When compared to the numbers, “GUNS SAVE LIVES” is Orwellian double speak. We need proposals for common sense gun control.
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Each time I hear of yet another incident of gun violence, I think back to the very first thing that caught my eye as I entered the grounds of the Ames, Iowa Republican Party Presidential Straw Poll in the summer of 2011. Three young children, I would guess between the ages of 4 -7, sporting day-glow orange baseball caps with “NRA” imprinted atop, and round stickers on their small T-shirts announcing “GUNS SAVE LIVES.”
On average, guns end the lives of more than 80 people in the United States every day.
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But, really, do these “guns save lives”? Do laws expanding gun possession, concealed or not, actually “save lives”? According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, gun-related violence has reached epidemic proportions in our country by snuffing out the lives of upwards of 30,000+ people and wounding many more annually. On average, guns end the lives of more than 80 people in the United States every day. Each year, gun violence affects over 100,000 people in some way. Many of the guns used in these killings reach military level weapons power, guns which currently remain legal. Today in the United States, there are 88.8 firearms per 100 people.
Of the estimated 70+ mass murders in the United States since 1982, most of the shooters obtained their weapons legally. Demographically, the shooters in all but one case involved males, usually white, with an average age of 35 years.
Should any limits be placed on the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution, which reads:
“A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed”?
We seem somehow only to spout the second clause in that sentence while forgetting the first, especially the term “well-regulated”!
I propose that we reevaluate the political Right’s obsession with the so-called “freedom” to bear arms because it is not only “criminals who kill people” as Second Amendment advocates claim. Therefore,
- We must ban and criminalize the possession of automatic and semi-automatic weapons!
- We must close loopholes such as buying a weapon at a gun show!
- We must ban the purchase of firearms and ammunition on the internet!
- We must increase the waiting period and make background checks more rigorous and effective!
- We must limit the number of firearms any individual can own!
- We must limit the number of bullets any firearm clip can hold!
- We must ban and criminalize the purchase and possession of armor piercing bullets, and also hollow-tip bullets!
- We must rethink the “logic” of permitting concealed weapons, especially in places like houses of worship, colleges, bars, restaurants, and political rallies!
- We must interface all data bases monitoring firearm ownership to assess the firearm-owning population more accurately and effectively!
I also believe that even our flawed “founding fathers” did not want unlimited and unrestricted rights to bear arms.
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I also believe that even our flawed “founding fathers” did not want unlimited and unrestricted rights to bear arms. Even if they did advocate for unrestricted gun ownership, these are the same men who owned slaves, committed genocide against and expelled native peoples, withheld enfranchisement from women, engaged in and killed one another in duels, and so on. Actually, I’m really surprised the National Rifle Association hasn’t advocated for the return of lethal dueling matches. Maybe that’s next on their agenda.
As we all know, in the current political climate, the chances for comprehensive common sense gun control in the United States is only a pipe dream as long as the National Rifle Association controls Congress and state legislatures, for if they did not, we would have seen effective laws passed years ago resulting in countless lives saved.
Nevertheless, this insanity in our system of gun laws must end.
Enough is enough is enough is enough already!
Actually, it is far past that time.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
I support your efforts But, this article starts out saying Gun Saves Lives is a Lie. Though you don’t provide any proof that it is a lie. I find their claim and statistics lack credibility. If you want to change minds you should use logic and facts to support a statement like that. Thank you
” We must ban and criminalize the possession of automatic and semi-automatic weapons!”
You want to ban and criminalize MOST firearms?
How do you propose to make that happen at the legislatively? And how about practically, how will you actually disarm the American public? And how do you plan to pay for this war?
My list of recommendations for common sense firearms regulations are not only reasonable and appropriate, but they are very fair, and, in fact, moderate as well. But I fully comprehand the resistance they are engendering. Regulations on firearms challenge the reality of a patriarchal system based on notions of hypermasculinity with the qualities of control, domination over others and the environment, competitiveness, autonomy, rugged individualism, strength, toughness, forcefullness, decisiveness, and, or course, never having to ask for help or assistance. Concepts of cooperation and community responsibility are pushed to the sideline. Ultimately, unless we change from an Individualistic to a… Read more »
Do you get paid by the buzzword?
“But I fully comprehand the resistance they are engendering. ”
Um, do you? You are talking about a violent coup and a major war against the citizens of this country. You appear to be a troll or perhaps you are merely quite mad?
I don’t trust a man who wants to disarm the public because it was created so if our government ever became corrupt we could overthrow it. So you try fighting the United States army with muzzleloaders and 22 rifles when they are corrupted.
So do you really believe that your semi-automatic and automatic weapons stand a chance against the U.S. Military? F-16s, Drone Strikes, Tanks, etc… You’re living in a fantasy world. The government will only be controlled when the people wise up and take actions to make sure the government follows the people.
Wow….. Epidemic proportions? Per the CDC? Are we looking at the same data? Hmmm…. How about CDC showing gun homicide rates down 49% since 1993? http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/05/07/gun-homicide-rate-down-49-since-1993-peak-public-unaware/ 320 million people, 350 million guns…. And the gun violence rate is down 49%? Wow, how did that happen? As for all your points…. There’s is that pesky little thing called the 2nd Amendment. If you are going to preach about guns…learn something. NICS is flawed and incomplete. Fix NICS then talk about expanded BGC. It’s a MAGAZINE, not a CLIP! Limit the number of firearms anyone can own? What about Collectors? Or hunters… Read more »
‘We seem somehow only to spout the second clause in that sentence while forgetting the first, especially the term “well-regulated”!’
But the term “well-regulated” seems to apply here to the militia, not to arms. It doesn’t say “well-regulated arms”.
Correct. And the right to keep and bear arms was within the context of this well-regulated militia. This was the intention of the writers of the Constitution and was the law until 2008. In 2008 in District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court in essence struck the militia clause from the constitution and said the 2nd amendment gives individuals the right to bear arms independent of a militia. However, this new common law still allows some regulation of the access, concealment, where arms can be taken, lethality, and other characteristics of the arms themselves. For instance very few argue… Read more »
Geez, Warren, Where to start? Automatic weapons are already illegal. The exceptions have never been used in crime. How many of the dead are suicides? If the guy can’t get a gun, he can’t jump off a bridge? Any evidence magazine size made a difference? Back in the day, I could swap out a mag for an M16 in about two seconds. Adam Lanza had fifteen minutes—and nobody shooting at him. He could have done what he did with a muzzle loader. After the VATech shooting, it was reported that one of the dead, a ROTC cadet, natch, was supposed,… Read more »