It's Only Been A Day
Tragedy has struck more than once the past few days. El Paso, Ohio, Chicago. There are too many events where too many people are dying by gun violence. That's just a fact. We all need to realize it.
Regardless of what side of the line we're on we need to realize that the other side is not full of spineless capitulating cowards, or bloodthirsty heartless monsters. That's also a fact. You have people who are afraid of weapons who are scared to leave their homes. People with a legitimate fear of mass shootings. Afraid of being a victim. You also have people who worry there is a motion to take their guns. All of them. Not some. But all. Who would lose something they may use for food or defense, actually use. Afraid of being a victim.
Both sides are being motivated by fear. That's now how this should go at all. We can have some discussions. We need to.
So to what I really wanted to say. There is no good easy silver bullet solution here. And I have to admit to being a biased party. I own firearms. I intend to purchase more. I use them for hunting, self defense, pleasure. That's the fact. So part of this is a plea. Part of this is an attempt to start a discussion. Part of this is me hoping to recognize and reconcile the rights of owning an arm and the reality of what has happened with mass shootings.
First we have to realize that for total gun deaths, the majority are suicides. The next largest portion of those are homicides. Of the homicide deaths the vast majority are not the result of a mass shooting. Over 98% of homicide deaths are the result of a single victim, less than 2% of victims are the result of a mass shooting.
https://www.vox.com/2015/10/1/18000524/mass-shootings-rare
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/gun-deaths/
Secondly the vast majority of firearms possessed by criminals during a violent action are not procured through legal avenues. Just over 10% of arms are purchased through legal means. Over 50% are purchased on the black market or stolen. The balance are obtained from private parties or other means.
https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/suficspi16.pdf
Now these are the facts. I know that mass shootings are high profile events. But they are outliers. They don't fit the norm. Shy of absolute weapons bans I don't see how we can truly address them. I'm not saying that we don't try, but I don't see a compromise option here.
Personally I'm ok with waiting periods, universal background checks. But I may be in a minority in the gun owning community on that. I wish we could have an answer. Maybe the answer is not trying to solve all problems right now. Maybe we could focus on something that's lower key but more pressing, takes more people. That's suicide. Maybe we could focus on cooling down periods. Maintaining the current systems properly. I don't know for sure. But I wish we could make a difference somewhere instead of just shouting at each other.
Regardless of what side of the line we're on we need to realize that the other side is not full of spineless capitulating cowards, or bloodthirsty heartless monsters. That's also a fact. You have people who are afraid of weapons who are scared to leave their homes. People with a legitimate fear of mass shootings. Afraid of being a victim. You also have people who worry there is a motion to take their guns. All of them. Not some. But all. Who would lose something they may use for food or defense, actually use. Afraid of being a victim.
Both sides are being motivated by fear. That's now how this should go at all. We can have some discussions. We need to.
So to what I really wanted to say. There is no good easy silver bullet solution here. And I have to admit to being a biased party. I own firearms. I intend to purchase more. I use them for hunting, self defense, pleasure. That's the fact. So part of this is a plea. Part of this is an attempt to start a discussion. Part of this is me hoping to recognize and reconcile the rights of owning an arm and the reality of what has happened with mass shootings.
First we have to realize that for total gun deaths, the majority are suicides. The next largest portion of those are homicides. Of the homicide deaths the vast majority are not the result of a mass shooting. Over 98% of homicide deaths are the result of a single victim, less than 2% of victims are the result of a mass shooting.
https://www.vox.com/2015/10/1/18000524/mass-shootings-rare
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/gun-deaths/
Secondly the vast majority of firearms possessed by criminals during a violent action are not procured through legal avenues. Just over 10% of arms are purchased through legal means. Over 50% are purchased on the black market or stolen. The balance are obtained from private parties or other means.
https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/suficspi16.pdf
Now these are the facts. I know that mass shootings are high profile events. But they are outliers. They don't fit the norm. Shy of absolute weapons bans I don't see how we can truly address them. I'm not saying that we don't try, but I don't see a compromise option here.
Personally I'm ok with waiting periods, universal background checks. But I may be in a minority in the gun owning community on that. I wish we could have an answer. Maybe the answer is not trying to solve all problems right now. Maybe we could focus on something that's lower key but more pressing, takes more people. That's suicide. Maybe we could focus on cooling down periods. Maintaining the current systems properly. I don't know for sure. But I wish we could make a difference somewhere instead of just shouting at each other.
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