My Thoughts on Guns

With all the gun talk I've seen going on this week I figured I'd write about how I feel about them. People on the right have been going on about how Obama wants to take away their guns which just isn't the case. There's people in Congress pushing Obama for stricter gun control. Not the other way around.

Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, Democrat of New Jersey, has written a letter to President Obama rebuking him for not pressing Congress to create some restrictions on guns and gun ownership.

Mr. Lautenberg has filed three amendments on gun issues. One seeks to reinstate a ban on high-capacity gun magazines; another would close the so-called gun show loophole, which permits some people who buy guns at gun shows to avoid background checks otherwise required by federal law; the last would close gaps in the law that prevent the government from stopping suspected terrorists from buying firearms or explosives. For more on this article click here.

Lautenberg makes some very good points for stricter gun control. American citizens don't need high capacity gun magazines. There's no reason for them and having them on the market just allows them to end up in the wrong hands. I also believe that we need to make sure that the mentally unstable aren't buying guns too. I don't want some crazy person running around with a Glock.

I also don't believe in allowing terrorists to buy guns. That's just insane. Put people are so stuck on the second amendment and the fact that they want it to be easy for them to buy guns that they could care less if anyone else who shouldn't buy them is buying them. The Al Queda leader told terrorists to buy guns at American gun shows because they don't require a background check. Sure, they may be able to get a hold of them from the black market but it doesn't mean that we should just let them walk into gun shows and buy them. It's just another way for them to rub our noses in whatever they're doing.

I had someone tell me that they'd rather have a 'few negatives' than have their 'rights taken away'. 64 out of every one million Americans die every year from violence. If we roughly have 310 million people in America that's 4,843,450 deaths every year. Two out of every three of them is done with a gun. That is 3,229,166.67 Americans murdered every year by guns. Homicide rates are also higher in states that own more guns. Louisiana has the highest murder rate out of all the states; 107 deaths for every million people. Every three hours in America a child dies from gun violence. That's 2,920 children dieing every year from it. Does that seem like a 'few negatives' to you?
Note: This information came from: The Spirit Level by Kate Pickett & Richard Wilkson

As you can see the US has the worse homicide rate out of all of the industrialized aka advanced economy nations. We also have some of the worst income inequality out of all the industrialized aka advanced economy nations.

The Ohio legislation has a bill right now that would get rid of the concealed carry permit for the state and allow guns into daycare centers and college campuses. I don't think any of this is a good idea. It's bad enough they're now allowing guns into facilities that serve alcohol and now they want to do this. And a concealed carry permit makes sure people at least get somewhat of an idea on how to use a gun and what rules to follow with it. Taking that away is just going to make a huge mess for someone else to clean up.

Carrying a gun also increases your change of getting killed:

Overall, Branas's study found that people who carried guns were 4.5 times as likely to be shot and 4.2 times as likely to get killed compared with unarmed citizens. When the team looked at shootings in which victims had a chance to defend themselves, their odds of getting shot were even higher.

While it may be that the type of people who carry firearms are simply more likely to get shot, it may be that guns give a sense of empowerment that causes carriers to overreact in tense situations, or encourages them to visit neighbourhoods they probably shouldn't, Branas speculates. Supporters of the Second Amendment shouldn't worry that the right to bear arms is under threat, however. "We don't have an answer as to whether guns are protective or perilous," Branas says. "This study is a beginning." For more on this article please click here.

All these reasons are why I think we need better gun control and more education on gun safety. There are so many things we could do about this if we just tried. Now we just need to convince the crazies on the right that gun control is a good thing and not a bad thing.

"And so, to the end of history, murder shall breed murder, always in the name of right and honor and peace, until the gods are tired of blood and create a race that can understand."
~George Bernard Shaw

"It is the deed that teaches, not the name we give it. Murder and capital punishment are not opposites that cancel one another, but similars that breed their kind."
~George Bernard Shaw

"There have been periods of history in which episodes of terrible violence occurred but for which the word violence was never used.... Violence is shrouded in justifying myths that lend it moral legitimacy, and these myths for the most part kept people from recognizing the violence for what it was. The people who burned witches at the stake never for one moment thought of their act as violence; rather they thought of it as an act of divinely mandated righteousness. The same can be said of most of the violence we humans have ever committed."
~Gil Bailie

"If you rejoice in revenge, torture and war , you cannot say you’re a follower of the guy who explicitly said, 'love your enemies' The next line isn’t 'and if that doesn’t work, send a titanium fanged dog to rip his nuts off.' He has lines like, 'do not repay evil with evil,' and 'do not take revenge on someone who wrongs you.' Really, it’s in that book you hold up when you scream at gay people."
~Bill Maher