The Problem Is Guns

Not mental health, not Islam, not Christianity, not white supremacy, not homophobia, not an innate flaw in the Human Race.  Nothing but than casual, nearly universal access to machines designed to kill many, many human beings in a short period.

Tossing out these intractable facets of human nature to obfuscate the root cause of massacres is the preferred tactic of gun apologists.  Blame Orlando on homophobia, blame Charleston on racism, blame Aurora and Sandy Hook on mental illness.  All amorphous social problems with no immediate solution.

Unlike, say, enacting basic, common sense gun safety regulations at the federal level of the sort that have proven very effective in other countries.


Vox has a very good 'explainer' on why we can't do it that basically boils down to three letters:
NRA.  So the foundation of our Gunpocalypse ends up being the same as for most of our other 'impossible' problems- capitalism.

Anyway, guns are the problem. I'm having ten or so individual arguments about this and thought I'd compress them all into one blog post since they all use the same couple of talking point arguments.


#1:
OUR RIGHTS!  THE CONSTITUTION!

A:








#2: Crazy people are crazy, we must fix mental health!

A:
Crazy people who can't easily stock up on firearms are less able to murder large numbers of people.  Okay, sure, let's improve our rudimentary mental health services- great.
In the meantime, let's do what we can to eliminate access to assault rifles, extended magazines, etc.

#3: People are violent and will do stuff anyway, so gun safety laws are pointless.
(this is really popular among touchy feely FB liberals.)

A:
See above.
I'll take an inherently violent populace armed with knives and bats over one armed with assault rifles and semi automatic pistols with extended magazines.

#4: Without our guns the EVIL GOVERNMENT will steal our rights!

A:
If push comes to shove Uncle Gomer and his basement full of illegally modified ARs won't be doing shit against the armed forces of the United States of America.


#5:  Hunting and Fishing!  Home defense! Varmint control!
A:  Good news!  Revolvers, shotguns and hunting rifles have you covered.

#6: (my favorite)  Cars kill way more people than guns, I SUPPOSE YOU WANT TO BAN CARS TOO YOU DUM LIBTARD?!

A:
Cars are heavily regulated.  You need to take a test to get a license to drive, you must renew your license every few years, you pay a tax for ownership, you are required to carry insurance and are liable for damages they incur.  Car makers are also subject to onerous safety regulations to make them safer.  And it is illegal to drive race cars on public roads.

I'd very happily apply the automotive model to firearms.

If I had my wish there would be no private ownership of guns.
Which I realize is Utopian thinking along the lines of "we don't need gun saftey laws if we eliminate mental illness, racism, homophobia, etc"

But restricting access to a particular subset of firearms and accessories that enable these massively fatal attacks can and must happen.