America is a homicide and suicide by gun nation, but mass shootings get too much attention

[Shaul]

 

[Watchmen]

I wouldn't know anything about that.

Understood. I was just sharing my thoughts about Japan since you referenced Japan in your post. Ironically, former Prime Minister Abe was shot this morning while giving a speech in Nara.

 

[Watchmen]

Could be. I think there may be something to that. But how much difference does it make? Can you quantify it?

It could probably be quantified, but not by me. As I said, I believe the issue to be much more complex than number of guns in any given country.

 

[Truthseeker]

Of course. But Japan has her own history of violence. If gun ownership were as widespread there as it is in the US, it’s pretty much a given that there’d be incidences of gun violence.

I think that's true. Not as much, maybe, but there would be incidences.

In any case, forget Japan. Do you think the USA has more murderous individuals per head among it’s population than, say, France, the U.K., Germany, China or New Zealand? Unlikely. It just has a lot more guns; and shootings.

The U.K. is famous for cranking out murder mysteries.

 

[Truthseeker]

Yes. We in the US don't consider justified killing, murder, and we justify killing people very easily.

I'm not sure about compared to all the rest of the world. That may be a stretch. How do you quantify that, anyway? More guns makes killing easier than with a knife or poison.

 

[Truthseeker]

No, they'll use knives and bats, as they did before they got hold of the glocks. But they won't be shooting any bystanders, then, as they routinely do, now.

That's besides the point. It's easier to kill with guns, more certain. So how do you untangle all of that?

I think I should stop this nonsense by considering whether things would be the same if a home owner bought a gun vs. not buying a gun to "keep his loved ones safe"?

Op-Ed: Thinking of buying a gun for self-defense? Don't do it

Yet surveys of gun owners show they consistently cite self-protection as the primary reason for 67% of gun purchases. Suppose you have the same fears and obtain a handgun. Which of these two scenarios is more likely?

Choice one: That gun you just bought will save your life from criminals or home invaders. This is known as defensive gun use.

Choice two: That gun will be used to kill you or a family member, whether that means the murder of a family member, an accidental shooting or suicide.

It’s choice No. 2 by a landslide. In 2017, for example, according to FBI reports, for every justifiable homicide — a defensive gun-use death — there were 35 criminal homicides. And that doesn’t even include the thousands of deaths each year by suicide or the accidental deaths that occur when there is a handgun in the home.

People, don't buy a gun for self-defense. It backfires on you.

 

[PureX]

That's besides the point. It's easier to kill with guns, more certain. So how do you untangle all of that?

I think I should stop this nonsense by considering whether things would be the same if a home owner bought a gun vs. not buying a gun to "keep his loved ones safe"?

Op-Ed: Thinking of buying a gun for self-defense? Don't do it

Yet surveys of gun owners show they consistently cite self-protection as the primary reason for 67% of gun purchases. Suppose you have the same fears and obtain a handgun. Which of these two scenarios is more likely?

Choice one: That gun you just bought will save your life from criminals or home invaders. This is known as defensive gun use.

Choice two: That gun will be used to kill you or a family member, whether that means the murder of a family member, an accidental shooting or suicide.

It’s choice No. 2 by a landslide. In 2017, for example, according to FBI reports, for every justifiable homicide — a defensive gun-use death — there were 35 criminal homicides. And that doesn’t even include the thousands of deaths each year by suicide or the accidental deaths that occur when there is a handgun in the home.

People, don't buy a gun for self-defense. It backfires on you.

But the reality of the choice has no effect whatever on gun buyers, because the fiction that guns empower and enable them and make them more righteous is the real attraction. Not "security".

 

[Audie]

That's besides the point. It's easier to kill with guns, more certain. So how do you untangle all of that?

I think I should stop this nonsense by considering whether things would be the same if a home owner bought a gun vs. not buying a gun to "keep his loved ones safe"?

Op-Ed: Thinking of buying a gun for self-defense? Don't do it

Yet surveys of gun owners show they consistently cite self-protection as the primary reason for 67% of gun purchases. Suppose you have the same fears and obtain a handgun. Which of these two scenarios is more likely?

Choice one: That gun you just bought will save your life from criminals or home invaders. This is known as defensive gun use.

Choice two: That gun will be used to kill you or a family member, whether that means the murder of a family member, an accidental shooting or suicide.

It’s choice No. 2 by a landslide. In 2017, for example, according to FBI reports, for every justifiable homicide — a defensive gun-use death — there were 35 criminal homicides. And that doesn’t even include the thousands of deaths each year by suicide or the accidental deaths that occur when there is a handgun in the home.

People, don't buy a gun for self-defense. It backfires on you.

Do you notice the illogic in choice 2 as a reason not to buy a gun?

 

[Audie]

But the reality of the choice has no effect whatever on gun buyers, because the fiction that guns empower and enable them and make them more righteous is the real attraction. Not "security".

Oh right. I wanted to feel righteous.

Psychiatrist you ain't.

 

[PureX]

Oh right. I wanted to feel righteous.

Psychiatrist you ain't.

Then why did you bring one into your home when the fact is that doing so will make you less safe?

 

[esmith]

I didn't mean to post and run, but now I'm back! How about teaching in schools practical things for once, like the chances you will kill someone in your household as compared to killing a burgler!

How about just sticking with the basic in school, like arthmetic, writing, reading, english, chemistry, physics, biology, social studies(history, geography, economics, civics, and government); and even offer shop again.

 

[Audie]

Then why did you bring one into your home when the fact is that doing so will make you less safe?

You get awful fast and loose with your facts.

 

[esmith]

Remind me again how many Presidents you guys have shot?

4 assassinated and 2 wounded in the past 246 years and three of them was prior to 1902

 

[Audie]

How about just sticking with the basic in school, like arthmetic, writing, reading, english, chemistry, physics, biology, social studies(history, geography, economics, civics, and government); and even offer shop again.

The failure of American schools to provide basic education suggests that adding more and more optional classes isn't a good idea.

 

[esmith]

The failure of American schools to provide basic education suggests that adding more and more optional classes isn't a good idea.

These subjects span 1-12th grades

 

[Audie]

These subjects span 1-12th grades

Your average American hardly reads at what's called 8th grade level.

 

[Wildswanderer]

It’s choice No. 2 by a landslide. In 2017, for example, according to FBI reports, for every justifiable homicide — a defensive gun-use death — there were 35 criminal homicides. And that doesn’t even include the thousands of deaths each year by suicide or the accidental deaths that occur when there is a handgun in the home.

People, don't buy a gun for self-defense. It backfires on you.

And did they add in all the times guns saved lives without having to be fired or when no one died? You know that there's thosands of cases where the perp doesn't die, right? So what you have are false statistics.

 

[metis]

Your average American hardly reads at what's called 8th grade level.

And our tv programming reflects that, so I mostly watch British films mostly on our local PBS station or on Starz.

 

[esmith]

Your average American hardly reads at what's called 8th grade level.

Yep, and that not the only problem.
Take away their calculators and most of them would be lost.

 

[Audie]

Yep, and that not the only problem.
Take away their calculators and most of them would be lost.

I actually learned to use an abacus, but never got any good at it.