Phoenix, Arizona, resident Jonathan Pring called police and surrendered all of his guns in hopes of making a statement following the heinous attack on concertgoers in Las Vegas.
According to 12 News, Pring said the Vegas attack made him “think about what was important in life,” and he listed family as number one. He then said, “I would hate for that to happen to my family and it suddenly made me think how ridiculous this whole gun debate is in America. So, one immediate thing that I could do was hand over my guns,” he said. “I’m one less civilian that has guns.”
He did not discuss the soaring death rate in Chicago, where law-abiding citizens want guns for self-defense but are unable to acquire them due to a myriad of bureaucratic obstacles and the cost prohibitive process one must be able to navigate and afford to secure a gun. Instead, he gave up his guns, thereby guaranteeing that he cannot shoot back if a criminal breaches the threshold of his front door.
But he does not appear bothered that he will be unarmed in the event of a home invasion. Rather, he quotes Gandhi, who said, “Be the change you want to see in the world”.
Pring does remind would-be criminals that he keeps a baseball bat for home defense and “he knows how to defend his family.”
Ironically, Arizona law prohibits police departments from destroying guns that come into their possession. They are required to sell the firearms. Therefore, instead of making America a nation with one less armed citizen, Pring’s two surrendered firearms may end up in the hands of two new armed citizens.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.