Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reporting statistics.
In an average year there are 250 justifiable self defense homicides involving firearms in the US.
In an average year there are 11,000 criminal homicides by firearm.
That is a 44 to 1 ratio of guns being used to take an innocent persons freedom away versus protecting someone's freedom. Statistically you are more likely to use your gun to kill your wife and kids then defend them from a stranger intent on harming you.
What are you worried about other peoples guns for, you have govt police to protect you.
Its a tool, an inanimate object, and you have an irrational fear.
Its a tool designed for the intention to kill, maim and destroy. Anytime anyone, good or bad is killed with a gun, it has achieved its design purpose. So yes, its an inanimate object a tool but its role and use within American society is hugely problematic.
Being worried about gun violence in a nation plagued with gun violence isn't an irrational fear. Its completely rational.
Its a tool designed for the intention to kill, maim and destroy. Anytime anyone, good or bad is killed with a gun, it has achieved its design purpose. So yes, its an inanimate object a tool but its role and use within American society is hugely problematic.
Being worried about gun violence in a nation plagued with gun violence isn't an irrational fear. Its completely rational.
Considering that violent crimes with firearms is steadily trending downward, you should be thrilled with the way things are going. Oh, that's right, it isn't trending downward because of bans, but because the prevalence of firearms is increasing.
Its a tool designed for the intention to kill, maim and destroy. Anytime anyone, good or bad is killed with a gun, it has achieved its design purpose. So yes, its an inanimate object a tool but its role and use within American society is hugely problematic.
Being worried about gun violence in a nation plagued with gun violence isn't an irrational fear. Its completely rational.
Considering that violent crimes with firearms is steadily trending downward, you should be thrilled with the way things are going. Oh, that's right, it isn't trending downward because of bans, but because the prevalence of firearms is increasing.
Its treading downward because the number of households with guns has been steadily dropping. 47% of households in 1980 had guns compared to only 31% in 2014. A smaller and smaller group of fanatics are buying larger and larger quantities of firearms. All evidence shows that the commonality of firearms in a household increases the risk of homicide, suicide and accidental death via firearm.
This quote from the study done by two physicians from UCLA.
In a study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, researchers interviewed 417 women across 67 battered women’s shelters. Nearly a third of these women had lived in a household with a firearm. In two-thirds of the homes, their intimate partners had used the gun against them, usually threatening to kill (71.4 percent) them. A very small percentage of these women (7 percent) had used a gun successfully in self-defense, and primarily just to scare the attacking male partner away. Indeed, gun threats in the home against women by their intimate partners appear to be more common across the United States than self-defense uses of guns by women.
Then there is suicide:
A study by the Harvard School of Public Health of all 50 U.S. states reveals a powerful link between rates of firearm ownership and suicides. Based on a survey of American households conducted in 2002, HSPH Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management Matthew Miller, Research Associate Deborah Azrael, and colleagues at the School’s Injury Control Research Center (ICRC), found that in states where guns were prevalent—as in Wyoming, where 63 percent of households reported owning guns—rates of suicide were higher. The inverse was also true: where gun ownership was less common, suicide rates were also lower.
Many lives would likely be saved if people disposed of their firearms, kept them locked away, or stored them outside the home. Says HSPH Professor of Health Policy David Hemenway, the ICRC’s director: “Studies show that most attempters act on impulse, in moments of panic or despair. Once the acute feelings ease, 90 percent do not go on to die by suicide.â€
Essentially as a gun owner you are more likely to be murdered and kill yourself then a non-gun owner.
A few years ago I heard it said that Washington had the highest per-capita NRA membership of any state. Undeniably, the state has traditionally opposed common-sense gun safety. A democratic governor even signed into law legalization of silencers in 2011. I don't know who needs a silencer other than an assassin or a gangster. I know that silencers were very popular among NY mafia back in the heyday of the Gambinos etc.
But the climate here has improved. I credit an influx of well-educated Californians, and well-informed millennial tech workers. Initiative 594, to mandate universal background checks, passed 59-40% in 2014. A coalition of concerned citizens, including Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Steve Ballmer, and Nick Hanauer (Amazon investor) generously donated to get it passed.
Now we have Initiative 1639, to restrict assault-style weapons. It's a good first step. There has always been confusion about the definition of 'assault style weapon.' I-1639 defines all semi-automatic style weapons as assault weapons. From the initiative: https://ballotpedia.org/Washington_I..._Measure_(2018)
I'm not a gun expert, so this is all Greek to me, but I'm told that this definition encompasses all semi-automatic-style weapons. This greatly simplifies things. No longer to police have to wonder whether the gun with the 'barrel shroud' is legal or not. The one thing I wish they had included is regulation of the high magazine clips. I think that is key, but they left it off.
Based on recent voting trends in the state, I think this will easily pass. Finally we will be on the road to common sense gun safety, as other advanced states such as California and New York.
Your post reads like you are a shill for the anti-2nd Amendment crowd with inaccurate terms like assault weapons, common-sense gun saftey, etc.
It is funny how so many on the left have no clue about what they are talking about, yet feel as if their opinion should trump fact based knowledge.
Furthermore, I suspect your premise of WA having the highest number of NRA members is way off.
[I also note a common refrain of gun control types advocating common sense gun safety under the guise of just wanting something reasonable and small.
But most give away their true intentions like you did, by saying the anti-gun legislation you support "is a good first step"]
As to educated people from CA coming to WA to promote anti-gun legislation, is it educated to claim "silencers' (again another inaccurate term) are only useful to assassins or gangsters?
It sounds like the so called educated people you speak of have been watching far too many Hollywood movies, instead of understanding what the real purpose and reason they exist is. Suppressors are actually used for hearing safety and reduction in noise pollution. Certain European countries MANDATE the usage for the aforementioned reasons.
While they do not silence anything, you can actually fire certain calibers without having additional hearing protection. Additionally as anyone who lives near a gun range can attest, it is very noisy. Thus suppressors would make their comfort level better, and be better for nature as well.
Watch this video to help educate yourself as to why they should be legal, having nothing to do with your wild imagination;
As you can hear from the video, and unlike what is portrayed in movies, suppressors are not silent, far from it. So anyone using it for nefarious/criminal reasons is still going to be making enough noise to draw attention.
More importantly, and what most gun control advocates fail to understand, is that criminals such as you describe (assassins and gangsters) are going to use anything they want, whether it is legal or not.
Gun and gun accessory laws only restrict the law abiding folks from usage. In the case of suppressors, law abiding citizens must potentially damage their hearing all because of some fictionalized depictions of suppressors sounding whisper quiet.
I guess in the educated minds of CA residents moving into WA, they think punches and kicks actually sound like this;
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reporting statistics.
In an average year there are 250 justifiable self defense homicides involving firearms in the US.
In an average year there are 11,000 criminal homicides by firearm.
That is a 44 to 1 ratio of guns being used to take an innocent persons freedom away versus protecting someone's freedom. Statistically you are more likely to use your gun to kill your wife and kids then defend them from a stranger intent on harming you.
Wrong. That's the body count. It doesn't take into account the number of lawful defensive gun uses where the bad guy was shot but didn't die, or where shots were fired but the bad guy ran off, or where the mere display of a gun was enough to deter a crime.
The goal isn't to rack up a bad guy body count, it's to prevent being victimized. If me drawing a gun and not using it is enough to scare a bad guy off, that's a legitimate defensive gun use.
Wrong. That's the body count. It doesn't take into account the number of lawful defensive gun uses where the bad guy was shot but didn't die, or where the mere display of a gun was enough to deter a crime.
The goal isn't to rack up a bad guy body count, it's to prevent being victimized. If me drawing a gun and not using it is enough to scar a bad guy off, that's a legitimate defensive gun use.
Exactly. The idea of having a gun is to STOP THE THREAT of harm to you. The ultimate goal of pulling the gun is to have the perp run away with no shots fired. That is often the outcome.
Its a tool designed for the intention to kill, maim and destroy. Anytime anyone, good or bad is killed with a gun, it has achieved its design purpose. So yes, its an inanimate object a tool but its role and use within American society is hugely problematic.
Being worried about gun violence in a nation plagued with gun violence isn't an irrational fear. Its completely rational.
Agreed, you might be getting it now. By your own words , you've implied it is the end user that dictates what happens. Until that happens it is just a tool that has the potential to kill. Just like many others.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
