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At #TribFest22<\/a>, an attendee tells @tedcruz<\/a> \u201cviolence doesn\u2019t solve violence.\u201d
Cruz responds: \u201cIt actually is the only thing that does.\u201d pic.twitter.com\/NqFvVDx9hc<\/a><\/p>— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) September 24, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote> \n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the weekend Sen. Ted Cruz found himself defending gun rights at the Texas Tribune <\/em>Festival in Austin.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the video embedded above, you can see Cruz responding to a question about the Left\u2019s agenda to widely curtail 2A rights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cruz said there are “lots of folks on the left that say, ‘Look, let’s just get rid of all the guns.'”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“What that would mean,” he said, “is 500,000 to a million more people are victims of crime, are victims of rape, of murder, of assault.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though he didn\u2019t cite his source, Cruz was no doubt referencing CDC estimates on the number of defensive gun uses that happen each year in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the agency famously reported in a 2013 study<\/a> on the topic, “defensive use of guns by crime victims is a common occurrence.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
SEE ALSO: Armed Citizen Responders Stopped Active Shooters 40% of the Time in Gun-Friendly Zones<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Not only is it a “common occurrence” but it happens at least as often as bad guys use guns in the perpetration of crimes. As the authors of the study observed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Almost all national survey estimates indicate that defensive gun uses by victims are at least as common as offensive uses by criminals, with estimates of annual uses ranging from about 500,000 to more than 3 million, in the context of about 300,000 violent crimes involving firearms in 2008.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Point is, Cruz is correct. Disarming law-abiding citizens via draconian gun control policies that are universally ignored by violent offenders will indubitably create more defenseless victims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet, some folks in the crowd did not accept this logic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone shouted “AR-15,” as Cruz was talking so the Texas Republican responded by telling the audience about Stephen Willeford<\/a>, the hero in Southerland Springs, who in 2017 used a modern sporting rifle to take out an active shooter at the town’s First Baptist Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The weapon that Stephen used to stop that was an AR-15,” Cruz said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That’s when someone else in the crowd interjected, “violence doesn’t solve violence.”\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It actually is the only thing that does,” Cruz responded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Violence doesn’t solve violence? That is actually why the left wants to abolish police and why you see murder rates skyrocketing,” he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Again, Cruz is correct. Hardened criminals target those who refuse to defend themselves and those who are incapable of defending themselves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his book, \u201c12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos<\/a>,” Dr. Jordan Peterson explained precisely why this is the case. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
SEE ALSO: Lionheart Regulus \u2013 Double Action Plus!<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNaive, harmless people usually guide their perceptions and actions with a few simple axioms: people are basically good; no one really wants to hurt anyone else; the threat (and, certainly, the use) of force, physical or otherwise, is wrong,\u201d Peterson wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n