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GUN Control

It seems this issue is not going away and that some folks are going nuts about it. America is a country with approximately 300 Million guns. We are hunters, sportsmen and protectors. We have guns in our Constitution for a reason and we accept all the issues that go along with an armed scoiety. Yet many seem to think that rampant gun control is going to stop violence.

I have written about this once before but it appears it needs addressing again. Guns don't kill people - people kill each other. We have all kinds of gun control laws being passed or offered up all over the country since the Sandy Hook killings. Some are acceptable and some are just plain stupid. Here are some facts to consider:
  • there were 11078 gun murders in 2010 which is the lowest since 1981
  • there were 138,336 gun aggrevated assualts in 2011 the lowest rate since 2004
  • there were 122,300 gun robberies in 2011 the lowest since 2004
  • Yet gun ownership was up to 88.8 per 100 people in 2007 (last hard stats available)
A great deal of information about guns and gun vilolence is old and out dated. This is because goverment money to do studies was eliminated by Congress in 1996. We are trying to legislate gun laws without factual data and this could lead to major issues. While I agree with some additional gun restrictions I am not convinced (yet) that this will have a massive impact on gun violence, particularly mass killings. Especially when we see 14 people stabbed today at a Texas college campus.

We have seen 62 mass shootings in the US since 1982. While Sandy Hook was the second worst several had over 20 people killed. Most of the killers were mentally ill and 72% used an automatic weapon. Despite this violent crime in the US has been declining for over the 12 years. The CDC reports the number of homicides by gun are down for the last decade.

So what can we do to stop mass murders? Well first and foremost we must get a lot better at mental health screening and treatment. Since the majority of all mass murders are mentally ill this is job one! Yes, I agree we need to have a better background check system for private gun sales but I am not in favor of a national registry either. No matter what we do with gun laws criminals will always get guns. Since by definition criminals are law breakers then new gun laws will not affect them either way. So the only folks that will be directly and immediately affected by the proposed new gun laws will be law abiding citizens.(assuming that a criminal is just an idiot and tries to get a gun legitimately)

We also need to edcuate gun owners more especially about safety and security. All guns should be locked up when the owner is not present and particularly around children. I keep a loaded gun in my house but only take it out at night and no one else can access it at any other time. I raised 4 boys in my house and taught them gun safety early on. We have never had one incident with any firearm.

We can also make the penalties for gun violence greater. Hold gun owners (parents) responsible for gun violence involving their guns. Teach gun safety in schools. Arm and train teachers so our schools are safer or pay for trained armed guards in our schools. Develop more innovative policing methods in our communities. Use technology to protect big public venues.

Finally, there seems to be a corealtion between armed citizens and criminal activity. Specifically criminals tend to shy away from homes where they know there is an armed owner. Likewise they stay away from folks who have conealed weapons. I am not suggesting that we all walk around with a pistol but perhaps we should have nice politically friendly signs that say " this home is protected by Smith and Wesson". Okay I am just kidding as this would just give criminals a target to rob a gun.

Here is what I am vexed about today. A story came out about a study we the citizens paid for that basically says white men are responsible for most mass murders. The fact is about 70% of America is white and about 70% of the recent mass murders have been committed by white folks. So what that means is that the violence matches the population strata. Also it is true that more whites are members of the NRA. Again this fits with the population make up of our country. For the record many black Americans were involved in initiating the NRA as they felt protected from the KKK if they were armed - interesting tidbit.

This study is ridiculous and inflamatory. White folks are no crazier than any other race and certainly not more prone to comitt mass murders. Mentally ill folks are in all races and any could comitt a mass murder. Actually if we use this logic then the horendous black on black murder rates in this country are an epidemic. for example there are more black men incarcerated as a percentage of their population than any other race. We can quote stats all day but this does us no good.

The facts are we are a country of gun owners and we accept that this makes us have more gun violence than nations that are not. We also accept that we have more suicides by gun than most nations. This is our culture and like it or not we are not going to change overnight.

Can we do more to stop gun violence? Absolutely but disarming the citizens is not the answer. Our violent crime is way down so lets focus on that and keep it going down. Lets unite in our communities and tell the crimnals we will not accept their behavior. Let's use Chicago as an example - a great place to start since it has the highest level of gun crime in the US.

I don't know one law abiding person who ever wants to shoot another human being but we all have the right to protect our families and property. Being armed is just a tool to fulfill that right. So lets not make this about the "right wing white conservative men" it is about everyone in America. Until we identify and treat mental illness better we will have mass murders. The big problem is no one wants to do this. Many on the left see it as an infringment on personal privacy and others don't think it is politically correct. Well, I say if a school, after school program or community sees a disturbed person they should point it out and get them some help. We could have avoided Sandy Hook and Arura if folks had spoken up.









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