Ukraine is a dreamland for gun haters, as the Daily Best reported:
For American gun lobbyists who have cited easy access to firearms as an insurance policy against government oppression, the turmoil in Kiev is a perfect talking point.A nation with restrictive laws governing private gun ownership, Ukraine’s government is in possession of more than seven million guns, a larger stockpile than every other post-Soviet state combined.
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“…private possession of handguns in Ukraine is permitted only with a license, approval of which requires an applicant prove a genuine reason to possess a firearm, a list unlikely to include “armed revolution.”
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When GOA and other gun rights groups see empty-handed protestors confronting well-trained riot police and well-armed security forces, they see the logical end of gun control’s slippery slope. “Human nature being what it is, it’s always a risk when people’s gun rights are obliterated. Now, it doesn’t happen overnight, but it does happen,” says Pratt. Citing mass killings of unarmed civilians by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and the Kim regime in North Korea, Pratt points to Ukraine’s strict gun registration laws as the first step toward firearm confiscation. “It turns a god-given right into a government-given privilege.
…Would more relaxed gun laws in Ukraine have helped protestors? “We certainly think it would have a chilling effect on the government,” said Pratt. “The beauty of firearms is that they’re the last resort against government oppression. Still, tyrants don’t like people being able to point guns back at them.”
The GOA shouldn’t have to wait long to test this thesis: On February 19, protestors seized more than 1,500 firearms and 100,000 rounds of ammunition from government storage.
Source: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/21/gun-rights-activists-ask-what-if-ukrainians-had-more-guns.html
So what’s the alternative? The good ol’ US of A:
“A new FBI report says that violent crime continues to fall nationwide, which might annoy liberals because gun purchases continue to rise. In the first six months of 2013, murders fell by nearly 7 percent, compared with the same period in 2012. Aggravated assaults fell by 6.6 percent, and robberies are down 1.8 percent.
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“It’s also worth noting that gun-ownership rates in the Midwest (39 percent) and South (50 percent) far exceed gun-ownership rates in the Northeast (22 percent), yet violent crime is down more in the Midwest and South than it is in the Northeast, according to the FBI statistics.
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“And rural areas, where gun-ownership rates also are higher than average, saw a larger reduction in violent crime that metropolitan areas, where gun-ownership rates are lower than average. Not that gun-control zealots, who are so certain of a causal link between firearms and violent crime rates, care about such details.”
Source: http://www.thecommentator.com/article/4747/more_guns_less_crime