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> Unfortunately, Mental illness is largely not the cause of gun violence like the media says it is, the issue is that there are so many guns out there that are

> Unfortunately, Mental illness is largely not the cause of gun violence like the media says it is, the issue is that there are so many guns out there that are so easy to get a hand on by anyone, that gun violence is so bad. This is close to the position I used to take. I now believe it's incorrect, mostly because (I am speaking of the United States in particular) you aren't going to get people to give up their guns. It's just not going to happen on a foreseeable timeline. Add in the existence of 3D printed firearms, and it becomes a laughable prospect. If you accept that as a premise, what do you do next if you want to reduce gun deaths? Probably what you should have done in the first place, which is to attack the cause rather than the method of death.

Ancapistani 4y ago
> you aren't going to get people to give up their guns This is often overlooked in discussions around gun control on this board. There are at a bare minimum tens of millions of gun owners in the US. A lot of them will simply not allow them to be taken, and will use whatever level of response is necessary to prevent that from happening. I count myself among that group. I would rather die preserving the right to privately-owned weapons than willingly live in an environment where that right is not recognized. To be clear - that is not a figurative statement for me. I'm an extremely peaceful person who is deeply empathetic and do my best to help the people around me. I see violence as a last resort, but an option that is justified when there is no other alternative. In my experience, this is an extremely common perspective in "US gun culture". If your motivation is to reduce violence and preserve human life, I am extremely confident that attempting widespread confiscation of firearms in the US would not be an effective strategy.
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Ancapistani 4y ago

> you aren't going to get people to give up their guns This is often overlooked in discussions around gun control on this board. There are at a bare minimum tens of millions of gun owners in the US. A lot of them will simply not allow them to be taken, and will use whatever level of response is necessary to prevent that from happening. I count myself among that group. I would rather die preserving the right to privately-owned weapons than willingly live in an environment where that right is not recognized. To be clear - that is not a figurative statement for me. I'm an extremely peaceful person who is deeply empathetic and do my best to help the people around me. I see violence as a last resort, but an option that is justified when there is no other alternative. In my experience, this is an extremely common perspective in "US gun culture". If your motivation is to reduce violence and preserve human life, I am extremely confident that attempting widespread confiscation of firearms in the US would not be an effective strategy.

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