Gun ownership
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“Some of you people here are so revved up about this issue.” Yeah, I mean, it’s not like it’s a life or death issue you guys, gun violence is totally NBD, amiright?
“I think yall SHOULD look into “mean world syndrome” because honestly we are in the safest era the entire world has ever seen…” SWEET! Then people don’t need to be carrying firearms around at all times! Put away those scaredy-cat itchy trigger fingers errybody!
K4 unless you can find a citation better than Kate – you haven’t made your argument.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34996604
https://www.snopes.com/toddlers-killed-americans-terrorists/Per the citation from Kate – 10 people were able to stop mass shootings… over 20 years. In 2015 there were 372 mass shootings so even if all of these “good guy with a gun” stories happened in 1 year – that represents 3% of all mass shootings in that year. Per the article -only 2 happened in 2015 so that would be .5% of mass shootings that happened at the time the article was written. That is one half of one percent.
According to the source I linked to over 40,000 were shot and injured or killed in 2015. Of that number 2345 were due to mass shootings so you only have a 5% chance of being killed in a mass shooting of all possible shootings in the country. Which means 95% of the time people are shot in non-mass-shooting events such as crime, domestic violence, suicide and accidents.
To add to that – in 2015, 44 people were shot or killed by toddlers (that number includes toddlers who shot and injured themselves)in 2015. So the chance of being shot by a toddler is still 1%. So your chances of being shot by a baby are as good as a “good guy with a gun” stopping a mass shooter.
These are odds no one would put money on. The numbers say it is more likely you will be shot by a toddler than be saved (or save others) with the “good guy with a gun” scenario.
I did see that this morning! There was also a really good article with a long term gun owner in the NYT who has been a loud voice in the NRA boycott.
I had no idea guns were sold at Dick’s! I rarely have shopped there, but it kind of shocks me that you can go to your local shopping center (I thought sporting goods meant yoga wear, swimsuits, mouth guards and soccer balls) and buy a gun, let alone an AR 15!
You can buy guns at Wal-Mart. My hometown sold them. I haven’t been in a Wal-Mart is over 2 year so I’m not sure if it’s still practice.
Walmart actually stopped selling AR-15s 3 years ago but they didn’t make a big deal about it. It was because they had sluggish sales, not for humanitarian reasons.
I do not think that the guy who wants to be armed all the time so he can stop a killing is going to care what Farmer’s insurance says. And he’s going to assume that he’s going to be careful about it. The perception of what they can and can’t control shapes the way people look at risks. He’s a lot more likely to crash his car than get killed by a gunman but I doubt he’s working on improving his driving.
In some ways I’d almost be more worried about his newfound belief that there are violent threats all around him than the gun in and of itself.
There aren’t that many “mass shootings” (in the US, anyway), period. Robbery/home invasions and attacks/attempted muggings/carjackings are FAR more common.
And K4 is right that there are countless examples of armed citizens protecting themselves and their families with firearms.
Again, there are MILLIONS of U.S. families with guns in the home. Millions. While I am not advocating for people who do not want a gun to have one, of course—it’s obvious that there is a large segment of the population that is perfectly comfortable with that choice.
I think refusing to understand why is choosing to be ignore reality. Simply think about the people who are paid to keep us safe–police officers—and how they might protect THEIR families when off-duty. Many average citizens want that peace of mind, too.
Fyodor makes such an excellent point. People are terrible at risk analysis and are generally afraid of the wrong things. Top causes of death in the US are almost entirely health related (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm) so learning martial arts would be a far better use of Tim’s time (improve his health and his feelings about self-protection).
Roughly the same amount of people die from firearms (both suicide and homicide) as die in car accidents, but you’re far more likely to die of a heart attack.
ETA that last bit from the 2014 data found here, page 12: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr65/nvsr65_04.pdf
@SpaceySteph & @Fyodor & Northernstar – I guess that’s my point above.
The likelihood of being in a gun fight – small
The likelihood of stopping a gun fight with a gun as a private citizen -infinitesimal – thereby negating the need to have a gun to stop a gun fight with your gun.You are more likely to hurt yourself or someone in your home with a gun than stop a crime.
I feel like the bad Robots in iRobot – People are the biggest threat to people so people need to be isolated so they stop hurting themselves or others.
