Iranian Oppression and the Small Arms Survey 2007

One thing that has struck me as I’ve watched the passionate street protests and demonstrations by Iranians clamoring for freedom and democracy, is how woefully vulnerable and defenseless they all are. I see grown men running in fear from club, chain and truncheon-wielding security forces, while teenagers and women flee from the sound of governmental gunfire. This isn’t a standard crowd control operation in a Western democracy, where professional police forces abide by constitutional law in dispersing an unruly mob. This is naked state-sanctioned violence and oppression of unarmed and peaceful civilian populations—a crackdown by a totalitarian regime, plain and simple.

Unless a great surge of the Iranian populace tips the scales in favor of the demonstrators by sheer strength of numbers, the Iranian government will most likely crush the protests, silencing all further dissent, arresting opposition leaders, and imposing even harsher population control methods. Sadly, it is a scenario the West has seen all too often when fledgling democratic movements have attempted radical political change, peaceful or otherwise, in countries ruled by dictators. The single most decisive factor in the totalitarian regimes’ ability to crush the uprisings has been the fact that the government had ample access to guns, and the people in opposition did not.

No matter which side of the national gun control argument you fall on, statistics show that those countries where the gun ownership and/or availability rates among the populace are highest are the most democratic and free societies on Earth. One needs to look no further than the Small Arms Survey 2007, of which the countries with the highest gun availability rates (guns per 100 residents) included: Switzerland (46.0), Finland (32.0), France (32.0), Sweden (31.5), Canada (31.5), Austria (31.0), Germany (30.0), and New Zealand (26.8). None of these countries is ruled today by an authoritarian regime.

The United States of America ranks number one on this list with 90.0 guns per 100 residents. This does not mean that 90% of the population in the U.S. owns a firearm. It means that of every 100 persons in America, dispersed throughout (whether one person owns 10 guns or none) there will be found 90 guns. Naturally, we are the most free and most democratic society of them all.

However, do not misconstrue the meaning here. High gun ownership rates do not make a society free and democratic. It is the fact that the people (government) of the United States of America cherish our institutions of freedom and democracy, as laid down by our Founding Fathers, so much, that individual liberties, including the right of our citizens to individually own firearms, are so dearly protected. Why is this important?

The text of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, as passed by Congress, reads: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Pay special note to the section “necessary for the security of a free state” (italics mine). Our Founding Fathers knew that the security of the United States, in essence, whether we, as a country, would succeed or fail, would rest, in a great part, on our ability to defend ourselves—to defend our freedom—from enemies, both foreign and domestic—which included any potential shift in the style of our own government. This could only be possible if our people had the liberty of individual gun ownership.

Totalitarian regimes crack down on unarmed populations. Armed populations can wage war against totalitarian regimes. That is why authoritarian regimes like Hitler’s Nazi Germany, the former Soviet Union, China, Iran, and many others like them prohibit or strongly curtail individual gun ownership. It is easier to stamp out individual freedom and oppress people if they can’t shoot back at you.

Naturally, what gun-control advocates blast as our “gun culture” has come at a price. The U.S. has some of the highest civilian gun-related homicide, suicide, and crime rates in the West. Of course there are many intangibles involved in controversial findings which compare anything from one country to the next. These factors include cultural differences, unequal immigration rates, the immense size and diversity of our population, and the fact that we have unique urban centers which have no equal in the world. Others would say, “Well, that’s a small price to pay for freedom.”

Because the flip side is that our police and military forces are among the most professional and respected in the world, especially by our own law-abiding Americans. We believe in the rule of law and the Constitution of the United States. Our government is not oppressing our women, imprisoning political dissenters, arresting peaceful protesters, silencing free speech, and the like.

Iran, by the way, according to the Small Arms Survey 2007 has 5.3 guns for every 100 residents. I think I saw more than 5.3 security forces cracking down on the poor Iranian people.

Go, Iranians, Go!

As I watched Neda Agha Soltan’s eyes turn toward the person videotaping her last moments, just before blood began pouring out of her mouth and nose and she lost consciousness, I knew the sick feeling I had was being felt by millions of people around the world who were watching this same grisly footage. I have seen death and dying before. I’m a police officer in the United States and I have watched homicide victims taking their last gasps, seen bullet-riddled bodies lying in the street. But the image of Neda dying affected me like no scene of death in real life.

Neda wasn’t a criminal shot dead by a rival gangster in an arcane turf war. She was not engaged in any self-destructive, nefarious behavior like some of the overdosed drug addicts I’d come across before. She wasn’t a troubled suicide victim, or a DUI crash fatality. Neda was a young, beautiful woman, in the prime of her life, murdered by a cruel and oppressive regime simply for being caught up in a glorious outburst of freedom—an angry, birthing cry of her people’s desire for justice and fair democracy.

Neda was killed for doing something that I and millions of other Americans take for granted, like standing on a street corner protesting the war, or voting for that matter. And right now, in Iran, thousands of Neda’s countrymen—elderly people, women, and children—are being beaten, whipped, imprisoned, and shot for marching, chanting, waving banners, and demanding that their voices—and their votes—be heard and counted. Here in the United States of America, we call this Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Assembly.

There are those, mostly in the West, who say that “American-style democracy” won’t work in the Middle East, Asia, or Africa, and that we must accept Third World “democracy” even if the people “elect” Islamists, communists, or fascists. Well, let me clue you in on something. There is no such thing as “American Style” freedom or democracy, there’s only freedom and democracy.

And it’s not reserved only for Americans, or Westerners, or Caucasian people. It transcends borders, countries, religion, even the laws of man. Freedom and democracy are God-given rights belonging to all the people of the world, no matter where they are from. We deserve it, the people of Iran deserve it, Neda deserved it, and all freedom-loving peoples of the world deserve it. They deserve to be free and to fairly elect their leaders.

And bogus “elections” that install or keep oppressive rulers or regimes in power forever is not “democracy.” Know this. Free people also don’t elect Islamists, communists, or fascists. The people who adhere to those twisted political philosophies know that freedom-loving people would never choose to live under those murderous regimes. And dictators know they cannot hold onto their power without rigging elections, eliminating a free and critical press, oppressing women and minority factions, silencing dissent, imprisoning and torturing political opponents, and murdering artists and intellectuals.

So to the people of Iran I say turn to America for hope and inspiration. We are happy and free. We are not killed or beaten for criticizing our government or leaders. We can say what we want, wear what we want, go wherever we want to, and worship whichever God we want to. Our women are not oppressed. Our girls can go to school, read, and learn to be our future leaders. Our government cannot shut down our internet or phone access. Our votes matter. And we get to choose whomever we want to lead us, even when his middle name is Hussein. And after four or twelve years this leader must step down. And nobody here is murdered or imprisoned in the process.

America is with you all. We are rooting for the people of Iran to rise up and choose your own future. Choose freedom! Choose democracy! Choose happiness! Today in the United States we are all Iranians!

Go, Iranians, go!

An American in Pasadena

The other night I met an old Art Center friend, Shlomi, and his sister, Bella, who was visiting him from Israel. I had not seen Shlomi for 10 years, so it was nice catching up. At the same time it was refreshing to talk to people who weren’t originally from here. Usually when I’ve been outnumbered socially by foreigners, it was me who was the foreigner (being abroad) and I found myself having to explain American culture or defend U.S. foreign policy to a pack of friendly but suspicious Germans, Britons, Spaniards, or a combination of all three.

This time, however, my friends were Israeli and Jewish, which meant a completely different type of dialogue. Shlomi, now American, and happy with his life here, saw nothing wrong with U.S. foreign policy, and was supportive of both Bush and Obama’s handling of the War on Terrorism. If anything, Shlomi, who served in the Israeli Army, was critical of what he saw as complacency here when it came to our internal security. He said we were lucky Osama bin Laden had not “green-lighted” suicide bombings among our populace.

He offered interesting insight into some questions many Americans had regarding the war. He didn’t believe that the U.S. and her allies couldn’t find bin Laden. He used Yasser Arafat as an example. “Several times, in the last Intifada, and in previous encounters,” he said. “The Israeli secret service or military could have taken out Arafat. And sometimes they were told to take out his number two or three. But each time they were denied removing Arafat for political and security reasons.”

Bin Laden, Shlomi theorized, might have issued an edict that if he is killed, a more radical successor can take off the gloves and attack American cities, population centers, etc., even with suicide attacks. The U.S. might know this, and for the security of the American public, feel it is better that bin Laden remain alive.

Shlomi agreed with my theory that suicide attacks against American civilians here at home have not been “green-lighted” by the Islamist leadership, because it is still considered a “legitimate” war-making tactic in the Middle East. Its use in America would just anger our public and distill the American anti-war movement, which Islamists, much like the communists in the Vietnam War, rely on as a strategic political weapon. “I’m just worried about a radicalized American doing something on his own,” Shlomi warned.

Bella, older and married, with three children, had been a recruiting psychologist in the Israeli Army. Her husband was a retired Israeli paratrooper who had been wounded in Lebanon in 1982. Her oldest son was in the army and her middle daughter would soon be drafted into the army upon graduating from high school. Years of living with danger and uncertainty showed on her face with each faded smile or watchful glance. She chided Shlomi whenever he said something with dubious authority, that she felt bordered on “conspiracy theory.” I smiled as I thought of my sister and I debating politics to the point of pinching and poking each other. Siblings are siblings no matter where you’re from.

The three of us discussed serious business, however. For Israelis, Islamic radicalism wasn’t an abstract concept. There was a shooting war right at the Israelis’ door. Bella looked with concern when Shlomi talked about a recent trip to Israel, in which he and his girlfriend ventured into Palestinian-dominated East Jerusalem. “I would not go there,” Bella said, frowning.

Bella spoke of having to say that she was “Greek” or “Italian” when traveling in Europe, for fear that she would be a target of violence as an Israeli. Shlomi said that he even had to hide his being American while in Europe, let alone an Israeli. Each of them lamented that radical Islam was taking over Europe at an alarming rate. “If you want to see Paris,” Shlomi said, “you better go now. In 20 years France will be Islamic.”

I couldn’t imagine having to deny my being American. Up to now, I’ve never had to and I never will. While I might not walk down Revolutionary Road in downtown Europe with an “I’m American, Shoot Me” T-shirt, I’m certainly going to leave this world as an American. I’d hate to have the last words out of my lips be: “But I’m Canadian!”

The only time our views differed was when Bella praised President Obama’s declaration that universal healthcare was going to be a reality for Americans. Shlomi and I both told her that it was most likely not going to happen. As much as I would love to see all Americans with health insurance, I would not be in support of a government-run program that penalized or heavily-taxed one portion of Americans to cover the uninsured. “Why not?” Bella asked. “The Europeans do it.”