Gun Control: Time to Stand Our Ground

[onehandle]

Throwing statistics up showing the number of people murdered annually in the United States through gun violence trivializes the lives of the dead. But the numbers bear repeating if only to shame us into the fact that we Americans are accomplices in the violent deaths of each and every one of them. And unless we rid ourselves of weak willed Congressmen and state representatives who shield themselves behind the massive voter-proof vests paid by the NRA and other private interest groups, we will continue to have blood on our hands, by the bucketful.

Last week, 12 people were murdered at the Washington Navy Yard by a gunman who authorities say showed signs of psychosis. And in gang related violence, 13 people including a infant were shot in Chicago, a city now ranked by the FBI as #1 in gun violence.

Using CDC estimates roughly 25 thousand people have died from guns in the United States since December 2012. Of those, approximately 60% are suicides and the rest are homicides. A white person is five times as likely to commit suicide with a gun as to be shot with a gun; for each African American who uses a gun to commit suicide, five are killed by other people with guns.

FBI statistics show a steady decline in US gun homicides in past few years, down to 8,600 in 2011. At the same time however, almost half of the 62 mass shootings that have occurred here in the last 30 years have all happened in the past 7 years and a third of those 25 happened in 2012 alone, including the Newtown, CT elementary school massacre. The shooters’ weapons of choice include various assault weapons and semi-automatic handguns with high-capacity magazines favorites being the AR-15 assault rifle and the .232 Bushmaster semi-automatic assault rifle. The ease and speed with which a mentally impaired or fully functional killer can massacre and maim dozens of people with these weapons is well documented — it’s a simple matter of bullet physics vs. human reaction times.

http://crooksandliars.com/cynthia-lobo/g-uncontrol-time-stand-our-ground-com

[upaloopa]

1. I have real trouble with the tactic of saying we are all

guilty of gun violence because guns exist in the country or that gun control is not strong enough.
None of us supports gun violence. Some of us want more gun control legislation and some want less.
There is no guarantee that gun violence will lesson if a certain control law is passed. It is hopeful to think it will lesson because that is what the law is designed to do.
So do you go from someone who is guilty of gun violence before the new control is in place then not guilty because you support the new law? That is what I think the OP suggests. That idea is wrong IMHO.

[Lizzie Poppet]

2. As do I.

"Collective guilt" deflects from the culpability of the actual perpetrator of the violence. It's a poor line of reasoning.

I also think certain sensible gun control measures could steepen the decline of overall gun violence and in particular lower the likelihood of additional mass killings. As I say frequently on these forums, universal background checks plus greater access to mental helth records for the NICS database could provide a real benefit (to offer just one example).

[SQUEE]

3. Along with requirements for proper storage...

Laws with teeth, someone uses a gun, that has been improperly stored, and the owner or responsible party does real time and loses the right to ever have a weapon.

[Lizzie Poppet]

4. Strongly agree.

I'm a strong supporter of mandatory secure storage requirements, and the penalty you suggest seems like a solid deterrent.