End the Gun Epidemic in America
nytimes.com
End the Gun Epidemic in America
1–10 of 21 posts
Re: End the Gun Epidemic in America
#2What gun epidemic? Gun violence is near an all time low.
Re: End the Gun Epidemic in America
#3Leave it to a private institution like the NY times to have the gonads to do what Obama will not.
Should we start a countdown, or an over/under pool, on when Obama will actually do something about this "gun epidemic"? Obviously gun control is a matter for Congress, but there is plenty of precedent where a President has galvanized public opinion to drive political change. One instance (albeit trivial) is when Pres. Ford in the 70s asked the nation to cut down on energy use. By commanding the airwaves and print media (a unilateral option still available to any sitting president), the next week citizens across the nation wore these stupid buttons in response.
There are phenomenal tools available to the president to completely by-pass conventional political process. It is merely up to him to risk his own political capital and legacy to pull the trigger. Some may call it an abuse of power but if our society believes supremely in following one's conscience than surely history will vindicate him.
This could be one of Obama's biggest miscalculations. If Obama is not careful, his few paragraphs in high school textbooks will include a sentence that reads, "Obama's presidency is marked by his lack of response to the American Gun Epidemic of the early 21st century, which during his tenure saw [1,000] lives lost, including 22 schoolchildren in Sandy Hook, leaving it to his successor to enact substantive gun control policy..."
Re: End the Gun Epidemic in America
#4Absolutely. I'm consistently surprised that things like [1] are not seen as absurd and even illegal. I found another article, "Gun homicides in Poland are about as common as deaths from
bicycle riders being hit by cars in the United States" (and many other variations) [2] very sad, too. How is it that a civilised nation allows such things to happen? The US seems like a very cool place, with so much potential, but increasingly, i'm considering putting it on my personal blacklist as far as destinations to look for work go. I just can't imagine living in fear of some concealed-carry-permit holding goon deciding to shoot the place up (and that's not even considering the violence perpetrated by legitimate LEOs...).
Why would you want to have a killing machine lying around at home? That sounds horrific.
1. http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/02/gun-tv-home-s...
2. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/05/upshot/in-other-countries-... (was on HN recently)
Re: End the Gun Epidemic in America
#5This was a front page above the fold editorial, which the NY Times has not done since the 1920s.
Re: End the Gun Epidemic in America
#6Absolutely. I'm consistently surprised that things like [1] are not seen as absurd and even illegal. I found another article, "Gun homicides in Poland are about as common as deaths from bicycle riders being hit by cars in the United States" (and many other variations) [2] very sad, too. How is it that a civilised nation allows such things to happen? The US seems like a very cool place, with so much potential, but inc…
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Re: End the Gun Epidemic in America
#7Absolutely. I'm consistently surprised that things like [1] are not seen as absurd and even illegal. I found another article, "Gun homicides in Poland are about as common as deaths from bicycle riders being hit by cars in the United States" (and many other variations) [2] very sad, too. How is it that a civilised nation allows such things to happen? The US seems like a very cool place, with so much potential, but inc…
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Re: End the Gun Epidemic in America
#8Absolutely. I'm consistently surprised that things like [1] are not seen as absurd and even illegal. I found another article, "Gun homicides in Poland are about as common as deaths from bicycle riders being hit by cars in the United States" (and many other variations) [2] very sad, too. How is it that a civilised nation allows such things to happen? The US seems like a very cool place, with so much potential, but inc…
"I just can't imagine living in fear of some concealed-carry-permit holding goon deciding to shoot the place up."
You don't need a concealed-carry permit to carry a concealed gun; you just need one to do it LEGALLY. I would venture to guess that a person who carries concealed with the intent of committing murder will not have bothered to get a permit.
My reasoning for keeping a killing machine (it lies around either in a safe or on my person at all times) is because crime happens, and criminals are willing to do things like use force and/or weapons. Police can't be everywhere, and while their response time here is pretty good, it's generally more than enough time for the criminals to do what they want and escape. I'd be happy to go back in time and un-invent guns, but as it stands, I don't see any way to remove all of them from all criminals' hands. So it seems to me the only viable preventive measure is for citizens to defend themselves with the same tools the criminals illegally use to commit their crimes.
Re: End the Gun Epidemic in America
#9What gun epidemic? Gun violence is near an all time low.
It's necessary to create a galvanizing idea in the population in order to control them - hence the drumming of "gun epidemic" by government and media when the statistics show otherwise.
Re: End the Gun Epidemic in America
#10Absolutely. I'm consistently surprised that things like [1] are not seen as absurd and even illegal. I found another article, "Gun homicides in Poland are about as common as deaths from bicycle riders being hit by cars in the United States" (and many other variations) [2] very sad, too. How is it that a civilised nation allows such things to happen? The US seems like a very cool place, with so much potential, but inc…
"I just can't imagine living in fear of some concealed-carry-permit holding goon deciding to shoot the place up." You don't need a concealed-carry permit to carry a concealed gun; you just need one to do it LEGALLY. I would venture to guess that a person who carries concealed with the intent of committing murder will not have bothered to get a permit. My reasoning for keeping a killing machine (it lies around either…
That's one side of it, and it's a pretty common rebuttal to hear. I have some thoughts on that.
If tomorrow all gun possession (except perhaps by LEO, but even that is debatable IMHO) was made illegal, then within one year i'm sure there would be many less guns in circulation (without considering who owns them). In my books this is a net win, because a criminal entering the scene at that point in time will arguably have a harder time sourcing a gun than is currently the case. Profit, i would say. Indeed the stable state of this system is, as you point out, that only non-law-abiding citizens will be in possession of guns, but that is collateral i'm willing to accept (as in the society where i currently live. Death rate per capita by guns is much lower here than in the US, see my linked article from The Guardian). The end game of your desired society seems to me that it's an arms race (excuse my wording): everyone who wants to be 'safe' should have a gun, therefore criminals have more incentive to have guns, etc.
The other question i have is how one explains the fact that in many societies where gun possession is not legal, the situation is far from the doom scenario where criminals with guns are rife. Of course, they exist, and of course shit happens, but it still seems that the evidence (just the statistics, no moral arguments) points to the desirability of outlawing gun possession.
And finally, no matter how carefully you treat and/or store your gun, it is still more likely (even if the likelihood is only epsilon) to accidentally go off or get played with by a child than my gun, which does not exist at all.