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How are those numbers gathered? Because Our Town or whatever Bloomberg calls his gun grabbing group this week includes suicides in those numbers. Does the EU do that as well?
Another contributor to our numbers are legal shootings. It's difficult to have a legal shooting in the EU when most of those countries ban personal firearms or restrict them so much that there is no such thing as legal self defense with a gun.
Another contributor to the higher gun homicide are gangs shooting gangs in the US. If they kept it to themselves, I'd encourage it but occasionally a citizen is hit with a stray and not is not acceptable.
So if you get down to your average citizen getting targeted by a perp with a gun then it is very rare. Not rare enough for me to stop carrying but rare none the less.
That graph also says nothing about GUNS. It just says HOMICIDES.
That graph also says nothing about GUNS. It just says HOMICIDES.
Wait. I thought only guns could kill. Do you mean there are other ways to commit murder??? No, it can't be. The Media, Democrats, and the other Leftist would want to ban those too. Right?
Does one, a wise one, when they get on a plane not note where the nearest exit to them is, how many rows it is (to count in the smoke)?
Does one not listen to their instinct when it tells them that they should not here?
Do not people, some of them, live life as if they will live forever but are prepared to meet their maker tomorrow?
Have we not said for decades, "Never go to sleep angry at your loved one."?
I hate to tell you this but this is life, that chance, that risk, that possibility. Risk is always there. We can reduce the risk but we can never get totally rid of it.
And people, at least the wise ones, have lived like this for decades.
Interesting...
I have traveled a good deal more than most people, and I never go through these paces you describe. Go down in a plane, and you have about as much chance of survival as you do if some yahoo with a gun decides to put you in their sites and pull the trigger. I want to enjoy the flight, enjoy the concert, enjoy my drive on the highway, eat dinner without having to think about every way I can be killed. That's how I choose to live while at the same time not being a fool about obvious ways to stay safe and/or avoid danger. Call me what you will. Some can surf without a care. Others won't because of sharks.
Talk about statistics, which fears are more or less justified? People will fear and do what they will regardless.
Point is, there are lots of people now feeling fearful like you describe that not too long ago weren't having to be fearful about shots from out of nowhere when simply wanting to watch a movie, listen to live music, go to church. Just because you or others are okay or expecting to run safety drills wherever you go, have a gun at the ready as if it helps, not everyone wants to be in that mode as an everyday part of living life.
You say "this is life," but it sounds like YOUR life, not mine, not everyone's.
Just like some people can't imagine life without their guns while others can't imagine having one! People are different and "what's on the brain" is just as different depending on who you talk to.
Which part do you not understand? Quoting the article:
"In the 18 years prior to federal and state government gun reforms (1979-1996) Australia saw 13 fatal mass shootings in which 104 victims were killed and at least another 52 were wounded. There have been no fatal mass shootings since that time. 'Mass shootings' were defined as five or more victims killed by gunshot, not counting the perpetrator(s). From 1979 to 1996, total firearm deaths in Australia were declining at an average 3 per cent per year. Since then, the average decline in total firearm deaths has accelerated significantly to 5 per cent annually."
The part I don't understand is why the Aussies aren't "up in arms" insisting to get their guns back. Must be they don't like to be free, prefer tyranny, or what I wonder...?
The part I don't understand is why the Aussies aren't "up in arms" insisting to get their guns back. Must be they don't like to be free, prefer tyranny, or what I wonder...?
Go read up on it. The black market there is smuggling in thousands of guns.
1. According to your article gun-used deaths were already IN DECLINE in Australia.
2. According to your article a 3 percent decline to a 5 percent decline is "accelerated significantly". Seriously?? Maybe if it went from a decline of 3 percent to 15 percent, or 3 percent to 30 percent would I consider that "accelerated significantly," but your biased source is smoking dope if they think a difference of 3 to 5 is "significant".
3. You're deliberately side-stepping the most important fact: making guns illegal had no effect on HOMICIDES, whatever the way they were carried out.
If the issue is mass shootings, as the prior comment attempted to focus upon, the statistics do seem to serve. If the focus is gun-used deaths and/or total HOMICIDES, the statistics are not as compelling, not as "significantly," but still trending favorably. Interesting to consider why yes or more so in the first case and not so much otherwise, but both problems are worth curtailing either way. Right?
Addressing these different forms of terrorism, shootings, suicides, homicides should NOT be an either/or proposition.
I think we should accept that pro- and anti-gunners/Democrats seriously can't stand each other and should probably live in separate countries. Actually, it isn't too far from that now - both coasts are Blue and a large part of the interior is Red. The Red states could probably grant a "safe passage corridor" from coast to coast
Go read up on it. The black market there is smuggling in thousands of guns.
Too funny! One of the reasons often sited for the success in Australia not possible in the U.S. is the ability for Australia to keep guns out of the country in ways the United States cannot. This is a common anti-gun control argument with respect to Australia specifically that I have read more than a few times.
This about the "thousands of guns" being smuggled into Australia not so much, and that you don't provide a source of this information suggests to me you might be reading too much of this sort of thing on pro-gun sites you don't want to make obvious. Or have you got a credible source/justification for your claim when we all know statistics about black market gun smuggling is pretty much impossible to accurately come by? Data that also confirms how many guns are smuggled thanks to gun collectors vs criminals let alone murderers is something you can also no doubt provide. Please do.
While meanwhile, this is why you believe the Australians are not pushing to reverse their gun control laws? Another good one!
Wait. I thought only guns could kill. Do you mean there are other ways to commit murder??? No, it can't be. The Media, Democrats, and the other Leftist would want to ban those too. Right?
I wonder just how funny you think you really are...
Few are numbskull enough to think that "only guns could kill," but count the numbskulls who love to make that the argument, and you've got a whole lot of numbskulls!
It is about guns. England for example, a nation of roughly 50 million people with strict gun control. Had 571 homicides in 2016 of which 26 were by firearm. Accounting for only 5% of murders.
Georgia in contrast has a population of 10 million people with very loose gun control laws. In 2016 had roughly 600 homicides of which 70% were committed by firearm.
Its pretty obvious that a state with more guns means more gun homicides. Guns are by far the easiest and most efficient means to kill. If more guns made a society safer then England, would have a far greater homicide rate then Georgia. Yet its the complete opposite. Georgia's homicide is almost 7 times higher then England's.
The map showing the homicide rates between the EU and US states is telling. The EU is made up of many different countries with different peoples, histories and governments. Yet every single one of those countries has strict gun control and overwhelmingly lower homicide rates then even some of our most safe states. The differences in demographics, poverty and law enforcement between the US and the EU cannot explain why such a large margin of homicides exists between these two political entities. The most telling difference is the prevalence of guns.
Insane fact: The town of Columbus Georgia with a population of 190,000 people had more gun homicides last then England did with a population of 50 million. It had the double the number of gun homicides then Japan a nation of 127 million people.
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