Deconstructing Arguments Against Gun Ownership, Part 3
Click here for Part 1.
Click here for Part 2.
Argument 3: Gun ownership means more murder! Gun bans protect people!
There is no correlation between gun ownership and mass shootings or murders.
Crime rates across the US have been trending downward for over 25 years according to the FBI's comprehensive. This includes not only murders, but also rape, robbery, aggravated assault, and non-violent crimes like burglary and theft.
Mass murders tend to occur in cities or venues where guns are essentially outlawed for the law-abiding. Cities with strict gun control laws like Chicago and Washington, D.C. have very high murder rates compared to the rest of the country.
Of course, urban centers are also hotbeds of black market activity, along with the violent crime resulting from prohibition. Cities also tend to have heavy economic controls that act as a barrier to entrepreneurial activity by the poor. Urban police are also notorious for racism and brutality, even further exacerbating the violence and unrest in such places. Banning guns does not protect people, especially since it is proposed as a solution to problems rooted in completely different areas instead.
A common corollary argument is that, "Armed civilians don't stop crimes!" The average death toll when a shooting is stopped by a civilian is under 3. The average death toll when a shooting is stopped by police is over 14. In addition, most crimes stopped by an armed civilian probably require no shots being fired, and may not even get reported to police. Solid data in this area is thus hard to acquire, but the available evidence suggests the argument is incorrect.
Click here for Part 4.
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If a person is committed and predisposed to committing an act of violence on such a mass scale, the only thing that will stop them is someone prepared, trained, and capable of defending life. It’s time to tell the liberals that we are tired of being held to the mercy of the criminals and the mentally ill, while we wait for standard emergency response times.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” ― Edmund Burke
Unfortunately, evil triumphs far faster when people do the wrong things in an effort to not look like they're "doing nothing."
That said, yes, the first responder in any emergency you face is always you.
I thought you were going to be arguing for it when I clicked the post.. but good set of statistics, thanks for sharing!
The only control I endorse is self-control.
I used to live in Utah. There are more guns Than people. And it's one of the safest states there are. I think mass killing would go away if the media had some self control. Don't give these idiots 15 minutes of Fame. Don't give them the voice. And it would happen less if they did that
I don't think the media is to blame, but their sensationalism isn't helping. Yellow journalism isn't dead.
At one time in Switzerland every male over the age of, from memory, 21 was issued a rifle and so many rounds. The media isn't reporting mega deaths from there, maybe because they weren't semi,full automatic rifles that were issued.
Like a car it is not the gun that kills it is the nut behind it.
The SIG SG 510 select-fire battle rifle has been in service since 1957. The SG 540 and SG 550 select-fire assault rifles are also in service.
It would be interesting to calculate,
Swiss = males over the issed gun age = deaths per year
USA = males of the same age = deaths per year
The problem is still isolating whether the firearms alone are a factor. The violent black markets in the US stemming from prohibition laws are a major factor in violent crime here, for example.
1984, find a new 2nd amendment that says" only if.......", legalize drugsand sell all the stuff that they cofiscate, a good profit margin there, use the money to pay hospital bills, the druggies will conti ue to try to import so you have an ongoing source for free.
There are lots of unemployed, give them a job tending Marijuana in the deatg valley or some where, you can truck the water in, look at Las Vegas,
Now the user can go to a shop, purchase at a fixed price, properly cut drugs of their choice, propperly grown, cut,professionally rolled smokes, probably call the Strike Lucky.
The tobacco industry is in full production again, the chemists are fully employed, due to the new income source all personal taxes are halved
Want a new president?
I want no president and no new arbitrary laws. I'm an anarchist, remember?
You might find this independent film interesting. I guarantee it doesn't fit the usual spin on anything.
Gun is a blind tool in the hand of the user, is also a double edge sword. Since we cannot guarrantee the mental state of everyone at every point in time, i dissagree with your stands on gun usage.
people pull the trigger - but guns are the instrument of death. Gun control is necessary, and delay means more death and horror.
Since we cannot guarantee the mental state of everyone, we certainly cannot give people political authority over others. Political power draws the sociopaths and corrupts the virtuous. It is a far greater danger than liberty.