The Right To Self Defence   

We live in the era of ‘rights-based’ ideology. A few decades ago, support to poor and vulnerable people would have been done on a charity basis, but today, providing basic needs for people is not considered an act of kindness by government or donors but a right of the people. While this change in ideology has not really done much to change the fortunes of the poor and vulnerable, it has, however, helped redefine the value of the human person. To me, the right to life is the foremost of all rights, because without life all other rights become irrelevant. Strangely, the discourse on the right to life has been mostly restricted to the right of the unborn fetus. I, however, argue that the right to life debate needs to be extended to human beings already born.

In Nigeria, life has become really cheap. The high crime rate, especially homicide, coupled with sectarian and religious violence has made most parts of the country dangerous to live in. If Nigeria was a country where democracy is actually practised, elections would be determined based on the candidate with the best crime busting strategy. But as things go, it hardly makes it to the agenda of politicians except for the occasional mention in speeches. The police have also not experienced any radical change required of a country in dire need of better policing and crime control. For instance, instead of police chiefs being appointed based on the ‘best person to do the job’, it’s done on a hierarchy basis, providing very little incentive in the force for dynamism or innovation.

For the average Nigerian, therefore, very little comfort is derived from the existence of the Nigerian police when it comes to crime bursting. For most people, the police are no more than a private security firm which is mostly useful for harassing one’s enemies or opponents if you have the resources to pay them. The problem of course is that cynicism against the police has not changed the fact that Nigerians are helplessly dying by the thousands through violent crime. This needs to stop. Since the government has done precious little to protect Nigerians from violent crime through law enforcement agents, Nigerians should be given the right to bear arms to defend themselves.

Many people who are conversant with crime research will immediately point out to me the data from advanced countries which clearly show that compared to the United States where gun control is more liberal, European countries with strong gun control have less violent crime. Many against my thesis will also argue that liberalising gun control in Nigeria will put more guns in the hands of criminals.  There is, however, a major difference in the nature of violent crime in Nigeria as compared to the United States. Majority of the violent crime in the United States is not associated with theft. It has more to do with drug and gang wars and other non-property related crimes. In Nigeria, however, the majority of people who lose their lives in the hands of criminals do so during armed robbery. If we take a closer look at the data from America, we will see that while it is true that violent crime is higher than Europe, armed robbery is actually very low, compared to other violent crimes. Could this not be attributed to the fact that the would-be robber, aware that the owner of the house will most likely be armed, has less of an incentive to break in?

The argument that liberalising gun control in Nigeria will put more guns in the hands of criminals is actually more conjecture than fact because the reality is that most robbers in Nigeria are armed, which demonstrates that criminals already have access to guns and are using them. The high incentive for criminals to commit armed robbery and kill someone in the process is, therefore, the fact that they are not likely to face opposition in the homes they attack because the probability of those homes having firearms is low, coupled with poor policing which ensures that a majority of criminals never get caught. The incentive to commit crime in Nigeria is, therefore, very high. The best deterrent for violent crime is of course better policing and tougher laws against criminals, but going by antecedents and the body language of those presently in power, the reality on the ground is that this is not likely to happen in the near future. Should Nigerians, therefore, fold their arms and wait until it is their turn to be butchered by some criminal? I think not. The right to life is a fundamental human right and those in danger of losing their lives should be given every opportunity to defend it and that should include the right to carry arms in the face of mounting violent crime.