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In 2017, nearly 40,000 people died from gun violence in the United States. The mass shootings are emblematic of a larger and uniquely American problem. https:/

In 2017, nearly 40,000 people died from gun violence in the United States. The mass shootings are emblematic of a larger and uniquely American problem. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/18/us/gun-deaths.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/18/us/gun-deaths.html

umvi 7y ago
Right but... tackling "gun deaths" and tackling specifically mass shootings are two completely different problems, and it seems like gun control proposals are always aimed at preventing specifically mass shootings which, as I've said, is high hanging fruit. If you are looking to prevent gun suicides (which constitutes nearly 2/3 of that 40,000 deaths figure you quoted), you would see more handgun-related regulations and initiatives being proposed. Not to mention the vast majority of gun homicides are committed with a handgun. Yet, handguns are almost never mentioned in the gun debate, which always politically swirls around mass shootings. It's always AR-15s and "assault weapons" and "mental health checks" and "bump stocks" that get national scrutiny, not the real killer (depressed people using handguns and sane criminals using handguns). It's disingenuous to use a high hanging fruit problem to pretend like you are solving a low hanging fruit problem. My stance on guns is that handguns should be much harder to obtain than rifles and shotguns. And even then, every handgun sale should come with a mandatory suicide prevention pamphlet. I bet that would lower overall gun deaths (suicides/homicides) way more than "assault weapons bans" and "enhanced background checks" and "bump stock bans" which would basically do nothing to lower mass shooting death counts.
- Herrin 7y ago
  If the CDC weren't explicitly prevented from studying gun violence[1], they might be able to look into these problems. It's too soon to know if the recent (2018) changes to the interpretation will make a difference. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickey_Amendment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickey_Amendment

umvi 7y ago

Right but... tackling "gun deaths" and tackling specifically mass shootings are two completely different problems, and it seems like gun control proposals are always aimed at preventing specifically mass shootings which, as I've said, is high hanging fruit. If you are looking to prevent gun suicides (which constitutes nearly 2/3 of that 40,000 deaths figure you quoted), you would see more handgun-related regulations and initiatives being proposed. Not to mention the vast majority of gun homicides are committed with a handgun. Yet, handguns are almost never mentioned in the gun debate, which always politically swirls around mass shootings. It's always AR-15s and "assault weapons" and "mental health checks" and "bump stocks" that get national scrutiny, not the real killer (depressed people using handguns and sane criminals using handguns). It's disingenuous to use a high hanging fruit problem to pretend like you are solving a low hanging fruit problem. My stance on guns is that handguns should be much harder to obtain than rifles and shotguns. And even then, every handgun sale should come with a mandatory suicide prevention pamphlet. I bet that would lower overall gun deaths (suicides/homicides) way more than "assault weapons bans" and "enhanced background checks" and "bump stock bans" which would basically do nothing to lower mass shooting death counts.

Herrin 7y ago
If the CDC weren't explicitly prevented from studying gun violence[1], they might be able to look into these problems. It's too soon to know if the recent (2018) changes to the interpretation will make a difference. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickey_Amendment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickey_Amendment