Surge of Tragic Shootings Show Need for Gun Control
CHICAGO – Over the weekend news wires reported a “barbaric” gun massacre in Carthage, North Carolina at a nursing home that treated patients with Alzheimer’s and other conditions. Robert Stewart, 45-years-old, armed with a shotgun, rifle and other weapons, shot and killed seven patients, some confined to wheelchairs, as well as a male nurse. Stewart, who’s now in custody, was wounded by a local police officer that responded to the shooting.
Elsewhere, in Santa Clara, California, six family members, including three children, were found dead in an apparent murder-suicide on Sunday.
What’s the connection between these two shootings? Simply put, it’s the role and easy access to guns in the U.S. that allows horrific shootings to occur on a continual basis. With over 30,000 gun deaths in the U.S. each year, an appropriate response to this epidemic should be bold and comprehensive policies to prevent further homicides, suicides and unintentional injuries.
“Little is being done to address the elephant in the room: the 280 million guns already in circulation and how to reduce this staggering number,” said Sally Slovenski, Executive Director of Freedom States Alliance. “Unless federal, state and local lawmakers stand up to the gun lobby and enact comprehensive policies to cut off the supply of guns – such as limiting gun purchases to one per month, banning semi-automatic assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines – in addition to limiting the number of guns manufactured and sold in the U.S. each year, gun violence will continue unabated in America,” said Slovenski.
Although the percentage of American households reporting gun ownership has declined significantly in recent years to 34.5%, according to the National Opinion Research Center (NORC), the total number of guns in private hands has dramatically increased in the past 40 years. In other words, there is an incredible and unequal distribution of firearms: most gun owners own multiple firearms and some have huge stockpiles and arsenals.
“The common denominator of all these shootings and massacres is the access to deadly guns. It’s almost too obvious to mention, but without guns there would be no shooting massacres,” said Scott Vogel of Freedom States Alliance. “No other type of weapon inflicts this much death and injury except firearms. Since that is the case, legislators know where they should be targeting their efforts to save lives, regulating the guns themselves and the gun industry.”
Due to the gun industry’s mass production and mass marketing of firearms, approximately 4.5 million new guns are bought in the United States annually–more than half of the 8 million manufactured worldwide.
“280 million guns, in a nation of 306 million people, is a very big number. In fact, it is more than a third of all the guns owned worldwide. And, unlike other consumer products–such as toasters or hair dryers—guns rarely break, are durable, and endure very little wear and tear. They also rarely get thrown away,” said Slovenski.
Gary Kleck, a criminologist who supports the gun lobby agenda, admitted in his book Point Blank, that the average gun is only fired 24 times each year and can last over 400 years.
“The gun lobby likes people to believe that more guns equal less crime. The truth is that guns never die, but over 30,000 people do as a result of firearms flooding our homes, streets and communities,” said Vogel.
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Here is a novel Idea. Lets make the punishment fit the crime for a change, and not make the law abiding citizens pay the price for the idiots in this world.
I am really tiring of the anti gun folks on on their high horse, that think we should punish the whole crowd because of a few bad apples.
I never met a killer "gun". We don't need " gun control ", we need "Criminal Control". Federal law states, commit a felony with a gun go to prison for a minimum of 5yrs. We need the existing laws to be enforced. Cars kill and disfigure more of the population than guns ever will. Do you suggest we ban the automobile? Also for the un-informed FULLY AUTOMATIC WEAPONS have been ILLEGAL since 1934, yes 1934. The gun-grabbers suggest that my Model 1100 skeet and hunting shotgun is automatic and should be banned. Come and get it!
They should put a bounty on these people. I'm still waiting to hear an anti's explanation of why Chicago and Washington DC are among the worst crime areas and have the strictest gun laws .
Using tragedy to promote their misguided agenda has got to be the most low life character trait known to man.
It does not suffice that the crazies are choosing safe zones; our schools , churches, malls, parks, etc to act out their cowardly killings. Now the anti gun politicians want to make the whole country a safe haven? And broaden the target range for the crazies? They turn a blind eye to the results of gun confiscation in Australia and England. Can they say Mumbai. No one had guns in India. They are buying them now. Obviously the anti's have their heads where the sun doesn't shine. They they are looking for excuses to further their agenda not to make a safer society .
Take away all guns , now they can kill with knives,clubs,cars,ect. They don't enforce the laws we have now, how do they think they can enforce no gun laws ? I think we need to vote smarter people in our goverment offices. I think my grandkids are smarter than a lot of what we have in DC. Donalder
If you really want to stop crime ,and keep rampage killings down to a minimum,just require everyone in America over the age of 18 to wear a gun. If everyone had guns ,after the period of killing off the idiots,assaults,robberies,rapes and carjackings would disappear.
It's not about gun rights ; it's about rights.
Note: Statistics in the article are based on a 2007 survey conducted by the The Graduate Institute of International Studies, an institution with about a thousand students from over 90 countries.
The solution is not more gun restrictions: Chicago has an outright ban, and it's violent crime rate is 184% of the national average.
West Virginia has almost no gun restrictions, and its violent crime rate is 0.75% the national average.
Violent crime rates are directly proportional to gun restrictions. As Roosevelt said, "An armed society is a polite society".
The problem isn't guns - the problem is not enough guns.
Your argument is fallacious: You tell us that there are 280 million guns in the country, and then cite two specific incidents where they are used in offense as opposed to defense.
Where are the stats on violent crime prevented by the presence of firearms?
If I recite an incident where a car driver killed 17 cyclists, or an elderly man drove through a store front killing 5, would that consitute a basis to outlaw automobiles? How about the fact that traffic fatalities exceed "gun deaths"?
And who are these people involved in "gun deaths"? Because I have to say - gang members will always find a way to kill one another. But why do you want to leave ME defenseless because of the actions of a criminal element?
When the President abandons his protection, I'll abandon mine.
Oh good grief, another load of twisted logic, half truths and mindless drivel upchucked by another paranoid pansy. Last month some nutjob here in Texas beat the crap out of his girlfriend and then repeatedly ran over her with his SUV until her body was mashed flat. Q: Where is the chorus of outraged voices clambering to ban SUVs? A: Nowhere. Why? Because if you remove the hot-button 'evil gun' issue, one can plainly see that the real problem is with behavior. And its a lot easier to point fingers at a piece of metal than to deal with the real (social) problems of violence in this country. You know what I call your anti-gun argument? LAZY! There are several reasons I moved away from Chicago and putting up with fascists like you and Daily are at the top of the list.
"The gun lobby likes people to believe that more guns equal less crime . The truth is that guns never die, but over 30,000 people do as a result of firearms flooding our homes, streets and communities,” said Vogel. "
Well as Right to Carry has spread Crime HAS gone down and dramatically
You convieniently left out all the folks whose lives are saved because they could defend themselves didn't you?
In the immnortal words of Paul Harvey
That is
The Rest of the Story
I am from Kentucky we hold on to grudges til the die of old age, then have them stuff and mounted
The common denominator of all these shootings and massacres is the access to deadly guns
and the Least Common Denominator is that those being shot at were defenceless
One rarely hears reports of mass shootings were there is legal carry and the ones that do make it through the media filters report a much lower death count.
Gun Control = Good People Dead
Right to Carry by Honest Citizens = Bad People Dead
You choose
I am from Kentucky we hold on to grudges til the die of old age, then have them stuff and mounted
In March there was a school shooting in Germany 15 dead. Germany has gun control laws that make ours look like total anarchy. They did not seem to work any better than we you want to increase here,
Now in this case the man entered a Sr Citizens home, do you think the outcome would have been any different had he carried a ditch bank blade rather than a fire arm? http://www.terratech.net/images/products/psl3080.jpg
Is there some law that would have prevented the family in Santa Clara from being poisoned gassed of being murdered in a fire, or just in their sleep with a Kitchen knife?
I am from Kentucky we hold on to grudges til the die of old age, then have them stuff and mounted