Guns or No Guns: How about We use some Common Sense First?

I was about to start this blog post with a comment that I'm not usually political on my blogs, but looking back at the past few posts, I realize that I am much more political than I thought. I guess that I like to write about what is on my mind and I like discussing it with people.

Today, the subject I want to focus on is gun control. I am not going to be writing a piece about which side is better, I want to write and tell you all about the arguments that BOTH sides use that are flat out incorrect or they are cherry picking the data for their own use. It is a sin that is become so common in the TV, social media, and in normal conversation. People are choosing hyperbole and inflammatory language instead of common sense and reason (hence both Mister Trump and Senator Sanders are doing so well in the polls. They are beacons for their side of the inflammatory culture we have today).

I would ask those who are both pro and anti-gun is “what do you want to stop?” Violence or violence caused by guns? The reason I ask is that there is no causal data to show that lowering violence done by guns even lowers the violence overall (Farley). The United Kingdom has virtually no gun crimes in their nation BUT they are the highest for violent crimes and that statement is vague because the United States and the United Kingdom classify violent crime completely different (Bier).

Every study I found has shown that restricted gun ownership may lower the amount of violence done with guns, but it has little to no impact on violent crimes itself (Robertson). The National Research Council has said, "In summary, the committee concludes that existing research studies and data include a wealth of descriptive information on homicide, suicide, and firearms, but, because of the limitations of existing data and methods, do not credibly demonstrate a causal relationship between the ownership of firearms and the causes or prevention of criminal violence or suicide."(Wellford, Pepper, and Petrie 6).

The issue is not gun violence, or sexual violence, or child violence. It's violence, plain and simple. The pro and anti-gun proponents are like two firefighters arguing over if a hand held fire hose is more useful to fighting fires than one hooked in to the city system. Meanwhile, the house is burning to the ground. We need to focus on what is important. Violence and work on trying to curb it instead of tools that are used in their commission. You take away guns, people will still find ways to kill each other. Congratulations on lowering gun violence, but you still have yet to make a dent in the violence all around you.

Only when the two mindsets start looking at the preverbal fire and go, "We need to find a way to fight this" instead of fighting over which method is better at fighting, we are still going to have people dying. So, to anti-weapons and pro-weapons, please, stop arguing and work together.

Works Cited

Bier, Daniel. "By the Numbers: Is the UK Really 5 times more Violent than the US?" The Skeptical Libertarian. N.p., 12 Jan. 2013. Web. 12 Jan. 2016. <http://blog.skepticallibertarian.com/2013/01/12/fact-checking-ben-swann-is-the-uk-really-5-times-more-violent-than-the-us/>.

Farley, Robert. "Gun Rhetoric Vs. Gun Facts." FactCheck.org. N.p., 20 Dec. 2012. Web. 12 Jan. 2016. <http://www.factcheck.org/2012/12/gun-rhetoric-vs-gun-facts/>.

Robertson, Lori. "Gun Laws, Deaths and Crimes." FactCheck.org. N.p., 4 Oct. 2015. Web. 12 Jan. 2016. <http://www.factcheck.org/2015/10/gun-laws-deaths-and-crimes/>.

Wellford, Charles F, John Pepper, and Carol Petrie. "Executive Summary." Firearms and Violence: A Critical Review. 2nd ed. Washington: National Academies Press, 2005. 1-10. PDF File.