Gun Laws Are Only For Law-Abiding Citizens

Bill Cosby, former funnyman and now pedantic social critic has weighed in on the Trayvon Martin shooting in Sandford, Fla.

He has pronounced that the real cause of the tragedy is that George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, was allowed to carry a gun and in an interview with the Washington Post said, "The power-of-the-gun mentality had him unafraid to confront someone. Even police call for backup in similar situations."

His ridiculous conclusion is "When you carry a gun, you mean to harm somebody, kill somebody."

Mr. Cosby, have you ever wondered that the main reason to carry a gun is protection against predators, thieves, rapists, and killers?

Mr. Cosby is another celebrity who has not bothered to wait till all the information on the case is in.

Forensic examination of the 911 call may confirm that Mr. Zimmerman had not followed Trayvon and seemed to be headed back to his car and it was Trayvon who initiated the confrontation and may very well have been the aggressor in the incident. I say "may" because I wasn't there and neither was Mr. Cosby.

As a native New Yorker, I have always loathed the idea of guns and, until I married and moved to Florida where the second amendment is taken seriously, I never appreciated the need for it.

Florida is number three in the nation for burglary and home invasion but Mr. Cosby does not have to worry about that.

Celebrities rarely do but that doesn't stop them from opining about other people's living circumstances.

The Trayvon Martin case has created a false impression of gated communities as all white residents hiding behind high level security.

I recently returned from a trip to Florida to visit my son and his family and even though I was impressed by his pleasant well-tended neighborhood I was alarmed to hear him speak of the many home invasions that were plaguing South Florida.

They are struggling as all young families with newborns are so I went on craigslist to purchase some baby furniture.

I then traveled to a gated community in Weston Hills which reminded me of the Hamptons because of the super deluxe homes nearby.

The gated community itself was immaculately tended and surprise, surprise, had a diverse residential population.

In fact the house I was visiting had African American neighbors on either side. Perhaps, Mr. Cosby doesn't think there's a possibility that there are many affluent blacks that do not wear hoodies or live in marginal neighborhoods.

This is ironic since his popular NBC show featured such a family with parents who were a doctor and a lawyer who could well afford to live in the now suspect gated neighborhood.

Here in Staten Island there is a gated community called Celebration whose main occupancy consists of minority homeowners.

It is situated near a high crime area known as Park Hill but because of Celebration's security setup, crime reports there are rare.

Stereotyping gated communities is nonsensical since they are in actuality a response to an increase in criminal activity ranging from burglary to murders.

In Florida where my son now lives, it is almost imperative for law-abiding citizens to own guns to protect themselves against what are being more frequent and deadly home invasions.

Because my son's job now takes him to various high crime areas I'm hoping that he will take the necessary step to legal gun ownership and training to protect himself and his family.

The NRA has been demonized by liberals but their members are rarely the perpetrators of assaults with weapons.

Nearly every day we hear horrendous stories of innocent bystanders being slain in the crossfire of battling gangs.

These incidents nearly always occur in large cities where gun laws are already in place and liberals are in charge.

Recently, a woman and child in Chicago were shot while asleep in bed when their house was riddled by a barrage of gunshots.

Now what are the odds that the shooters were using registered legal guns? Zip.

What is the purpose of tightening gun laws making it nigh impossible for law-abiding citizens to get weapons to protect themselves when all criminals have to do is get theirs out of a black marketeer's trunk?

The liberal media are quick to highlight such events like Friday's 'Cracker Barrel' murders of three near Cleveland but they will rarely report how a registered gun in the hands of a well-trained citizen prevented the loss of life.

We can't depend on the New York Times, L.A.Times or the Washington Post to report these incidents but they are readily available on the Internet.

Just go to Google or any search engine and input "saved by a gun" and you will get access to hundreds of thousands of links.

I grew up in a crime ridden neighborhood in Spanish Harlem before the proliferation of assault weapons.

That did not prevent the criminal element from obtaining and utilizing weapons.

Some guns were even handmade out of wood and rubber bands and called zip guns.

Fortunately, the NYPD was and still is a formidable force against the evildoers; but politicians do what they can to minimize their efficacy with the appointment of liberal judges sympathetic only to criminals.

All the gun control laws that pass through Congress are not only unnecessary but are really only enacted to give the false impression that the politicians care.

One New York congressman, Major Owens (D) even tried to repeal the 2nd Amendment which meant that like many liberals he equated it erroneously with militias.

There are two very important punctuation marks after the word "Militia". They are commas which clarify the statement: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

The states with the harshest laws (generally Democrat) are the ones with the highest crime rates.

Conversely states that are lenient in allowing citizens to protect themselves have lower murder rates.

I urge all citizens to do the homework and seek out the facts. Check out savedbyagun.com.

Once upon a time I would have agreed with Bill Cosby that guns are the problem but the awful truth is that no laws will stop the criminals from committing mayhem. They will, however, stop law-abiding citizens from defending themselves.

Alicia Colon resides in New York City and can be reached at aliciav.colon@gmail.com and at www.aliciacolon.com