[kwm]

I say lawful citizens get into a Cold War with criminals. We all know the concept of a Cold War. In this case it would be that the lawful civilized section of the population doesn't make a move on anyone becasue they are just that, civilized (and armed in my scenario.) And, the unlawful uncivilized criminal section (who are also typically unmotivated, cowards looking for an easy way out and never interested in a level playnig field) would be far less likely to make a move on the civilized b/c they fear what they are capable of and no longer see them as weaker than they. Crimes almost always = power trips. Rape is a crime of power, so are most forms of strong arm robbery, muggings, breaking and enterings, etc... The criminal feels he has the power and he doesn't fear you and therefore moves forward with the crime. Drug crimes where the criminal is either so hopped up he doesnt know whether to scratch his watch or wind his ass are also more easily dealt with if you are armed and criminals who are drug addicts and so Jonesin that they are driven to crime are also more easily dealt with in this scenario. Obviously a more heavily armed society is not a fix-all to the crime problem but I think it makes a helluva lot more sense than a far less armed society. Numerous crimes are stopped on an almost daily basis by lawful gun owners they just never make the news b/c it doesn't feed fears and b/c the liberal media doesn't want to promote such things. The gun owners are finally winning on the political front thought. Most Dems will no longer go near the issue after Gore lost big in the South and rural areas and the GOP put Senators in house almost solely due to their support of the right to bear arms.