trickyasafox
Member
Hi all- sorry to throw this up short notice- but i need everyone's help
My school just ran an article called - gun control is out of control- and i had to respond. The article is not avail online, but it's basically a summary of brady meets hillary meets gun grabbing whoever.
I pulled most of my facts from Gunfacts, but if any are inaccurate please feel free to correct me. thanks again
here is my response:
A Response to: 'Gun Control is Out of Control'
This is my fifth year at Fordham University, and I must say in all my time here this article has far and away gotten the biggest rise out of me. Before I go any further, I need to make several statements that come from an 'alternative' view of the other author.
First- A little about me. I completed my undergraduate work at Fordham this past spring, and have continued on in our magnificent little community for my masters. I am also a card carrying NRA member, and have been for a long time. I have been raised around firearms my whole life, and have been taught to respect them for what they are; tools. Firearms represent tools that can protect lives. I own a plethora of handguns, last count I was well over a dozen; and that number says nothing of my long guns. I own Glocks, AR-15s (note the plurals are intentional) SKSs', and numerous others. NONE of my firearms have ever been used against another human being. Not a single one.
Next, I think actually citing the Second Amendment is in order. According to the Bill of Rights, the Second Amendment reads: “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.” Why the previous author omitted nearly a third of the amendment, namely the part that actually referenced the people, I can only speculate.
The author of 'Gun Control is Out of Control' also states that 20 of the 22 nations gun laws are not enforced. I can't dispute that for one important reason; because it is an inaccurate statement. In the United States, there are over 20,000 different firearm laws on the books. If one were to selectively cherry pick 22 carefully, perhaps 20 could be found that have lax enforcement.
The other Author goes on to say, “ 8 children each day die as a result of guns.” I believe this statistic came from the greenguy- an ethics blogger online. At least thats where I first found this statistic. Color me skeptical, but I'm going to take the US Governments opinion on the matter. The Government stated that 1.7 Children die everyday as a result of firearms. If one excludes suicides, that number drops to 1.3, or about 475 children per year.
So where did this other statistic come from? 8 people per day does sound high. . . OH YES now I remember this study. It was conducted in the early 1990s in an effort to pass more anti-gun legislation. It originally stated 13 people per day, but has been updated and reduced to show the falling murder rates in the US. They defined child as any person up to and including 20 years old. Over half those deaths reported occurred in the 17-20 year old demographic. Furthermore, the majority of which were committed during a felony or other acts of illegal gang violence. That all being said, 475 kids a year is a lot, and we as a society should do everything we can to save as many people as possible. Lets look at what else we can do to save kids. The US Government reports that 13 teenagers die everyday from car accidents, 7 of which occur while the teen is driving, perhaps the US, as a society, could stop cars from driving 1 day out of about every 8. That would save more kids than removing every firearm in the country. Perhaps that is asking too much. Lets look at alcohol, thats already illegal for teens, so maybe some work can be done there. Drunk driving causes 1,500 deaths per year in the teenage demographic; and a further 300 accidents, like burning, drowning, and other tragedies resulting in death, occur with alcohol labeled as the direct cause.
For the sake of space, I'll touch on 1 more point and make my closing remarks. The previous Author cited a number of different nations with populations roughly totaling that of the United States. He cites Japan, Sweden, France, Great Britain, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, and Australia. Five of those nations are on the top 10 for highest Standard of Living and Highest income, and the other 3 are in the top 18. Of those, 4 rank higher than the US, and those 4 constitute over 2/3rds of the total population of the US. Of the 4 nations that rank higher than the United States, private ownership of firearms drifts between just over 9% and well over 22%. This would lead me to wonder if maybe it is less of a factor of inanimate objects [guns] causing crime, and more the quality of life for people. If I picked 8 nations 'at random' and picked some of the poorest countries in the world instead of the richest, I'm sure we'd see a very different distribution in murder rate per capita.
According to the National Crime Victimization survey of 2000, an estimated 2.5 million crimes are prevented every year by the presence of firearms; or about 7,000 crimes per day. Of those 7,000 crimes per day, 1,100 are attempted murders and 550 are attempted rapes. In the same study 60% of felons surveyed said they have or would avoid attempting to commit a criminal act against an armed citizen.
Finally one last look at the effectiveness of Gun-banning. It is ILLEGAL to own a firearm in Washington DC. Do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars, go directly to jail, Illegal. The murder rate in Washington DC is 56.9 people per 100,000 citizens. Across the river in Arlington- a more affluent area that has NO such ban on firearms- the murder rate is 1.6 persons per 100,000 citizens.
So I guess if people want to play a numbers game with firearms, getting rid of them is a pretty poor choice. They seem to be a contributing factor in keeping people safe. Maybe we should worry more about upping the standard of living in the US- which seems to have the greatest impact on violence, then worrying about guns? As for the statement about VT. That was a tragedy. A tragedy in a GUN FREE ZONE. Imagine if one armed citizen- a professor, or a student, had been able to exercise their right to keep and bear arms. Maybe some of those 32 families wouldn't be weeping right now, and maybe they would- but at least they would have had a chance.
My school just ran an article called - gun control is out of control- and i had to respond. The article is not avail online, but it's basically a summary of brady meets hillary meets gun grabbing whoever.
I pulled most of my facts from Gunfacts, but if any are inaccurate please feel free to correct me. thanks again
here is my response:
A Response to: 'Gun Control is Out of Control'
This is my fifth year at Fordham University, and I must say in all my time here this article has far and away gotten the biggest rise out of me. Before I go any further, I need to make several statements that come from an 'alternative' view of the other author.
First- A little about me. I completed my undergraduate work at Fordham this past spring, and have continued on in our magnificent little community for my masters. I am also a card carrying NRA member, and have been for a long time. I have been raised around firearms my whole life, and have been taught to respect them for what they are; tools. Firearms represent tools that can protect lives. I own a plethora of handguns, last count I was well over a dozen; and that number says nothing of my long guns. I own Glocks, AR-15s (note the plurals are intentional) SKSs', and numerous others. NONE of my firearms have ever been used against another human being. Not a single one.
Next, I think actually citing the Second Amendment is in order. According to the Bill of Rights, the Second Amendment reads: “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.” Why the previous author omitted nearly a third of the amendment, namely the part that actually referenced the people, I can only speculate.
The author of 'Gun Control is Out of Control' also states that 20 of the 22 nations gun laws are not enforced. I can't dispute that for one important reason; because it is an inaccurate statement. In the United States, there are over 20,000 different firearm laws on the books. If one were to selectively cherry pick 22 carefully, perhaps 20 could be found that have lax enforcement.
The other Author goes on to say, “ 8 children each day die as a result of guns.” I believe this statistic came from the greenguy- an ethics blogger online. At least thats where I first found this statistic. Color me skeptical, but I'm going to take the US Governments opinion on the matter. The Government stated that 1.7 Children die everyday as a result of firearms. If one excludes suicides, that number drops to 1.3, or about 475 children per year.
So where did this other statistic come from? 8 people per day does sound high. . . OH YES now I remember this study. It was conducted in the early 1990s in an effort to pass more anti-gun legislation. It originally stated 13 people per day, but has been updated and reduced to show the falling murder rates in the US. They defined child as any person up to and including 20 years old. Over half those deaths reported occurred in the 17-20 year old demographic. Furthermore, the majority of which were committed during a felony or other acts of illegal gang violence. That all being said, 475 kids a year is a lot, and we as a society should do everything we can to save as many people as possible. Lets look at what else we can do to save kids. The US Government reports that 13 teenagers die everyday from car accidents, 7 of which occur while the teen is driving, perhaps the US, as a society, could stop cars from driving 1 day out of about every 8. That would save more kids than removing every firearm in the country. Perhaps that is asking too much. Lets look at alcohol, thats already illegal for teens, so maybe some work can be done there. Drunk driving causes 1,500 deaths per year in the teenage demographic; and a further 300 accidents, like burning, drowning, and other tragedies resulting in death, occur with alcohol labeled as the direct cause.
For the sake of space, I'll touch on 1 more point and make my closing remarks. The previous Author cited a number of different nations with populations roughly totaling that of the United States. He cites Japan, Sweden, France, Great Britain, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, and Australia. Five of those nations are on the top 10 for highest Standard of Living and Highest income, and the other 3 are in the top 18. Of those, 4 rank higher than the US, and those 4 constitute over 2/3rds of the total population of the US. Of the 4 nations that rank higher than the United States, private ownership of firearms drifts between just over 9% and well over 22%. This would lead me to wonder if maybe it is less of a factor of inanimate objects [guns] causing crime, and more the quality of life for people. If I picked 8 nations 'at random' and picked some of the poorest countries in the world instead of the richest, I'm sure we'd see a very different distribution in murder rate per capita.
According to the National Crime Victimization survey of 2000, an estimated 2.5 million crimes are prevented every year by the presence of firearms; or about 7,000 crimes per day. Of those 7,000 crimes per day, 1,100 are attempted murders and 550 are attempted rapes. In the same study 60% of felons surveyed said they have or would avoid attempting to commit a criminal act against an armed citizen.
Finally one last look at the effectiveness of Gun-banning. It is ILLEGAL to own a firearm in Washington DC. Do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars, go directly to jail, Illegal. The murder rate in Washington DC is 56.9 people per 100,000 citizens. Across the river in Arlington- a more affluent area that has NO such ban on firearms- the murder rate is 1.6 persons per 100,000 citizens.
So I guess if people want to play a numbers game with firearms, getting rid of them is a pretty poor choice. They seem to be a contributing factor in keeping people safe. Maybe we should worry more about upping the standard of living in the US- which seems to have the greatest impact on violence, then worrying about guns? As for the statement about VT. That was a tragedy. A tragedy in a GUN FREE ZONE. Imagine if one armed citizen- a professor, or a student, had been able to exercise their right to keep and bear arms. Maybe some of those 32 families wouldn't be weeping right now, and maybe they would- but at least they would have had a chance.