Issue Position: Second Amendment Rights

Issue Position

Issues: Guns

Various studies have been conducted which conclude somewhere between 1.5 million and 2.5 million times annually a handgun is used for self-defense.

Criminologists studying the deterrence factor of handgun ownership among private citizens have found that in over 90% of the cases where a gun was used to deter violent crime, the weapon was merely brandished, or a warning shot was fired to scare off the attacker (Kleck and Gertz, 1995).

Nearly 200,000 women use a gun in this nation annually to protect themselves from becoming victims of sexual abuse (Kleck and Gertz,1995). The U.S. Justice Department found that of more than 32,000 attempted rapes, 32% were actually committed. But when a woman was armed with a gun or knife, the rate of brutal assault fell to only 3% (U.S. Department of Justice, Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, 1979).

Twice as many children died playing in High School football programs, over a three year study period, than were murdered with handguns (University of North Carolina, 2000).

When private law abiding citizens own guns, both property crimes, and violent crimes, are reduced below the rates of crime in similar regions where gun ownership is more restrictive (Lott and Mustard 1996).

Gun ownership is a constitutionally protected right, not a privilege. I pledge to defend this right, and I will defend against federal efforts to usurp authority from the states by imposing unnecessary handgun regulations. That is why I have filed the Firearms Freedom Act for 2010, to deflect any manufacturer of guns or ammunition within Indiana from regulatory oversight within the confines of intrastate transactions. The Constitution give Congress no authority to regulate the commerce within each state, only oversight of the trade between states.


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