Hey. I realise that everyone has an opinion about this, and I have also come to realise that as I live in a country where people hardly ever get killed by guns, it's hard for me to understand what that is like, and what that does to a person's attitudes.
However:
People will kill just as much without guns, that's a fact
This isn't true. It just isn't. Let me give you a completely tangible example. Around 20000 Americans commit suicide with guns every year. 90% of suicide attempts with a gun are "successful". In contrast, 90% of suicide attempts that don't involve a gun fail. These are facts. Actual, verifiable facts.
Do you think that Nikolas Cruz would have killed seventeen people if he hadn't had a gun? Do you think he would have even tried?
Guns are incredibly efficient killing machines. If you have a gun and aggressive intentions, then you can cause far more damage than you could with anything else. Surely this is apparent?
Bringing in strict laws on gun ownership will not stop being killing each other. No-one makes this claim. However, less guns in circulation will mean that less people die because of guns.
Don't take my word for it. In Australia, in 1996, there was a mass shooting, and in response, the PM made huge changes in the gun laws, and there was a massive purge of individuals owning guns. Not by force. By law, and people were, by and large, happy to comply.
There had been 13 mass shootings in the 18 years before 1996. Since this purge, there hasn't been a single mass shooting incident in the following 22 years. And rates of gun murders have dropped up to 60%. Suicides by gun are way down. This is all verifiable, and evidence that gun prohibition can work.
All the other things you talk about, the other ways that people die - this is called "whataboutery". As in...what about this? And what about that?
They are separate issues, and absolutely deserve time and thought. The opiate problem in America is dreadful.
But they have nothing to do with people dying from guns.
I am so aware that this topic engenders very emotional responses from both sides, and I realise to be a dissenting voice is to play with fire, especially in an environment like this. But I have been polite and civilised here, and I hope that you take my comments in the spirit of meaningful discourse.
I appreciate ur comment, and i am not offended or upset at all that people disagree with my opinions, i actually think it is healthy to have these types of conversations and it should happen more often without people getting pissed off.
I never claim to know everything, i just say what is on my mind.. i guess "fact" in that reference was a bad word to use, i was typing fast and never looked back. Sorry about that and thanks for pointing that out.. ill have to correct that statement.
But in the whole cruz thing.. i dont know if he would or wouldnt of still killed a bunch of people, all im saying is there are plenty of ways to kill with out a gun.. a vehicle and home made bombs are very easy ways to kill large amounts of people, so i dont think that banning guns is the answer.. i dont think the actions of a few people should determine the outcome of the majority, that is not the right way to go about things..
Prohibition doesnt work. We have seen this time and time again with alcohol, drugs and many other things. Sure maybe temporarily it my solve the problem, but in the long run people always end up doing what they want regardless of the law. And if i wanted to kill a large group of people not owning a gun sure as hell wouldnt stop me. So u cant say for sure it wouldve stopped him..
I just feel that we are always placing the blame on the wrong thing. We need to evaluate WHY these things are happening, and u cant blame that on an object.. people are fucked up because society has gotten twisted and no one ever wants to accept responsibility and admit the truth anymore.. that was the premise of this article to be honest, it just happened to fall around guns.. i honestly think that medications and media play a huge role in this, they are both poisining the minds of people..
But in the end, i went to war to protect my freedoms like my right to bare arms and I personally dont think its right to punish everyone for the actions of a few fucking idiots.
it actually is a fact .. and i back you up 100! you are right!! these dumbasses are fogged with chem trails and bad flouride water. buaahahahaha
let them zombie out and die .. i could give a shit at this point. die motherfckers die! okay i am usually all about peace and healing but this bs just gets me heated. i am awake and those that aren't you deserve to go .. sorry
its like in a horror film, where someone walks straight into the killer .. sorry .. you deserve it. bye!
Right!! Only sheeple would believe that we are somehow safer without a way to protect oursleves from not only other people (who are obviously crazy) but also from tyrannical governments that keep people poisined daily to dumb them down! Its obviously working in some cases..
Amen, Amen, Amen!!
Thanks for the civil reply. I hope we can keep it like that!
I appreciate you accepting that you used the word "fact" when you mean "opinion", but it is a little frustrating that you then decided not to comment on the actual facts that I did use. I am not one of those people who thinks that it is fair to blame guns solely for the 1.5m people that have died at the hands of domestic gunfire in America in the last fifty years or so (some stat, huh?), but I do find it hard when someone like yourself seems to think that they are nothing to do with it.
Those suicide figures alone are terrifying. The problem is that guns are designed to kill. That is why they exist. And they are really good at it.
Re the Cruz thing. There have already been 18 school shootings in America in 2018. How many homemade bombs attacks and car attacks have been in schools in the last ten years? Is it any? I really understand that you want to own a gun to feel safe but I think this leads you to taking self-serving leaps in order to facilitate that. How could a tiny, weak creature like Cruz have killed seventeen people without a gun? The answer is he couldn't have, and wouldn't have. Surely you accept this, even if it doesn't suit your agenda. Yes, there are other ways of killing lots of people, but there is a reason the term "mass shootings" is so commonplace in America.
No, prohibition doesn't work (as an aside, this should mean then that the war on drugs should stop, doesn't it?), but what about having far, far stricter rules? Make it difficult to have a gun. Not impossible, but harder.
Less guns = less deaths from guns. This is obvious, isn't it?
I absolutely agree that there are a host of factors that lead to the appalling gun death problem that America has, and all of them should be looked into. But a huge factor is the fact that there are more guns than people in America.
It's interesting that you mentioned smoking. Look at the generational shift in attitudes towards smoking. Kids today can't believe that people could once smoke anywhere! There was a problem, legislation was passed, and as a consequence, smoking deaths are in a huge decline. And those changes are now what is normal. Why can't guns follow a similar path?
Guns aren't prohibited in Australia. What they have done shows that a change of the rules can improve things. No mass shootings in 22 years. A 60% decline in gun murders. If you have an open mind, then you surely have to look at this and stop to think.
BTW, that stat about knife deaths isn't correct. Here's a starting point for you, but there is plenty of confirmatory info out there to back it up if you don't like Snopes:
https://www.snopes.com/four-times-more-stabbed-than-rifles-any-kind/
You have been caught by confirmation bias. It happens to me all the time! And btw, of course there is knife control! Get caught carrying one and watch what happens.
I am all for freedom, btw. And I am sure that you would agree that children should have the freedom to go to school without the spectre of guns hanging over them. Apologies, that's a bit manipulative, but surely, some changes have to be made? What is in place at the moment is not working. Is it?
It was a civil conversation until u decided to be a troll and hate on other peoples comments on my page!.. for that u will get flagged and flagged again.. trolls are not welcome on steemit and especially not on my page! trolling other innocent steemians who are saying their peace is unacceptable! Keep that shit on ur own page! Now u get zero conversation from me and nothing changes.. good job.. enjoy the flags..