Well-said, madam Secretary

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice … said Wednesday the constitutional right of Americans to own guns is as important as their rights to free speech and religion. … Rice said she came to that view from personal experience. She said her father, a black minister, and his friends armed themselves to defended the black community in Birmingham, Ala., against the White Knight Riders in 1962 and 1963. She said if local authorities had had lists of registered weapons, she did not think her father and other blacks would have been able to defend themselves. … Rice said the Founding Fathers understood ''there might be circumstances that people like my father experienced in Birmingham, Ala., when, in fact, the police weren't going to protect you.''

The former residents of Germany, China, Poland, Cuba, Rwanda, Darfur region of Sudan, Tibet, and the Jews of Europe to name just a few would agree with you.