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Friday, January 9, 2015

The Answer to 30,000 Annual American Gun Deaths Is...



A “Gun Rights” organization new to me, (well, relatively new in any case - it began in 2001) called the National Organization for Gun Rights (NAGR) that bills itself as being well to the “gun right” of the NRA, has created a new fear-mongering ad for gun and ammunition manufacturers. The add shows bullets in several calibers, with the tagline, "ALL FASTER THAN DIALING 911"  (emphasis theirs), on its Facebook Home Page where it also offers the ad for sharing on FB. Unfortunately, all I can do here is link it.
 
This whole ad is several violations of logic in a box. To begin with, its basic premise, that most people reading it are likely to be faced with a home invasion or gunpoint robbery, is wrong. In 72 years, counting the home invasion that did not occur at my house last night, I have had exactly zero occasions to worry about that difference in time... and the same is true for the vast majority of Americans. In the second place, it’s a logical fallacy called a false dichotomy. That’s not an either/or question. I’d be calling 911 whether I had a gun or not. Finally, the way that ad is written, it presumes that you should be shooting anyone who comes into your house, and that’s not necessarily so.

It is not guns per se that are a problem for me, I have my own, nor have I any qualms about shooting a home invader if that’s what I’m faced with. It's the assumption that the American public in general needs one, and is somehow lacking in either sense or patriotism (or both) if there isn't a gun in the house with a person ready to cowboy up, that I find problematic.

The NRA is nothing but a fear-mongering gun and ammunition manufacturers shill. The organization, more precisely its leaders, couldn't care less about whether the gun you fire is pointed at a home invader, or at one of your children coming into your room with a bad case of the night terrors... so long as you buy another gun and plenty of ammunition. The NAGR proudly proclaims itself to be more of the same, with none of the NRA’s softness on enemies of guns and willingness to fund the campaigns of Democrats (who are apparently all enemies of guns). No matter the rhetoric, it’s all a propaganda ploy to get you to keep those production lines rolling, and it’s nothing more.

Why do you think they both tout the Obama/federal/international/United Nations gun grab that never happens... and home invasions that are extremely unlikely to happen to you or anyone you know? The answer to more than 30,000 gun deaths a year is NOT, "more guns." Specifically, it is not, "More guns in the pockets, purses and waistbands of anyone capable of pulling a credit card out of a wallet." Why correcting that is a problem for the gun worshipers, I don’t know (well, I suppose I do... too many of them could never pass a screening). The reality is, that of the 30,000 people a year who die by gunshot, fewer than a third are the victims of crimes like home invasions, robberies, drive-by shootings and so forth. Oh, many of them are victims of crimes, but the crimes aren’t the crimes these organizations keep touting.

In the Detroit, Michigan, area (essentially southeast Michigan) the crimes I read about are drive-by shootings and other gun-related murders, women shot by their boyfriends, husbands, exes, etc. (women, for instance, are as much as eleven times more likely to die in an abusive relationship if there’s a gun handy), unarmed people shot in road rage situations, suicides, accidental shootings (a mother was recently killed by her two-year old who reached into her purse and pulled the trigger of her gun) and especially children killing children because they’re doing what children do... playing with things they’ve been told not to touch.

As for the, “I’ll be there when you don’t have your gun and save you from the bad guy,” crowd... you probably won’t. You’ll be in your local Kroger parading around with your AR-15 Backwoods Breaching Carbine strapped over your too-large belly. Or you’ll keep your had away from the gun for concern that he’ll shoot when he catches the motion, or for fear that you “might” hit somebody.  

To repeat, the answer to too many gun deaths is NOT more guns in the hands of anybody who wants one and can pull money out of a wallet. Gun crime may have reduced, but you can’t extrapolate that forever. We already have more guns than people in this country, so what’s the magic number? Two per person? Three?  Five per family? How about, “None of the foregoing.”? We need to get some control over who gets to have a gun. Folks who think a noise in the house is best answered by a gun in the hand aren’t necessarily the folks who ought to have one.

2 comments:

  1. As always Chuck your logic is spot on. Well said.
    I often hear it said that it isn't guns that kill people, it's people that do so.It's quite true, but why keep putting guns in the hands of people then? And why have more guns than hands to shoot them? If, as is enshrined in your Constitution, there must be guns in case the Government attack you or the 'Reds' invade, why not limit them to one per adult? And certainly limit the capability and strength of the ammunition.
    Hugs

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  2. David... Hi! I'm surprised you found this blog. I don't promote it much and I haven't made much of a design for it. That's gonna have to change, I guess, if I'm going to start using it again. Anyway, thanx for the encouraging comment. This "Johnny gitcher gun" nonsense is getting way too many people killed between the buying and the need for use.

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