Why Would Anyone Need to Own a Gun?

As a gun owner I've been asked, many times, "why in the world would anyone actually need a gun?" and my answer to that question is very good, although not always short. I'm sure some readers of this blog have wanted to ask me that question, and although my answer can actually be found in older entries, I've got an answer for you from someone else.

http://www.detnews.com/2005/editorial/0509/18/A17-318167.htm
The Detroit News is not exactly a conservative rag - in fact I'd have ventured to say it was a leftist bastion of anti-gunnery before today, so I'm not just spreading around a sermon to the choir.
Read it, its a good article.

[Update]Actually, since its short, I'm going to quote it here, given the fickle nature of eNewspapers and active links.

Katrina chaos boosts case for 2nd Amendment

By Nolan Finley / The Detroit News

As New Orleans flooded and whatever civil society the city could lay claim to disintegrated, those left behind needed two things: a powerful will to survive and a gun.

Hurricane Katrina might end up being the best friend the Second Amendment ever had.

Gun dealers across the country are reporting increased sales. People who saw on television what happens when government can't deliver on the promise of protecting its citizens are buying firearms as an insurance policy against anarchy.

That assurance of government-provided security has convinced individual Americans to gradually trade in their unrestrained constitutional right to bear arms.

But for days, there was no law in New Orleans and no government to speak of. All rules were off.

While the politically correct version of what happened is that desperate people looted stores for food and water, that's only part of the story. Bands of armed hoodlums roamed the city, smashing their way into businesses and homes, carting off jewelry, liquor, televisions and other goods that had nothing to do with survival.

People were murdered, raped, stripped of their meager provisions.

Those with the best chance of surviving were the ones who had shotguns, rifles and pistols stashed away in closets and drawers.

Homeowner John Carolan ran off a mob of young men armed with knives and machetes and intent on stealing his generator by firing a few rounds from a .357 Magnum over their heads. "They scattered," he told reporters.

After looters poured into a nursing home and carted off the food, water and medicine, administrator Peggy Hoffman told the Associated Press, "we'll have to equip our department heads with guns and teach them how to shoot."

Lots of Americans are thinking about shooting lessons today.

The tiresome question, "Why does anyone need a gun?" now has its answer.

Order can deteriorate in this country to the point where nothing stands between the law-abiding citizen and the marauding mob except blue steel. It happened in New Orleans. It can happen anywhere else in America at anytime.

It will be harder now for the anti-gun lobby to convince Americans to dismantle even more of the Second Amendment.

Of course, they'll try to spin this to say that were there no guns to begin with, the looters wouldn't have been armed and dangerous. But thieves, murderers and the rest of the rabble have always been more ingenious at procuring weapons than law-abiding citizens.

No amount of gun control laws will keep the dark side of this society from arming itself for evil purposes.

To twist the old bumper sticker, Americans will give up their guns when they can be certain all the guns have been pried out of the cold, dead fingers of all the bad guys.

Until then, they'll prefer to keep a little heat in the house.

Nolan Finley is editorial page editor of The News. Reach him at (313) 222-2064 or at nfinley@ detnews.com. Watch Nolan Finley on "Am I Right," 8:30 p.m. Fridays on Detroit Public Television, Ch. 56.