Since the Sandy Hook tragedy, another 3,300 people have died from gun violence in this country. That's in a period of about about four months, and it means that:
About 825 people per month have been killed
About 206 people per week have been killed
About 28 people per day have been killed
Whether the NRA and other right-wingers want to admit it or not, this is a serious problem. And it is a problem that no other developed nation has. It is caused by the proliferation of guns in this society, and the ease with which anyone, even criminals and the dangerously mentally ill, can get the gun of their choice (including rapid-fire large-magazine assault weapons which can kill large numbers of people in a very short time).
Can't we at least try to do something about these gun deaths? Can't we at least try to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people? No one believes asking all gun buyers to pass a background check will eliminate all gun deaths, but wouldn't it be a reasonable and constitutional action that could lower the number of gun deaths? How can anyone justify doing nothing?
Today's America actually has weaker anti-gun laws than there were in the Old West. In many of the famous Old West towns, there were strict anti-gun ordinances. Visitors to these towns had to deposit their guns at the sheriff's office. And although there were a few high-profile shootings here and there, gun violence was actually quite rare. It was the sensationalist dime novelists who created the fantasy of the "Wild West" where everyone was packing a pistol. Later, that fantasy was picked up by Hollywood Westerns. But the fact is, by and large, we have weaker gun laws today than existed in the America of the 1880s.
ReplyDeleteThat's very true. The "wild west" wasn't nearly as wild as Hollywood would have us believe. Those towns wanted to attract settlers and businesses -- and you can't do that with gun violence being rampant (so they strictly controlled it).
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