Now Is the Time for Police & Gun Owner Unity

Titusville, FL –“Interpol’s chief recently drilled a hole in the anti-gun program,” gun rights expert John M. Snyder said here today.

“That came when Secretary General Ronald Noble suggested that open societies could be protected from terrorists by citizens defending themselves with guns.”

“For many years,” Snyder noted, “the anti-gun establishment has been putting forth the idea that gun control is necessary for public safety. On October 21, in Cartegena, Columbia, though, Noble indicated that in an open society an armed citizenry can protect people from terrorist attacks.

“The General Assembly of Interpol, the international criminal police organization, held its 82nd annual gathering in Cartegena. Noble’s comments came after the official opening of the session, according to news reports.”

Snyder said, “It’s time for law-abiding gun owners and rational police officials to unite for a safer world.”

Noble’s comments followed a deadly attack in September by al-Shabab, an Islamist group, at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya. The attack killed at least 67 civilians.

Noting that terrorism is an evolving problem, Noble said, “Societies have to think about how they’re going to approach the problem. One is to say we want an armed citizenry; you can see the reason for that. Another is to say the enclaves are so secure that in order to get into the soft target you’re going to have to pass through extraordinary security.”

Enclaves could include any places where people gather, such as malls, theaters, supermarkets, town squares, churches, etc.

“Ask yourself,” said Noble, “if that was Denver, Colorado, if that was Texas, would those guys have been able to spend hours, days, shooting people randomly? What I’m saying is it makes police around the world question their views on gun control. You have to ask yourself, ‘Is an armed citizenry more necessary now than it was in the past with an evolving threat of terrorism?’ This is something that has to be discussed.

“For me it’s a profound question. People are quick to say ‘gun control, people shouldn’t be armed,’ etc., etc. I think they have to ask themselves: ‘Where would you have wanted to be? In a city where there was gun control and no citizens armed if you’re in a Westgate mall, or in a place like Denver or Texas?”

“The answer is obvious,” said Snyder.

A board member of the National Association of Chiefs of Police, Council for America, and the American Federation of Police & Concerned Citizens, Snyder has been named the gun dean by Human Events, the dean of Washington gun lobbyists by the Washington Post and New York Times, a champion of the right to self-defense by the Washington Times, and the senior rights activist in Washington by Shotgun News.

www.GunRightsPolicies.org

About John Snyder:
Named the Gun Dean by Human Events, “the senior rights activist in Washington” by Shotgun News, a “champion of the right to self-defense” by The Washington Times, and “dean of gun lobbyists” by The Washington Post and The New York Times, John M. Snyder has spent 45 years as a proponent of the individual Second Amendment civil right to keep and bear arms as a National Rifle Association editor, public affairs director of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, treasurer of the Second Amendment Foundation, and founder of www.GunRightsPolicies.org.

A former Jesuit seminarian, Snyder is founder/manager of Telum Associates, LL.C., founder/chairman of the St. Gabriel Possenti Society, Inc., a director of Council for America, and serves on the boards of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and the American Federation of Police & Concerned Citizens. He is also the author of the book Gun Saint. Visit: www.GunRightsPolicies.org