Gun Rights Advocate: ‘Arming Britons Takes Away Terrorists’ Advantage’

Gun rights advocate Dr. John Lott has said to stop terror attacks, Britain should arm her police and allow law-abiding citizens to carry concealed handguns which takes away the terrorists’ strategic advantage.

“With a permit to conceal handguns, the terrorists don’t know who to worry about. They don’t know whether, when they attack, if somebody there can shoot them. It changes how they hit targets and attack,” Dr. Lott told host and Editor in Chief of Breitbart London Raheem Kassam on Breitbart News Daily.

“Look at the policy responses after the London terror attack or after Paris,” Dr. Lott said, referencing the Charlie Hebdo attack. “The normal reaction is to put police on the street.”

“In Paris… the response was to put 10,000 police and troops on the street.

“There’s no way you can cover all targets.”

Noting that there were eight off-duty police officers at the Bataclan, he said: “At the time, it was illegal for off-duty police officers in France to carry [a firearm]. One can only image how that situation might have turned out differently if even a couple of the officers had been armed.

“As of June last year, France has changed its policy to be able to allow off-duty police officers to carry.”

Observing that uniformed police officers are “often the first targets” in terror attacks, and that even more police or armed military personnel cannot cover all possible targets, he said: ” I know no other solution than to allow people to carry.”

When asked by Breitbart News Daily host Kassam whether reforming UK laws for civilians would, in turn, make firearms more accessible to terrorists, Dr. Lott said: “You have to understand when you ban guns the people most likely to obey those rules are going to be the most law abiding citizens.

“Look at the attacks in France. They used machine guns – it’s illegal for the vast majority of people to own semi-automatic guns, yet it didn’t stop the terrorists getting automatic machine guns.”

“What you have to do is take away the strategic advantage that these types of terrorists have. That is, to allow a lot more response by allowing civilians to  carry as well as arming police.”

LISTEN: President of the Crime Prevention Research Center and author of More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws Dr. John Lott speaks to Breitbart London Editor in Chief Raheem Kassam on the Breitbart Daily Show on Sirius XM 125 Patriot: