The murder of 33 students and faculty at Virginia Tech April 16 shocked America, but even more shocking is the nearly absolute silence of political, civic, media and even school leaders on the topic of gun control. Indeed, about the only discussion heard on this topic since the killings goes in the opposite direction with calls to make it easier for students to carry handguns to school, on the specious theory that a heavily armed student body would somehow reduce the chance of deadly violence on campus.
Wrong.
The argument that guns will prevent rather than foster homicides is the most egregious of the hoary myths promulgated by the National Rifle Association, its adherents and its collaborators.In 2004, according to federally reported statistics, private citizens used gunfire to kill 170 criminals. In the same year, there were 11,624 murders and non-negligent homicides by gun. Put another way, 68 times more innocent people than criminals were killed by privately owned guns.But guns are deadly in other ways, too: 16,907 Americans committed suicide with guns in 2004 alone. Another 780 are killed by accidental shootings every year, which means gun owners are four and a half times more likely to kill an innocent person -- often a family member -- accidentally than they are to shoot a criminal.
Indeed, guns are the weapons of choice for both murder and suicide in the United States. Gunfire accounted for 66.4% of homicides and 53.7% of suicides in 2004. This isn't to say the murder and suicide won't occur if we get rid of the guns, but guns certainly make it a lot a lot easier.Do guns make us safer? The answer is quite clearly a resounding NO.
Sources:
U.S. Dept. of Justice, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics Online
Centers for Disease Control
U.S. Dept. of Transportation
Note: this was originally posted on ketches, yaks & hawks 29 August 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Anyone who spends a lot of time around college students knows that giving them *anything* sharp or pointy makes the world a more dangerous place. (Have you seen them drive???) If my students were licensed to carry, I’d retire tomorrow.
Note: Originally submitted by AK on 30 August 2007
For brevity’s sake, I decided not to raise that issue, but having been something of a hothead undergrad (is that unnecessarily redundant?) myself, I readily admit your point.
Note: originally submitted by Sanderling 30 August 2007
Well, we thought that guns were a problem here in DC, so we passed this law banning handguns in the city a few years back — only to have it reversed in the (heavily Republican controlled) federal courts. Now it’s up to the Supreme Court to give us our law back. We’d also like to expand healthcare to immigrant children. Who knows how long it will be before that gets thrown out too. Heavy sigh.
Note: originally posted by Anne Lindenfeld 7 September 2007
One can only hope that the reactionary flood tide may have finally crested. I wish I was more sanguine about the upcoming national elections, however ….
Note: originally posted by Sanderling 7 September 2007
Post a Comment