11 Examples of Defensive Gun Use Highlight Importance of Second Amendment in New Year – Heritage.org

Just one month into 2022, it became clear that the new year hasnt brought relief from the unprecedented spikes in violent crime in many cities since the summer of 2020.

TakePhiladelphia, for example. With140 carjackings reportedthrough the first five weeks of 2022, the city is well on pace to surpasslast years total of 757carjackings.

Portland, Oregon, meanwhile, experienced morehomicides and shootings in January 2022than in January 2021doubly concerning, since 2021 was by far the most violent year in Portlands history.

These cities are far from alone.

Yet, progressive prosecutorsin many of themseem to be doingtheir best to ensurethateven the most violent criminalsreceive minimal punishment. Worse, cities such as San Jose, California, choose to lay the blame for criminal gun violenceat the feet of lawful gun owners, imposing useless insurance mandates and unconstitutional taxes.

Now more than ever, its necessary to highlight the importanceand prevalenceof armed citizens who rely on their Second Amendment rights when the government cant or wont be there to protect life, liberty, or property from violent criminals.

For this reason, The Daily Signal each month publishes an article highlighting some of the previous months many news stories on defensive gun use that you may have missedor that might not have made it to the national spotlight in the first place. (Read other accountsherefrom 2019, 2020, and 2021.)

The examples below represent only a small portion of the news stories on defensive gun use that we found in January. You may explore more by using The Heritage Foundations interactiveDefensive Gun Use Database. (The Daily Signal is the multimedia news organization of The Heritage Foundation.)

These cases and the many others we found last month underscore the importance of the right to keep and bear arms for ordinary Americans.

The ability to defend ones life, liberty, and property from criminals is particularly important during times like these, when many law enforcement agencies are struggling to keep up with rising crime rates and many public officials refuse to meaningfully enforce the law.

As the year progresses, policymakers should strive to acknowledge and support this fundamental right, rather than undermining it with more unnecessary restrictions on lawful gun ownership.

This piece originally appeared in The Daily Signal

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11 Examples of Defensive Gun Use Highlight Importance of Second Amendment in New Year - Heritage.org