I didn't understand how important the 2nd amendment is when I was young. I'm not young anymore. Certain events woke me up. It's safer when regular people have a right to guns alongside people who wear the label of "government." On the question of morality, I've come to the conclusion that making guns is the immoral act. Owning, not always immoral.
BUT. One of the main arguments you always get from the NRA and gun advocates is that gun-armed people will be there to stop crazy people from doing crazy things with guns.
And, news stories are stories. And the human psyche is frail and suggestible.
Very few people know for sure who commits and has committed these famous gun crimes. Facts can be buried. Truth can be distorted. Video and photography can be very very incomplete. Everyday citizens (from violent-game addicts to gangs to whatever) could stage violent pranks. U.S. government employees/agents (CIA, FBI, who knows what) and politcal enemies of the USG who live in the US could carry out attacks to shock and terrorize people.
We don't know.
But having armed citizens everywhere sure isn't preventing all the violence that gun advocates say it should.
I'm open to being corrected. Please tell me what I'm overlooking.
In the US the cities that have the tightest gun control laws also have the highest crime rates. Think Chicago, D.C. New York.
Conversely the cities that have the loosest regulations have lower crime rates.
Here is a REALLY long read that breaks down the numbers.
http://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp
Correlation or cause?
I haven't looked closely at the document you link to (it IS long), but I will. Thanks for posting it.
Correlation or cause?
I haven't looked closely at the document you link to (it IS long), but I will. Thanks for posting it.