Marketwatch Contributor on Guns

In a typical anti-gun piece, Thomas Kostigen suggests that "It's time we analyzed the costs of gun ownership in this country." Liberals have been analyzing the "costs" for decades, but they continue to fail to recognize the benefits. I am all for analyzing the net costs of gun ownership, because the net cost will likely show a net benefit to society. The problem is that so many of the benefits are intangible. What is the benefit of having a large number of law-abiding citizens who could, in a pinch, provide homeland security? What is the benefit of knowing that if someone comes into your home in the middle of the night, you won't be defenseless? What is the benefit of oftentimes being able to simply show a weapon and end a crime? What is the benefit of having a force that equalizes the power of the thug and the physically weak?

Liberals want to look at costs of gun ownership but do not want to look at the benefits. It is just like any other freedom. What are the costs of having a free press? One is that we are inundated with utter B.S. What are the costs of having the protections of the Fourth and Fifth Amendment? Sometimes, guilty persons go free. When it comes to freedom, we cannot look at costs in a vacuum.