that goes back to the United Kingdom, which is a fascist secular left country that bans free speech and prosecutes peaceful pro-lifers.

Let’s find out more about Carney, from this excellent article on Breitbart News:

The Justin Trudeau era is coming to a close in Canada, with the governing Liberal Party selecting former central banker Mark Carney as its new leader and eventual prime minister on Sunday.

Conservative leader reacts:

Critics, such as Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, have accused the former Goldman Sachs investment banker of being “sneaky” and of representing a doubling down of the failed economic and environmentalist Trudeau-era agendas.

Never ran a campaign, never elected to office:

While never elected to public office, likely the first prime minister to have never been voted for at any level, Carney has been deeply involved in politics in Canada and internationally for nearly two decades. He was first installed as the head of the Bank of Canada during the 2008 financial crisis.

Anti-Brexit, pro-EU:

Carney later became the first non-British person to be selected to lead the Bank of England in 2013. During his tenure as governor of the UK’s central bank, Carney frequently faced criticism for spreading “project fear” warnings of a potential financial crisis due to the Brexit withdrawal from the European Union.

Fascist views of opposition to COVID lockdowns:

During the Chinese coronavirus crisis, Carney served as an advisor to Boris Johnson’s government in Britain and later to Justin Trudeau’s government in Canada, both of which instituted some of the strictest lockdown restrictions in the Western world.

Carney publicly branded the Canadian “Freedom Convoy” uprising against the draconian measures, including vaccine mandates, as representing “sedition” against the government in Ottawa and advocated for the government to go after those who funded the protest movement.

“By now, anyone sending money to the convoy should be in no doubt: You are funding sedition. Foreign funders of an insurrection interfered in our domestic affairs from the start. Canadian authorities should take every step within the law to identify and thoroughly punish them. The involvement of foreign governments and any officials connected to them should be identified, exposed and addressed,” he wrote in 2022.

You might remember that Canada froze the bank accounts of peaceful protestors, leading to a flight of capital and investment for their little third-world Banana Republic.

He’s also an eco-socialist – using global warming alarmism to push for higher taxes, more spending, more regulations, and larger government:

Carney has also been at the forefront of the international green agenda, having served as the United Nations Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance from 2019 until January when he stepped down to run for the Liberal Party leadership.

Additionally, Carney led the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), an initiative to advance climate policies throughout financial institutions throughout the West. The institution has recently suffered significant blows, as top American banks, including J.P. Morgan, withdrew from the scheme in the wake of the re-election of President Donald Trump, who has vowed to combat so-called Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) policies.

If he wins, I would expect some sort of Chinese social credit system, but along the lines of complying with green energy socialism. Expect the sort of economic contractions that we see in France and Germany, where you have leaders crowing about supporting Ukraine, as they purchase all their (dirty) energy from Russia, because they don’t make any of their own. Carney is a huge supporter of carbon taxes, and will likely want Canadians to to pay more for “green” appliances, “green” vehicles and “green” homes. It’s a convenient way to squeeze the last bit of self-sufficiency out of voters, so that they have to agree with the central government in order to be able to afford to live.

Right now, the Conservative Party candidate is in the lead, but Canada has about 66% secular leftist voters. Which means that any candidate from a secular left party is going to have a lot of votes from this majority. It’s not a good country. Not a good place to live. Not even a good place to visit. And definitely not a good place to invest. They simply don’t understand basic economics.