03-25-2021, 02:37 PM
The entire discussion on "gun control" in the United States has been taken over by politics. Only a very small percentage of people even consider any serious logical regulations.
On the left the issue has become tied to "mass shootings". This leads to an unreasonable obsession with the so called "assault rifles". By far the most damage is done to society by gun violence in individual crimes. These usually involve hand guns. Only about a third of the overall population own guns. Only a small percentage of that one third own any semi-automatic rifles. The owners of these type of weapons are a very small percentage of the overall population. Yet any talk of outlawing these type of weapons is labeled by the right as "The government is going to take all the guns away from everyone."
Mass shootings have tremendous emotional impact on the general population for two reasons. First they are always big media events with multiple stories about the lives of the innocent victims. Second, because they strike fear in the suburban middle class who, for obvious reasons, are not usually concerned about the plague of gun violence in disadvantaged communities. Our politics are driven by public opinion, and public opinion always spikes in response to mass killings. So the policy arguments are shaped to address mass shootings. Meanwhile the real gun violence that damages society the most is not considered. And this gun violence does the most damage in already disadvantaged communities dragging them farther away from achieving and sort of equality in our society. Not saying gun violence is the #1 cause of poverty in those areas, but there is no denying that it impacts property values, business opportunities, and family support systems.
The policy that would have the most impact would be gun registration and owner licensing. It is just way too easy for a criminal to buy and possess a weapon. You often here gun advocates call to "Just enforce the laws we already have", but the problem with that is that it is extremely difficult to enforce the trafficking and illegal possession of weapons because of the lack of gun registration laws. Think of trying to enforce car theft and driving offenses without drivers licenses and car registrations. Convicted felons can roll with a car full of stolen guns as long as there is another adult in the vehicle to claim ownership. They can buy any type of weapon they want because with out registration requirements the black market is wide open. If they don't have any ID on them police can not run their criminal history to know if they are convicted felons or mentally ill.
Licensing and registration would not keep any law abiding citizen from owning a weapon. Weapons would be more likely to be secured if owners were held responsible for them. And it would make it possible for police to enforce the laws we already have against violent felons and mentally ill people owning weapons. These laws would actually have an impact on gun violence without restricting the rights of law abiding citizens. Yet they are never pushed to the front like they should be. And it is all because of politics.
On the left the issue has become tied to "mass shootings". This leads to an unreasonable obsession with the so called "assault rifles". By far the most damage is done to society by gun violence in individual crimes. These usually involve hand guns. Only about a third of the overall population own guns. Only a small percentage of that one third own any semi-automatic rifles. The owners of these type of weapons are a very small percentage of the overall population. Yet any talk of outlawing these type of weapons is labeled by the right as "The government is going to take all the guns away from everyone."
Mass shootings have tremendous emotional impact on the general population for two reasons. First they are always big media events with multiple stories about the lives of the innocent victims. Second, because they strike fear in the suburban middle class who, for obvious reasons, are not usually concerned about the plague of gun violence in disadvantaged communities. Our politics are driven by public opinion, and public opinion always spikes in response to mass killings. So the policy arguments are shaped to address mass shootings. Meanwhile the real gun violence that damages society the most is not considered. And this gun violence does the most damage in already disadvantaged communities dragging them farther away from achieving and sort of equality in our society. Not saying gun violence is the #1 cause of poverty in those areas, but there is no denying that it impacts property values, business opportunities, and family support systems.
The policy that would have the most impact would be gun registration and owner licensing. It is just way too easy for a criminal to buy and possess a weapon. You often here gun advocates call to "Just enforce the laws we already have", but the problem with that is that it is extremely difficult to enforce the trafficking and illegal possession of weapons because of the lack of gun registration laws. Think of trying to enforce car theft and driving offenses without drivers licenses and car registrations. Convicted felons can roll with a car full of stolen guns as long as there is another adult in the vehicle to claim ownership. They can buy any type of weapon they want because with out registration requirements the black market is wide open. If they don't have any ID on them police can not run their criminal history to know if they are convicted felons or mentally ill.
Licensing and registration would not keep any law abiding citizen from owning a weapon. Weapons would be more likely to be secured if owners were held responsible for them. And it would make it possible for police to enforce the laws we already have against violent felons and mentally ill people owning weapons. These laws would actually have an impact on gun violence without restricting the rights of law abiding citizens. Yet they are never pushed to the front like they should be. And it is all because of politics.
