“Crime is rampant because the law-abiding, each of us, condone it, excuse it, permit it, submit to it. We permit and encourage it because we do not fight back, immediately, then and there, where it happens. Crime is not rampant because we do not have enough prisons, because judges and prosecutors are too soft, because the police are hamstrung with absurd technicalities. The defect is there, in our character. We are a nation of cowards and shirkers.”

And the ones who are not cowards, have thier hands tied, by gun laws. People have been conditioed this way. Time ta wake up again America.

Remember the story from New York when a woman was being stabbed to death and people watched from their apartment windows and no one even called the police, much less going to her aid. They just didn't want to get involved.

And this man wants us to be a nation of cave dwelling brutes where might makes right.

Pure and utter bullshit...

Oh my God! Look at the Libs trying to claim the Moral upper ground...how moronic. OK Reston....here's one especially for you....Gun Control: The absurd theory that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her own panty hose, is somehow morally superior to the woman explaining to Police how her attacker recieved a fatal gunshot wound....Tell me Reston, what is so moral about dying a humiliating death at the hands of an animal?

Not to mention the historic lessons taught to us by Hitler, Stalin and Mao...gun control is NOT about guns.

I agree with the first two sentences. Not with the third.

we have enough prisons and we want the law to carefully consider imprisonment.

Coinciding with a surge in gun purchases that began shortly before the 2008 elections, violent crime decreased six percent between 2008 and 2009, including an eight percent decrease in murder and a nine percent decrease in robbery. Since 1991, when violent crime peaked, it has decreased 43 percent to a 35-year low. Murder has fallen 49 percent to a 45-year low. At the same time, the number of guns that Americans own has risen by about 90 million. Predictions by gun control supporters, that increasing the number of guns, particularly handguns and so-called “assault weapons,” would cause crime to increase, have been proven profoundly lacking in clairvoyance.

I would change the premise of the here subject thought by saying: Crime is rampant because the lawless cowards, each of us, condone it, excuse it, permit it, submit to it. Once in a mystical land of the free and home of the brave, the noble sovereign(s) revolted against tyrannical crimes. Now the rabble genuflect to their criminal masters' compelled compliance, license, victimless crimes, larceny and all other activities against individual sovereignty and unalienable rights. Judges, prosecutes and police are criminals with the biggest guns, acting against competing criminals and the free.

Publius, said well !

Interesting and thought provoking. There have been times however when rampant guns caused problems and peaceful folk instituted gun laws and hired guns to take care of the problems. Does anyone remember the wild wild west?

There goes waffler "again" with his Hollywood education. The Wild Wild west...wasn't that wild at all. People were just as apprehensive about killing then as they are now, especially in an armed society where drawing a gun to commit a crime increased your chances of an early death tenfold. Do some homework and turn off the TV.

Waffler...What Carlton said is correct in that the wild west was nothing of what we see on television. Many people did carry guns, but they were viewed as tools for life not death. They carried their arms for the same reason that I do, to protect life. In fact, criminals of that time feared the population more that the law. They had the knowledge that just reaching for that gun to commit a crime could get them killed by the many other guns around them. Do you know anything of the Younger gang that were notorious bank robbers? They were eventually brought to justice not by officials of the law but by law abiding citizens, by an armed populous. That's why Jesse James often just took the money that belonged to the railroad and left that which belonged to the citizens. Crimes are too often commited when law enforcement is nowhere to be found, but there is usually someone nearby. Why not give them the tools needed to ensure justice and provide for the common defence?

There is no mention of guns in this quote. I have to agree that we Americans have been well conditioned to submit in the face of intimidation whether the criminal be a common thief or a political thug. We are conditioned to obey and to distrust our own desires to stand up against obvious abuses of power. We are not encouraged to be brave and courageous and to stand up for ourselves, to hold our ground, to draw a line and say 'No more!' There are a great many here who can point to the problems of today, but who will take the stand? The media and the authorities continually bombard us with fear-mongering -- not to inspire us to be courageous, but to be submissive, to surrender, to leave it to politicians to stop crime rather than to face it head on and T.C.O.B..

Hey America, stop being pussies and just fight fight against what you hate the most.

Publius, thank you for the statistics. Gun control is not about guns, it is about Control! "A gun, like any other source of power, is a force for either good or evil, being neither in itself, but dependent upon those who possess it." I agree with Pettitt; agree, but not the third sentence. In fact, that sentence may be where Eric Holder got his comment about Americans being cowards only he applied it differently.

Carol...I also do not believe we are a nation of cowards. Americans have been criticized throghout the world as being a nation of complainers; a people who are never satisfied with the status quo, always looking for improvement; a populous who never ceases to list our greivances. If we were nation of cowards, we would quietly accept trespasses of our rights and bow down in the face of tyranny. It is true that we have lost some battles for our rights, but we haven't stopped fighting. That's something that every American should be proud of. The problem with this country is that too many of us can no longer tell the difference between right and wrong, between a right and a privilege, between what is beneficial and what is tyrannical. It is a lack of wisdom, not a lack of courage that has brought us to the state of current events.

There are high crime areas where this is true, but to paint the entire society with that broad of a brush is B. S. There are towns and areas in big cities where crime is not tolerated and in those places, the crime rate is low. Crime is rampant because those who commit crimes have no thought about their fellow man, have no care for the consequences of their actions, and have not been afforded a proper education in our public schools.

If everyone who wanted was allowed to carry a weapon, there would be a lot less crime because it's the criminals who are the cowards and aren't going to risk getting shot if they can spot an easy mark who is unarmed.

From politicians to rapists, (whats the difference?) we either fight or become victims. We are a nation of cowards and shirkers. Sure hits home! Why dont the folks that disagree with this, just move to a good socialist, gun grabbing country, so the only bullet they might get hit by would be from the government? God please save the Republic!

Waffler, I remember the Wild, Wild West. I always thought James West and Artemus Gordon were great characters and probably, real fun for the writers to create ever expanding characters. Was that your reference? Because reality didn't resemble your reference in the vast majority of real life. Maybe your reference was to Louis L'amour books?

Where Virtue resides, moral authority abides and criminality hides.

The criminal cabal = the occupying statist theocracy infesting this land oozes rampant corruption, unjust wrongdoing and blatant actions breaking natural / constitutional law. A nation of cowards and shirkers genuflect in fear and a condoning obedience to such rampant criminality. Where are the courageous noble individuals that are fighting back in championing the laws of nature and of nature’s God, true liberty and the inalienable rights of man? Starting with the extremely terse list I stated above, why are the prisons not full of each and every legislator, judge, prosecutor and policing agent that criminally defiles natural / constitutional law, justice, liberty and inalienable rights daily (by their very job description and more)?

Straight talk, no BS, hits the nail on the head. Citizens policing themselves, bad actors have always feared. Bad actors seem to stay out of the frontier and rural country, unless land grabbing with the local bank. Thugs like the city, easier to hide and get by, seeing most thugs are lazy. Responsibility starts with policing oneself, honestly. Honesty like fences make good neighbors. For crimes such as rape or murder, most bad actors were shot or hung on sight. No hesitation. A swingset on the WH lawn would send a good message to Congress and all policing bureaus, including the IRS.

Stupid quote not worth a retort....

Swingset on WH lawn, what a lovely and most overdue addition!! Hopefully We can RSVP to some retired traitors Bushes, Clintons, and Hussein-Obama for the ribbon-cutting cermony, I have special custom neckties designed for all of them.

Publius - America is populace of half-polite/half-dumbed-down civilised folk; We have been beaten into passive submission by an endless stream of statist examples of what TPTB do to Patriotc sovereigns daring to stick heads up and properly hold the line agin thugs. THIRD SENTENCE I believe describes this effect without properly enumerating and attributing its causes, this quote works great when massaged as Norwalk Mike has.

Waffler and his Hollyweird ed-u-ma-cation, that was RICH, J Carlton -- rof, lol!! Waffler inconveniently overlooks thr fact how Bammy and libtarded politics have returned lawful America to a wild lawless west scenario - allow rapists and murderers to run rampant with relative impunity, remove the father from welfare homes, use Orwellian propaganda to convince delinquent democrat dupes that Hillary is their peachy savior -- this is the outcome We get.

I must confess, were I to witness murder or rape, I feel compelled to dish immediate justice as it was accomplished in days of yore - as my civic duty to eliminate the sociatal threat as well as save Us from the outlandish expense of housing, feeding, and bringing these scum to trial!

SWINGSETS FOR ALL CAPITOL GROUNDS