Colonel Frank Grimes
04-03-2023, 12:35 AM
You can expect statistics to be misused regarding a controversial subject. For example, mass shootings in known high-crime gang areas are often not listed as gang-related mass shootings. You need actually to dig into the specifics of the shooting. If you take the statistics at face value, you'd think Joe Six-Pack is chimping out and shooting a bunch of people because he had a bad day instead of gang members finding out their rival will be at a party and letting the bullets fly.
Most victims of US mass shootings are black, data analysis finds (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/23/mass-shootings-tracker-analysis-us-gun-control-reddit)
1) Few of the incidents in the New York Times-Reddit analysis resembled planned massacres that attracted intense media and political attention in recent years
2) A new analysis of 358 mass shootings in America in 2015 found that three-quarters of the victims whose race could be identified were black.
3) The analysis, conducted by the New York Times with data collected by Reddit’s mass shooting tracker and the Gun Violence Archive, used law enforcement reports on shootings that left four or more people injured or dead in 2015.
4) Roughly a third of the incidents with known circumstances were drive-by shootings or were identified by law enforcement as gang-related. Another third were sparked by arguments, often among people who were drunk or high.
5) Nearly 90% of the zip codes that saw mass shootings had higher-than-average poverty rates.
Why restrict gun laws further and allow criminals an advantage over law-abiding citizens? This gang shit spills over into the lives of law-abiding citizens. Chicago is a war zone.
I bring this up because of the recent shooting. People need to understand the concept of trade-offs: in this case, a law-abiding citizen is allowed to protect himself, family, property, but there is the possibility that someone with mental health issues (and most likely a high-functioning autist) may slip through the cracks of our system, for any number of reasons, and gain legal access to a weapon and unfortunately murder people.
While making more restrictive gun laws will lead to fewer non-gang related mass shootings (i.e. shootings in Nashville, Uvalde, etc.), which are already rare, these laws will keep law abiding citizens from being able to protect themselves, family, and property. It becomes open season on the innocent.
For fuck's sake, if I was a psychopath in an alternate universe where guns were so severely restricted, and the guns that are already floating around in the US magically disappeared, I'd be running guns to the gangs for a fortune. It's simple supply and demand. The gang with guns is better off than the gang without guns. Even though Mexico has very strict gun laws (look how well that works), I'd be getting guns from Mexican cartels, who'd be getting them from China just as the cartels get fentanyl from China.
In others words, gun violence is not a problem that magically disappears.
I'm going to say something controversial but completely rational.
I'm willing to trade a few actual mass shootings where, unfortunately, innocent people die if law-abiding citizens can be armed (yes, with an AR-15) and defend themselves and their families, thereby saving more innocent lives.
Most victims of US mass shootings are black, data analysis finds (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/23/mass-shootings-tracker-analysis-us-gun-control-reddit)
1) Few of the incidents in the New York Times-Reddit analysis resembled planned massacres that attracted intense media and political attention in recent years
2) A new analysis of 358 mass shootings in America in 2015 found that three-quarters of the victims whose race could be identified were black.
3) The analysis, conducted by the New York Times with data collected by Reddit’s mass shooting tracker and the Gun Violence Archive, used law enforcement reports on shootings that left four or more people injured or dead in 2015.
4) Roughly a third of the incidents with known circumstances were drive-by shootings or were identified by law enforcement as gang-related. Another third were sparked by arguments, often among people who were drunk or high.
5) Nearly 90% of the zip codes that saw mass shootings had higher-than-average poverty rates.
Why restrict gun laws further and allow criminals an advantage over law-abiding citizens? This gang shit spills over into the lives of law-abiding citizens. Chicago is a war zone.
I bring this up because of the recent shooting. People need to understand the concept of trade-offs: in this case, a law-abiding citizen is allowed to protect himself, family, property, but there is the possibility that someone with mental health issues (and most likely a high-functioning autist) may slip through the cracks of our system, for any number of reasons, and gain legal access to a weapon and unfortunately murder people.
While making more restrictive gun laws will lead to fewer non-gang related mass shootings (i.e. shootings in Nashville, Uvalde, etc.), which are already rare, these laws will keep law abiding citizens from being able to protect themselves, family, and property. It becomes open season on the innocent.
For fuck's sake, if I was a psychopath in an alternate universe where guns were so severely restricted, and the guns that are already floating around in the US magically disappeared, I'd be running guns to the gangs for a fortune. It's simple supply and demand. The gang with guns is better off than the gang without guns. Even though Mexico has very strict gun laws (look how well that works), I'd be getting guns from Mexican cartels, who'd be getting them from China just as the cartels get fentanyl from China.
In others words, gun violence is not a problem that magically disappears.
I'm going to say something controversial but completely rational.
I'm willing to trade a few actual mass shootings where, unfortunately, innocent people die if law-abiding citizens can be armed (yes, with an AR-15) and defend themselves and their families, thereby saving more innocent lives.