I have three or four fire extinguishers around my house. They are placed strategically, one at the top of the stairs, one in the kitchen, etc. so that if there's a fire, I might be able to put it out - or at least render safe escape from the burning house. I also have a smoke alarm in the house, as well as some carbon monoxide detectors. I also pay a lot of money for insurance on my home.
The odds are that in my entire life, I will never have a fire in my house. So far I haven't had a fire in any of the places I've lived in my 55 years.
Based on those facts, it's a complete waste of money to have insurance, or smoke detectors, or carbon monoxide detectors, or fire extinguishers, since statistically it is extremely unlikely that I'll ever experience a fire.
I still prefer to have them, just in case.
Likewise with a gun. We already have significant restrictions on gun ownership in america. In order to purchase a gun, you must be an adult, you must be of sound mind, and you must not be a felon. A background check is performed to verify those three minimal requirements. It is illegal to buy a gun for someone else (a 'straw purchase'). It's illegal in most states to carry a gun on your person or in your car without a license. It's illegal to threaten a person with a gun if you aren't in great bodily danger. It is, it should go without saying, illegal to kidnap, rape, rob, or murder a person at gunpoint (or even without a gun).
Unlike most other countries, in the US ownership of a firearm is an enumerated civil right. Within our framework, guns simply will not ever be banned and confiscated, unlike other countries. With those facts in hand, we work within the framework of reality and do our best to keep guns out of the hands of those who should not have them, without unnecessarily (and uselessly) burdening those who are *not* proscribed from owning firearms.
Twenty years ago, the US had a homicide rate of 9.8/100k. As of 2012, our rate was 4.7/100k, a̶n̶d̶ ̶p̶r̶e̶l̶i̶m̶i̶n̶a̶r̶y̶ ̶f̶i̶g̶u̶r̶e̶s̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶F̶B̶I̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶i̶r̶s̶t̶
̶h̶a̶l̶f̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶2̶0̶1̶3̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶w̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶ ̶h̶u̶g̶e̶ ̶d̶r̶o̶p̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶3̶.̶6̶/̶1̶0̶0̶k̶.̶ * In those intervening years, the two most widely known gun control measures were enacted: The Brady Bill, which implemented background checks, and the Assault Weapons ban, which expired in 2004. According to the US Department of Justice, the FBI, and the Centers for Disease Control, those laws had *no measurable effect on violent crime rates*. Yet today we have half the homicides, half the rapes, half the robberies, etc, as we had twenty years ago - without assistance from gun control.
There simply is no need - within the American framework - for law abiding citizens to justify their ownership of guns. We indeed *are* all concerned about guns getting into the wrong hands, which is why we do have laws that prohibit said persons from owning them. And the majority of firearms owners, who are responsible people, take appropriate measures to safeguard their guns from getting into the wrong hands.
This answer brought to you by Coffee.
*The FBI Uniform Crime Report for 2013 was apparently released the same day I wrote this. The homicide rate for the year concluded at 4.5/100k, a small drop. Clearly the preliminary figures were out of kilter. Other rates of violent crime also dropped year over year, as did property crimes. Crime in the U.S. 2013
Read other answers by Paul Theodoropoulos on Quora:
- What would it take, legally speaking, for America to completely ban guns?
- How can we reduce gun violence and mass shootings in the United States?
- How would you characterize the behavior of gun activists on Quora?
from Quora http://ift.tt/2fhS4uK
No comments:
Post a Comment