How to solve the “gun” problem
By Tom Quiner
The president said:
“This type of mass violence doesn’t occur in other advanced countries.”
He was referring to the recent, tragic mass murder of 9 black Christians by a deranged white man. The president never misses an opportunity to politicize tragedy.
The meme I posted pointed out that, yes, in fact mass murder has occurred in other countries other than the U.S.
I received some pushback.
I will preface my remarks by saying that gun issues are not my most pressing issue. I’m not a gun guy. I don’t own a firearm, and don’t plan on purchasing one unless liberal policies lead to more breakdown of civilization as witnessed in Baltimore and other cities dominated by liberal politicians.
Having said that, the emotionalism of the issue produces Pavlov-like responses from the Left. I received some tough, but I think fair, responses from detractors, such as this:
“I am Dutch, so from the Netherlands. I need to address the statement you make. Fact is that those acts of violence by individuals are more frequent in the US than in the countries you mentioned.”
Generally speaking, the murder rate in the U.S. is comparable to Belgium, but higher than most of Europe. It is lower than most of the world. In the chart above, the little red circle shows where the U.S. fits in compared to the rest of the world. In all, 107 nations have higher murder rates that the U.S.
Another comment:
“You should also make a division in these acts of violence. How many are done by people who are political and/or religious motivated and those done by deeply disturbed people.”
I don’t have stats at my finger tips on this one. As a percentage, I would guess that the number of murders motivated by politics or religion is very small indeed, as would be the percentage done by disturbed people. These are the ones that get the most publicity because they are so relatively rare.
“You have also take into account the accessibility of guns, I mean machine-gun, assault weapons in private hands. Your President is right!”
Machine guns are already illegal in this country. The firearms available to U.S. citizens tend to be semi-automatic weapons which fire one bullet each time the trigger is pulled.
Another pro gun control advocate observed:
“Hardly a month goes by in the USA without someone entering a school or some other public space killing or attempting to kill large numbers of people. I think it’s sad you’re circulating such misleading information that perpetuates the problem. You should be helping to look for solutions as a Christian.”
I have a couple of reactions. First, mass murder has definitely increased in this country since 1966. From 1900 to 1965, a mass murder took place in this country on average once every 37 months. However, from 1966 to 2009, the rate has increased to once every 4 months. So although that’s not a once a month occurrence, it IS way too frequent. I concede that point. But mass murder is a very small percentage of homicides in the United States.
The murder problem is concentrated in a dozen U.S. cities that contribute a quarter of all murders committed in this country. The cities include Chicago, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Detroit, New Orleans, New York City, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Oakland, Memphis, Birmingham, and Washington D.C.
New Orleans alone has a murder rate that would rank it as the second highest in the world if it were a country.
Data reveals that 80% of murders were gang related, and that most of the murderers had criminal records.
Guns aren’t the problem. They are a tool for thugs. What is the root cause for thuggery? Fatherless homes. Eighty-five percent of young men in prisons did not have a father at home.
Social policy contributed to flagging fatherhood by replacing dads with a welfare check. Interestingly, murder mayhem is highest in cities dominated by liberal politicians.
As a Christian, I propose a return to social policies that reward intact families. The moral imperative has never been more pressing. Lives are at stake.
Reblogged this on Give Me Liberty.
Well said.
Thank-you.
Reblogged this on U.S. Marijuana Party of Kentucky.
Amen Brother!
Thanks for writing.
Well spoken, Tom. 85% of those in prison come from fatherless homes? I think we see where the problem lies. I heard on Fox News the other day that before the Great Society plans of LBJ, black illegitimacy rates were at 20%, far closer to whites. Now, the rates are around 72%, and as a country we are around 40% overall.
Unless someone can show me otherwise, fatherless homes is what drives social pathology.
“The murder problem is concentrated in a dozen U.S. cities that contribute a quarter of all murders committed in this country. The cities include Chicago, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Detroit, New Orleans, New York City, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Oakland, Memphis, Birmingham, and Washington D.C.”
All of the cities you name are run by Democrats and have been for a while now. Most or all of them also have pretty strict gun control laws. How’s that working out for them?
Not well.
You’re wrong. Let me copy some facts from a post I did about guns a couple of years ago:
“the top 10 countries for homicide do not include the U.S.”
Apparently this is something to be proud of, that out of the 196 countries in the world, the richest and most powerful one does not land in the top 10 for homicides. However, a few more meaningful things this handy fact disguises are:
1. In terms of homicide rate the USA sits above Palestine, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Montenegro, Niger, India and Argentina (to name but a few).
2. The USA homicide rate is four times or more the rate of the UK, Denmark, France, Italy, Spain, New Zealand and Germany (to name but a few).
3. The USA does, in fact, top the table of comparable, developed nations for homicide. I think I’m right in stating that this qualifies it as the Homicide Capital of the Developed World.
Sadly, our homicide rate is too high. Yes, there are more than a hundred nations that have it worse than us, and there are more that have it better. So the question is: what is the root cause? Liberals like you claim that gun control is the solution. I would suggest that fathers are the solution as stated in my essay. Always a pleasure to hear from you. Thanks for writing.
Guns ownership has absolutely nothing to do with homicide rates.
Proof?
Here are the statistics for OECD countries.
http://www.civitas.org.uk/crime/crime_stats_oecdjan2012.pdf
and here are the number of guns per capita by country:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_of_guns_per_capita_by_country
Mexico has 18.1 homicides per 100,000 population and 15 gun owners per 100 residents.
Estonia has 5.2 homicides per 100,000 population and 9.2 gun owners per 100 residents.
The US has 5.0 homicides per 100,000 population and 88.8 gun owners per 100 residents.
Switzerland has 0.7 homicides per 100,000 population (one of the lowest rates in the world) and 45.7 gun owners per 100 residents (the 4th highest gun ownership in the world).
Switzerland is a really interesting case that defies the myths of the gun phobic progressives.
Due to the fact that Switzerland has a militia army every reservist has to keep his gun at home wich means that 420,000 assault rifles (fully automatic, or “selective fire”) are stored at private homes.
There is no correlation between gun ownership an homicide rates.
Great info. Thanks for sharing.