NRA Makes Stupid Argument

- by Mojo (VA)

Stupid.

That's the best word I can use to describe the position of those who refuse to accept the plain truth that most gun deaths in the United States happen because we have so many guns.

Most "conservatives" want to blame mental illness or they say Americans are an exceptionally violent and vicious people (fits with their view of American "exceptionalism").

I'm reasonable and I'll even go along a bit with those arguments.

But, they don't come anywhere close to explaining the disproportionate gun deaths in America -- compared to other countries. Take a look at the charts in this article:

Shooting Gun Laws.

You'll see that guns per 100 people (per capita) in the US are about 9 times higher than gun ownership rates in the industrialized world.

Surprise, surprise, our gun death rate is also about 9 times higher than the rest of the industrialized world. Of course there are variations -- only 30% higher than Switzerland (who also has a relatively high gun ownership rate) -- but a whopping 36 TIMES higher than Great Britain.

And, these aren't just numbers.

Over 30,000 Americans, our friends and neighbours, our family members -- are killed every year from gun shots. Suicides, accidental shootings and murders.

If our gun death rate were comparable to other industrialized countries only 3300 people would be killed each year.

So, due to our high gun ownership rates, an additional 26,700 Americans are killed each year. That's one person killed by a gun every 15 minutes. When you finish reading this, another American will have been killed from a gun shot.

And, the NRA and it's hoardes of gun lovers want to blame everything but the proliferation of guns for it. Damn the evidence to the contrary. Oops, another person was just shot, anyone care?

Anyway, I have learned not to waste time talking about this issue with the gun lovers until they first admit the obvious -- which is -- whatever other reasons one might come up with -- it is plain as the nose on your face that the PRIMARY reason for the extraordinary number of gun deaths in America is the extraordinary number of guns.

This is obvious, plain, simple and not debatable. AFTER my conservative friends admit this simple fact, then we can discuss what to do about it.

Until then, we're just wasting each others time ignoring the elephant in the room.

Comments for NRA Makes Stupid Argument:

Gun Regulation is Necessary - by Brendan

I say gun regulation is necessary. In saying that, I do not believe we need to just point the finger at guns, media, video games, or any other scapegoat. Its not the conservatives, its not the liberals that caused this. We do not need to ban guns, we should regulate them. Add bullet buttons, reduce the magazine sizes.

Make the small changes but don't ban them. The core of the issue is that a mother was not responsible for her child with a mental illness. She did not take responsibility for the large gun collection in her house. Any smart parent should know that if someone has violent behavior, you should not make the most dangerous thing in the house so accessible.

Full Stop - by Mo

Yep. My point is simply that everyone needs to admit that the large number of guns in our country is primarily responsible for the large number of gun deaths. Full stop.

People willing to acknowledge that obvious truth can intelligently participate in conversations about what to do about it. Those who won't, can't.