On Tuesday, November 8, 2005, 64,676 citizens of the City of San Francisco voted against 48,112 other citizens to pass Proposition H, which banned private ownership of handguns within city limits. The Pink Pistols have looked closely at the other cities and countries that have enacted similar bans, and have found such legislations to be not only ineffective, but counter-productive. This latest attempt to replace real police work with “feel-good” wishful thinking legislation in the City of San Francisco will likely fail, as Proposition H is widely thought to be both legally unenforceable and against the California State law.
(PRWEB) November 19, 2005 -- On Tuesday, November 8, 2005, 64,676 citizens of the City of San Francisco voted against 48,112 other citizens to pass Proposition H, which banned private ownership of handguns within city limits. The proposition also makes it illegal to buy, sell, distribute and manufacture firearms and ammunition in the city. According to the new measure, all residents who own handguns must voluntarily turn them in to the authorities within 90 days of it going live on January 1, 2006, or face penalties yet to be defined.
"San Francisco voters are smart and believe in sensible gun control," said Supervisor Chris Daly, one of the instigators of the anti-gun proposition. "If Prop. H gets some handguns out of San Francisco and mitigates some of the violence, then it's a win."
But the Pink Pistols have looked closely at the other cities and countries that have enacted similar bans, and have found such legislations to be not only ineffective, but counter-productive. The cities of Chicago, Illinois, and Washington, D. C. have total bans on handgun ownership, and share massive crime rates that skyrocketted immediately following the enactment of their bans. The countries of Great Britain and Australia also banned private handgun ownership, and saw similar increases in violent crime instead of the drops predicted by those who enacted the bans.
“Scientific method is based upon the repeatability of an experiment,” says Gwen Patton, Pink Pistols International Media Spokesperson. “In every case where private ownership of firearms has been revoked from the citizenry, it has not resulted in the predicted drop in crime. It has instead caused crime to rise. How many times does this experiment need to be performed before the experimenters realize it will not have the result they wish?”
More to the point, in every case where states have enacted “shall issue” concealed-carry laws that have given law-abiding citizens the right to carry concealed firearms for self-defense without unfair discretionary interference from the government, crime rates have dropped dramatically. Multiple studies by the Justice Deparment, the CDC, and independent researchers have failed to link gun control laws to any significant reduction in crime rates, nor have they succeeded in linking lawful gun ownership to any significant increase in crime.
This latest attempt to replace real police work with “feel-good” wishful thinking legislation in the City of San Francisco will likely fail, as Proposition H is widely thought to be both legally unenforceable and against the California State law. The National Rifle Association has already filed suit to fight the measure. “The next few months will determine how the Pink Pistols can best get involved in the battle,” said Patton. “We will be examining our options very carefully.”
The need for individual self-defense is not insignificant. The Pink Pistols reports that over the last year, violence against the GLBT community increased 7 percent in San Francisco, and 4 percent nationwide. This makes the Pink Pistols even more necessary, especially in cities and regions where local authorities perpetuate either an anti-gun or anti-gay attitude. “I blame some of the increased violence upon strident anti-gay rhetoric in the radical Right,” says Patton. “When we have irate demogogues declaiming that queers are to blame for everything from hurricanes to the decline of Western society, some are going to it to heart. Some will turn that vitriol into violence. We acknowledge that not everyone will universally accept us -- but we will not accept violence upon us. We will defend ourselves as the law allows.”
The Pink Pistols is the largest national organization for the self-defense of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered persons with legally-owned firearms, and has chapters in both the United States and Canada.
CONTACT INFORMATION
National Media Spokesperson
Gwendolyn S. Patton
Pink Pistols
POB 60342
King of Prussia, PA 19406
267-386-8907
Pink Pistols San Francisco
Chapter Contact
Tom Boyer
sf.pinkpistols.org
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