why? because we as a people have stopped making decisions based on facts, and now are more likely to do so based on feeling. feelings are great, but don't make me cough up a few obvious reasons why life will always be hard and often decisions on how things should happen are as well.
FACT: guns are used to kill more Americans than any other weapon
it's true, the FBI catalogs the killings in our country, and firearms account for 67.5% of them. this shouldn't be difficult to accept, any number of different types of firearms are available in various sizes and types, from large shotguns that shoot huge slugs to little tiny handguns smaller than your hand that shoot bullets smaller than a 1/4 inch in size.
the data on what kills Americans can be found here:
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/tables/10shrtbl07.xls
FACT: of all those killed in the Unites States, better than half are killed by HANDGUNS
this should also not be surprising, if you can get a cheap 'Saturday Night Special' or a 'Derringer' style handgun that can easily fit in almost anyone's pocket, it shouldn't be surprising that people roaming around with them are killing each other. for good reasons (self defense) or bad (robbery or crimes of passion), these are easily carried and easily used by Americans to kill each other.
the data on what types of firearms are used by Americans to kill each other are found here:
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/tables/10shrtbl08.xls
FACT: an AUTOMATIC gun is just that, AUTOMATIC.
that means that when you fire it, then it reloads and keeps firing until you stop firing it. an automatic weapon is very closely related to a machine gun... but generally it's not a machine gun. a machine gun is generally considered to be large (usually not something a human would carry and shoot with accuracy). however, a machine gun is defined as an automatic weapon:
ma·chine gun
noun
- 1.an automatic gun that fires bullets in rapid succession for as long as the trigger is pressed.
the above definition is important. you can tie a string around the trigger of an automatic weapon and leave, and it will keep on firing as long as bullets are being fed into it. most people who are familiar with firearms consider an automatic weapon to be a 'machine gun' when it is belt-fed, or fed by some seemingly endless amount of bullets.
FACT: assault weapons can be, but are usually NOT automatic
and with that, most people educated on the topic of firearms don't consider an assault rifle to be a machine gun.
FACT: most firearms have some kind of magazine.
here we get a little dicey with definitions, because those who truly understand firearms would probably be offended if i considered the drum of a revolver to be a magazine. but in the end, the weapon has a storage capacity of bullets that it fires before it needs to be replenished. shotguns normally keep their shells in a tube under the barrel (normally around 5-8 shells), revolvers have a drum of bullets (normally 6-8 but can be as high as 10 bullets), and rifles usually have magazines (which can range from 5-30 bullets in normal capacity).
FACT: firearms vary in CALIBER, which is the size of the projectile being fired from it.
the range is significant, i'm not even going to bother to state the complete range because someone who knows more than i do will correct me. what's important here is that everyone should realize that sometimes large guns fire small bullets, and sometimes small guns fire large bullets. no matter what the gun looks like, and no matter how long the barrel is, and no matter how large the magazine is, in the end it has a caliber which defines the size, and to a certain extent the power, of what's coming out of it.
FACT: firearms of different types will often use the same caliber
this is important. you can and will find pistols that fire what most people would consider a rifle round. and you will find rifles that shoot small pistols rounds... and you can even find tiny pistols that shoot shotgun rounds. my point here: the size of the gun and what it looks like doesn't define it's lethality, it could be shooting anything. and the point of this is simple: if you applied every restriction ever places on firearms in the United States on a firearm, you could still buy a rifle that's just as powerful as what the military shoots every day... and it could be in a big wood rifle, or a little pistol. the impact would be identical.
FACT: firearms are by nature made to send a projectile at a target
some people like to make it seem like there's only one purpose to a gun, and that's to kill.... which isn't completely true. there are firearms that are for nailing things to walls, firearms that are made for competitive target shooting, and even firearms made to throw ropes... but let's face it, by far the most commonly thought of use for a firearm is to send a projectile at or in or through something... and many would argue that's done to be lethal. however, as a country, we go through a lot more bullets than we have murders - so we are all terrible shots, or lethality against humans is not the most common use.
at the same time, knives are made to cut, bats are made to... pound baseballs, and so on. but, some could argue that the primary use of a knife is to cut food, and the primary use of a bat is for kids to play softball... where the primary use of a firearm is to kill.
FACT: the 3 most commonly fired caliber in assault rifles are also very commonly found in hunting rifles.
when i say 3 calibers i mean, .308, .223, and 7.62x39. the last of which is the caliber of the AK-47, and some would disagree that it's commonly found in a hunting equipment, and my only response is the Mini30, which is a rifle found on a lot of farms. anyway, this shouldn't be surprising, if a caliber is good for hunting people, why wouldn't it be good for hunting food?
FACT: a firearm cannot fire itself.
i shouldn't have to explain this, but it's a valid point that has to be made. a fork can't make you fat, you have to use it too much... and gun can't kill others, someone has to pick it up and use it.
NOW THAT WE HAVE THAT ALL CLEARED UP...
here's my issue.
we as a people go round and round about guns. everyone has an opinion - and everyone should have the right to their own opinion.
i'm going even go as far as to say that if a majority of people would like to start making dramatic changes to firearms legislation, then they should hold a vote, and if it passes, it should be enacted.
BUT
before anyone is allowed to make a decision, everyone needs to be informed and really understand all the facts i've stated above.
i recently got into a discussion online about banning all assault rifles... and it bothered me how uninformed people were.
in 1994 a law was passed that banned any rifle from having more than 2 of 7 characteristics that made it an 'assault rifle'. this included a bayonet lug and a pistol grip... the bayonet lug has absolutely no impact on the rifle's ability to shoot, nor does the pistol grip. so we spent millions of dollars and untold amounts of time on banning aesthetics.
worse, the law did nothing to ban weapons of the exact same caliber as the two most commonly found assault rifles in existence, the AR type and the AK type. while i won't go into the history of the two rifles, both are civilian variants of what most of the world's military forces carry. so we banned guns that look like them.
we did nothing to ban guns that shoot the exact same bullet but don't look like them. and we didn't touch anything that uses the most commonly found caliber in sniper rifles, because most of those don't look mean or have bayonets.
some would argue that one of the 7 characteristics was the magazine, saying that the gun couldn't have the bayonet lug if the magazine carried more than 5 bullets... but who cares about a bayonet lug?? you could drop the bayonet lug, and put a fixed thumbhole stock on it and have a 200 round magazine.
so... then what? we need to do away with large capacity magazines, right?
well, first, there are literally millions of them out there so even if you could ban them, you'd never collect them all - plus, there's a NATO standard that makes one caliber of magazines standard for use on many types of rifles... so you'd be impacting assault rifles and common hunting rifles.
some would say that a hunter shouldn't need more than 5 bullets... and maybe that's the case, but you'll still never collect them all, you'd be wasting your time writing that law.
and WAIT - before we go on and on about assault rifles.... we forgot something!
better than HALF of the murders that happen in the United States are committed with HANDGUNS. less than 3% of murders were committed with rifles, and assault weapons are a small percentage of rifles... so banning assault weapons would... have impacted an unmeasurably tiny amount of the crimes committed in this country.
and then we get to the "well, we have to start somewhere" argument. this just infuriates me. this is like someone who wants to lose weight thinking they are putting a solid effort into it by spending all kinds of time and effort into making sure they only eat the candy with the least amount of impact... but still doing little to no change to their diet and exercise otherwise.
and almost zero legislation has impacted shotguns - because people think those are for hunting. yes, they are... and they are used for hunting because they fire many bullets at once across a wide pattern. SO - a double barrel shotgun with NO magazine that only holds two shells could fire more than a dozen projectiles at once across a wide space.
yes, this makes a shotgun deadlier than an 'assault weapon', with or without the bayonet lug.
in fact, shotguns account for more killings than rifles... but the only restrictions currently placed on them have to do with the lengths of their barrels and stocks (they can have bayonet lugs and any size magazine).
recently, a California politician held a press conference where he introduced us to what he called the 'Ghost Gun'. he ranted on about how many bullets it could hold and fire, and how it was a killing machine. and, he was completely misinformed.
what he did was get people all excited that he was going to make a difference by spouting off lies. in truth, if the gun he held could actually do what he said it could... then it would melt from the heat it was putting off.
if you think firearms are a problem in our society today, then by all means - DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. but please, be informed.
realize that you just make an ass of yourself when you spout off what you think are facts when they are simply untrue... and you look like a jackass when you ignore the thousands who are murdered with cheap straw purchased weapons and point the finger at the tiny percentage of guns which are expensive to buy and most commonly tracked.
and accept this one undeniable FACT: if anything, gun violence has proven that no amount of legislation will keep you completely safe, from crazies and criminals, and anyone with the number 2 weapon used for killing in the United States, knives (used to kill more than 10% of those murdered, and have zero control legislation).
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