Mr. Write's Page

Well, we’ve had another school massacre, this time in Florida, and the gun reform issue is back in the news.

The high school protesters have been impressively sincere and articulate, but other than that, not much about this round of the debate is fresh or notable. Same song, 30th verse.

My opinion on this subject doesn’t count for much, but I’ll express it anyway.

Clearly, the US needs to put more restrictions on guns and gun ownership. We’re killing each other at record rates. Nothing gets done about it because the conservatives, malignant as always, block every reform effort, however modest. Because freedom.

For me, this is easy. We can reduce the numbers of gun deaths quickly and significantly. Other countries have done it.

I favor vigorous reforms to the gun laws for two reasons. First, it’s the right and rational thing to do.

And second, I simply don’t like guns. I have no use for them, don’t want to be around them. To my mind, firearms have no redeeming qualities except as necessary tools for police and soldiers in their official capacities. This isn’t the frontier anymore.

Further, I have no sympathy for gun lovers — be they hunters, collectors, or people trying to compensate for a personal shortcoming — because guns are too dangerous to be so easily obtained, brandished, and used.

My common sense tells me to avoid things that imperil me and others when I have no legitimate need for those things.

As a civilian in America in 2018, I have no reason to possess dynamite, nitro, TNT, nerve gas, cyanide, Samurai swords, or firearms. Especially when the restrictions on possessing and using them are so feeble.

It should be an easy call. My access to dangerous stuff should be either denied or severely restricted to protect me and the people around me.

Nationally, we regulate motor vehicles quite effectively, to the detriment of virtually no one. Couldn’t we manage firearms in a similar way?

At this point, gun people trot out the Second Amendment.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Dreadful syntax, archaic (227 years old), and vague enough to allow a range of interpretations.

One interpretation is that the Second Amendment was ratified so we can protect ourselves in case of a coup or an outbreak of sinister government trickery.

Another take: it was added to secure the Virginia vote in the ratification process, because well-regulated militias kept the slaves under control.

(The founders were accustomed to having, and comfortable with, separate state militias. There was no such thing as a national army until after the US was created. Actually, many of the founders opposed forming a standing national army.)

To my mind, the Second Amendment refers to arming police and soldiers, not to allowing every bonehead with a manhood problem to amass an arsenal.

Well, that’s a bit unfair. Not all boneheads have a manhood problem.

The Supreme Court, I realize, has ruled that the Second Amendment allows civilians to own guns. But the court also made clear that limits and regulations on firearms are acceptable.

The fact is, most Americans live in a bubble regarding this issue. People tend to pay attention to what goes on in the US, but they don’t understand, and usually don’t care, what happens in the rest of the world.

That’s a mistake. Understanding what happens elsewhere is important. Facts can contradict predetermined beliefs, and reality can be unsettling and annoying, but we need the context.

Let me lay some statistics on you.

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In 2016, the American Journal of Medicine looked at total gun deaths in the world’s 23 highest-income nations during 2010. It found that 82 percent of the gun deaths occurred in the US.

The US had half the population of the other 22 countries combined, yet our gun-related murder rate was 25 times higher.

Of those 23 high-income nations, the US had the highest firearm homicide rate, the highest firearm suicide rate, and the highest total firearm death rate.

In 2010 in those 23 countries overall:

— Of the total gun deaths of people 14 and under, 91 percent happened in the US.

— Of the total gun deaths of people ages 15-24, 92 percent happened in the US.

— Of the total gun deaths of women, 90 percent happened in the US.

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According to statistics, Norwegian police drew their weapons 42 times during 2014. Of those 42 incidents, two shots were fired, and no one was hit.

We don’t know how many shots were fired by American police officers in 2014, because, incredibly, keeping the stats is prohibited by federal law; however, we know that police shot and killed 632 people that year.

But Norway is a tiny country compared to the US. Consider how we compared to the UK.

In the UK, population 65 million, 51 gun homicides occurred in 2014. In the US, population 318 million, 8,124 gun homicides occurred in 2014.

In other words, while the US population is roughly six times that of the UK, we experienced 160 times as many gun homicides.

According to the World Health Organization, Americans are 50 times more likely than citizens of the UK to be shot to death.

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More random facts to contemplate…

— Compared to the rest of the world, Americans are 10 times more likely to be killed by a gun and six times more likely to be killed accidentally by a gun.

— The US has more firearms per capita than any other country in the world.

— 31 percent of global mass shootings occur in the US.

— In 2007, it was estimated that 650 million guns were owned by civilians worldwide. Americans, accounting for five percent of the world population, owned 48 percent of those guns.

— Since the 2012 shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, 1,600 more mass shootings (those involving four or more fatalities) have occurred in the US, resulting in 1,800 dead and 6,400 wounded.

— Annually, about 100,000 Americans are shot, and 30,000 are killed. Two-thirds of the gun deaths are suicides.

— 400,000 guns are stolen each year in the US.

— A 2015 survey found that about 50 percent of US gun owners possess just one or two guns, and 14 percent have between eight and 140 guns. That 14 percent, amounting to three percent of the US population, owns half of all the civilian firearms in America.

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We all have beliefs and belief systems that we champion. On issues large and small, we instinctively take the side that makes us feel good about ourselves — makes us feel respected for our values, maybe accepted by a group we admire.

Some people share their feelings freely, some keep it to themselves, but the behavior is natural and universal.

When you do it right, it’s a healthy thing. When you engage your brain, apply your common sense, fire up your BS detector, and come to conclusions that are reasonable, honest, helpful, and fair, good for you.

But it isn’t healthy when you do it wrong. When you let the talking heads do your thinking for you. Or fall for propaganda. Or buy into conspiracy theories. Or accept the notion that entire groups, mostly people who don’t look like you, are a threat.

If you want to feel good about yourself, try using your intellect — your advanced reasoning abilities as a homo sapien — to decide where you stand.

If you want respect, earn it. Stop going with your gut and your reptilian brain. Break from the herd.

You might see that guns and gun ownership can to be regulated in rational ways for the public good, while affecting you virtually not at all.

You might realize that evil forces are not plotting to confiscate your guns.

You might conclude that, when a country has 90 guns for every 100 citizens, and even minor safeguards are stonewalled, that is insanity writ large.