Why is this evil?

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke has taken an unusually strong stand on gun control. In particular, he is a staunch advocate for banning the availability and use of military style assault weapons such as AR 15 and AK 47 by civilian gun owners.  His advocacy has rippled across the nation. Even liberals were surprised at his position having had themselves a history of being somewhat wishy washy about gun control reform. 

Instead of pussy footing around the issue of gun control like many liberals do, O’Rourke has taken a strong stand on gun control and is not afraid of addressing the issue head on. Ironically,  O’Rourke lives in Texas, the state which has the highest number of guns (588,696) in the nation.

Editor’s Viewpoint:

The problem with the gun debate is that most people don’t understand the scope of the issue. There is, in fact, hard data that supports why having strong gun laws will provide for a safer society. 

The most used argument against gun control is the 2nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Many people falsely believe we have the right to bare any arms. That the Second Amendment guarantees that you have the right to own any gun. But that is not correct. Let me give you a few details on gun laws in America.

In the June 26, 2008 District of Columbia et al. v. Heller U.S. Supreme Court majority opinion which rules that banning handguns violates the Second Amendment.  The very conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, LLB  did write, however, that, 

“Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited… nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.” (US Supreme Court, District of Columbia, et al. v. Heller, www.supremecourt.gov, October 2007)

Basically, the Constitution says nothing about having the right to conceal a weapon. And the following federal legal decision prohibits that very act:

On June 9, 2016 the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 7-4 that 

“[t]he right of the general public to carry a concealed firearm in public is not, and never has been, protected by the Second Amendment,” thus upholding a law requiring a permitting process and “good cause” for concealed carry licenses in California. (Richard Gonzales, “Federal Appeals Court Says There Is No Right to Carry Concealed Weapons in Public,” npr.org, June 9, 2016) 

 A 2018 study found that 91% of the 1,153 court cases with claims stating a government action or law violates the Second Amendment between the 2008 DC v. Heller decision and Feb. 1, 2016 failed.(Joseph Blocher and Eric Ruben, “The Second Amendment Allows for More Gun Control Than You Think,” vox.com, May 23, 2018)

Simply put, whenever gun laws were challenged, over 91% of those cases were dismissed or found that the law was correct…

3 ORGANIZATIONS YOU CAN SUPPORT TO PROMOTE GUN CONTROL

Another argument used against gun control is that more gun control laws do not reduce gun violence.That is also false.  Let me give you a couple of statistics on gun violence in America so that you can get a clearer picture of the issue:

• Gun Deaths: Of the 572,537 total gun deaths between 1999 and 2016,  336,579 or 58.8% were suicide deaths by guns; 213,175 were homicides (37.2%); and 11,428 were unintentional deaths (2.0%). 

• Homicides: 67.7% of all homicides nationally were gun related and

• Suicides: 51.8% of all suicides were also the result of gun violence.. [CDC, WISQARS Database, cdc.gov (accessed July 17, 2018)].

• A study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that GUNS were the second leading cause of death for children, responsible for 15% of child deaths compared to 20% in motor vehicle crashes. [Rebecca M. Cunningham, Maureen A. Walton, and Patrick M. Carter, “The Major Causes of Death in Children and Adolescents in the United States,” New England Journal of Medicine, Dec. 20, 2018]

 A study published in the American Journal of Public Health found that “legal purchase of a handgun appears to be associated with a long-lasting increased risk of violent death” [P. Cummings, T.D. Koepsell, D.C. Grossman, J. Savarino, and R.S. Thompson, “The Association between the Purchase of a Handgun and Homicide or Suicide,” American Journal of Public Health, June 1997] 

The more people buy guns, the higher the risk of violent deaths.

Now what would happen if we implemented some common sense gun control laws:

• According to a Mar. 10, 2016 Lancet study, implementing federal universal background checks could reduce firearm deaths by a projected 56.9%;

• Background checks for ammunition purchases could reduce deaths by a projected 80.7%; ([Bindu Kalesan, Matthew E. Mobily, Olivia Keiser, Jeffrey A. Fagan, and Sandro Galea, “Firearm Legislation and Firearm Mortality in the USA: A Cross-Sectional, State-Level Study,” thelancet.com, Mar. 10, 2016)

• Gun identification requirements could reduce deaths by a projected 82.5%. (*A 2016 RAND report, written by Terry L. Schell and Andrew R. Morral, “Evaluating Methods and Findings from a Study of State Gun Policies,” critiqued this study, but Lancet left it up without comment.] )

• Gun licensing laws were associated with a 14% decrease in firearm homicides, while increases in firearm homicides were seen in places with right-to-carry and stand-your ground-laws. ([Martin Kaste, “Gun Studies: Permit Laws Reduce Murders; Red Flag Laws Cut Suicides,” npr.org, June 4, 2018])

And finally the most used argument against gun control is “my gun is used for protection.” But that truth is guns are rarely used in self-defense situations.

Of the 29,618,300 violent crimes committed between 2007 and 2011, only 0.79% of victims (235,700), less than 1%,  protected themselves with the threat and/or use of a gun. [Michael Planty and Jennifer L. Truman, “Firearm Violence, 1993-2011,” www.bjs.gov, May 2013]

That means that in 99.31% of all violent crimes, a gun was not used successfully for protection.

 In 2010, there were 230 “justifiable homicides” in which a private citizen used a firearm to kill a felon, compared to 8,275 criminal gun homicides (or, 36 criminal homicides for every “justifiable homicide”). [Violence Policy Institute, “Firearm Justifiable Homicides and Non-Fatal Self-Defense Gun Use,” www.vpc.org, Apr. 2013]

Of the 84,495,500 (84.5 Million) property crimes committed between 2007 and 2011, 0.12% of victims (103,000) protected themselves with a threat of use or use of a firearm. [Michael Planty and Jennifer L. Truman, “Firearm Violence, 1993-2011,” www.bjs.gov, May 2013]

That means that in 99.88% of all property crimes, owning a gun did not prevent the situation from happening. 

Hmmmmmm…Statistics to think about?