My Unneeded Piece
By Jeff Ginger
Last Updated 01.06.07
Gun Control is without a doubt an absurdly complicated subject. Instead of debate the application of the Amendments today, or the amount and types of gun-related deaths, I'd rather address the issue with a simple question - what type of gun causes the vast majority of death in the US today? That's right, it's not hunters rifles, buckshot shotguns, or BB guns, it's handguns. Why in the world would a civilian ever need a handgun? Protection you say? From what? Poor people? Mothers in law? How often does handgun protection really truly work? How often does that lone woman really defend herself from the crazed rapist? Or how often does the child end up discovering a gun and killing someone? We could summon up all sorts of statistics and theories.
 Even with crazies like Bush in the office we have no real threat of marshall law and government take-over - also, have you seen our military lately? You really think your puny handgun would do shit against a marine? It's not the colonial times anymore, our military is trained to kick the shit out of guerillas and terrorists ten fold more dangerous than your dad armed with a shotgun. Better we concentrate on non-violent means of revolution and reform of the government.
So right, back to the original purpose behind handguns - protection. The chances of you dying from heart disease or a car accident are considerably higher than a gun-related death - but we don't really see people worrying about this in nearly the same way. We have police for protection, but again, this is just a responsive retroactive method of approach. Instead, why don't we focus on conditions that cause gun death - social conditions, poverty, drugs, racism, and a violent culture. If we can work to change this, then we work to solve the problem in general.
Specifically in regards to gun control, I feel the following should happen in addition to anti-violence social movements:
- There is nobody outside the military that needs an assault weapon for any reason whatsoever - they should be completely banned for everyone but the police and military (or FBI, CIA, etc...)
- On the same principle - weapons made explicitly for killing people - handguns - should be illegal
- Those who would like to own rifles for hunting should undergo licensing, background checking, and the training system we have now
- Hunters who like handguns will have to learn how to do their close proximity kill shots in another way - I'm sure they can adapt
- Penalties should be harsh for possession of a handgun - it's almost comparable to imposing the death penalty for drunk driving - you had better bet people will stop doing it if the penalties are harsh enough
- The situation would not turn out like it has for the illegal drug trade - guns are not addictive, and we don't help the richer parts of the population by outlawing hand guns - there aren't different types of levels of handgun like there might be with a drug. Furthermore, most of the criminal gun use is with illegally acquired guns - if these people are going to do it anyway, we might as well make it harder for them to obtain weapons - civilians don't suffer because they don't really need handguns
- Other countries, despite being very different environments from the US, do just fine with handguns being outlawed (take Great Britain)
- All of these laws and regulations MUST go hand in hand with remedying the social condtions that breed gun-related violence. We can start with poverty and how we portray voilence in our culture.
I've actually had a number of people agree with this one in passing, but I'd bet we have some disageement in the audience. Let it loose!
|
