Mourners at an NIU memorial last week.From the 2 Regular Guys at CBS2chicago.com/school:
Common sense tells us that gun violence is a problem here in America.
It does not take the Valentine Day tragedy at Northern Illinois University to remind us that guns kill indiscriminately.
Furthermore many agree with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley this week when he called gun violence "an epidemic" in our nation.
Why is it that horrific gun violence continues to kill innocent lives and little to no public policy change occurs?
It is at this point that Joe Friday voice is heard saying, "All we want are the facts Ma'am . . . Just the facts." The facts may surprise you.
Though guns continue to be the method of choice (68%) when it comes to violent crime, such offenses in America are down 38% since 1990. Gun ownership continues to expand in the United States with an estimate of 70 million gun owners possessing over 200 million guns. That means roughly 45% of American households own at least one gun. Yet accidental deaths attributable to guns are down 90% since such statistics were kept.
The news frightens us. The facts may calm us.
What should our conclusions be?
Guns will be a wedge issue in the upcoming national elections. Conservatives, finding protection in the 2nd Amendment, will promote individual rights to own guns. Liberals, pointing to terrible incidence of gun violence, will call for greater individual responsibility and stricter gun control.
At that point, Dragnet fans, facts become irrelevant.
In the end, guns will be an issue in 2008. Policies will not change, but votes will.
And that is just a fact.
VIDEO: CBS 2 School: Gun Violence
1 comment:
These facts just reinforce the fact that guns prevent crime. Gun crimes are most common in "gun-free" areas, like Chicago. After Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans police forcibly disarmed law-abiding citizens, leaving them defenseless against the looters. Here's how we can prevent gun violence: get people involved in healthy activities. If that means mandatory involvement in some sort of club, like Youth and Government or what have you, so be it. Also, I think if these goons were exposed to an NRA program, they'd learn to treat guns and fellow human beings with respect. The NRA has three rules about guns:
1. Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction
2. Keep the gun unloaded until ready to use
3. Keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot
They pound these rules and others into your head at their instruction sessions. I do think this might help. It's going to be facts vs. emotion this November.
By the way, why do we get so upset about 12,000 or however many gun deaths a year, but we never bat an eye about 37,000-42,000 deaths in car-related accidents each year? Cars pollute, guns don't. Cars are expensive, guns aren't. Cars are expensive to maintain, guns aren't. And cars kill three times as many people a year.
Just a thought.
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