Second Amendment Protects Everyone, as 12 Examples of Defensive Gun Use Show – Heritage.org

The Supreme Court last monthstruck down a New York lawthat effectively prohibited ordinary citizens from carrying handguns in public for self-defense.

As some New Yorkers joined gun control activists in decrying the decision as making them less safe, one young woman explained how, for her, the high courts opinion meant she was one step closer to sleeping soundly for the first time in months.

Laura Adkins, a liberal journalist living in New York City,described how, after a recent breakup, her ex-partners increasingly obsessive and harassing behavior made her fear for her life despite the temporary order of protection she got.

For weeks, Adkins said, she slept with a sheathed hunting knife under her pillow, fully aware that it would offer little protection against a man twice her size, but knowing she had few other readily available options for defending herself given the citys incredibly restrictive laws on handgun possession.

Despite her belief ingun control, Adkins came to understand that good policy is not just about preventing dangerous individuals from owning firearms. It also should empower vulnerable citizens to protect themselves.

Now, Adkins wants a gun. And she wants to carry it in public.

Adkins is not alone in this changed perspective. In the past two years,millions of Americanshave bought a firearm for the first time, many for the same reasons as Adkins: Theyve come to understand that the right to keep and bear arms offers the most meaningful defense of their inalienable rights.

Almost every major study on the issue has found that Americans use their firearms in self-defense between500,000 and 3 milliontimes annually, according to the most recent report on the subject by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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 otheraccounts herefrom 2019, 2020, 2021, and so far in 2022.)

The examples below represent only a small portion of the news stories on defensive gun use that we found in June. 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 stories underscore the reality that Adkins helps illustrate: The Second Amendment belongs to everyone, in every part of the country, facing any type of imminent threat to life, liberty, or property. And we dont always know when our otherwise peaceful lives will be interrupted by serious danger.

The Second Amendment helps ensure thatall potential victimswhether a 93-year-old widower in California defending his home, a father in rural Kentucky protecting his daughters, or a young woman in New York City afraid of her ex-partnerhave not just the theoretical right but the practical ability to act in self-defense when faced with sudden threats.

To Adkins and every other New Yorker on the cusp of exercising your constitutional rights for the first time: Let us be the first to say, Welcome.

This piece originally appeared in The Daily Signal

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Second Amendment Protects Everyone, as 12 Examples of Defensive Gun Use Show - Heritage.org