There are over 30,000 gun deaths in the United States annually, with more than 406,000 people killed by guns from 2001 to 2013. More Americans have been killed by guns in the past decade than were killed in World War Two. In 2014, there were 8,124 homicides by guns, an average of 27 people daily. These include gang violence and mass killings, but most are individual killings, often in family situations. Gun homicides in the U.S. are about 31 per million people compared to 1 per million in England and Poland, and 2 per million in Germany and the Netherlands. In Japan, gun homicides occur at a rate of 1 per 10 million. (There are also over 21,000 suicides by firearms annually in the U.S.) According to a Rasmussen Poll, two thirds of gun owners say they feel safer with a gun in their homes, though the opposite is actually true. Accidental shootings, domestic arguments that get out of hand, and suicides are all more likely to occur in homes with guns.
Though mass shootings are what generate publicity and public outcrys, the horrendous statistics above do not seem to make any difference to the NRA or the Republicans in Congress who have blocked all types of gun reform. Though Donald Trump has been in the pocket of the NRA during the presidential campaign in 2016, Hillary Clinton has backed a number of sensible changes in the gun laws. These include background checks for all purchasers including those at gun shows, prohibiting guns to those on the no-fly lists and domestic abusers, and removing the gun industry’s protection against civil damage suits. However, Clinton does not go far enough as all assault weapons should also be permanently banned along with extended ammunition clips and hollow point bullets. There is no reason why these weapons of war should be allowed in a civilian society. They only make mass killings, such as Newtown, Virginia Tech, Charleston, and Orlando more feasible.
In Florida, physicians are not even allowed to discuss firearms safety with patients. Florida passed a specific law in 2011 that prohibits physicians from asking about gun ownership and entering that information into the patient’s medical record unless the doctor feels in good faith that it is relevant to safety or the patient’s medical care. In many states, people can carry weapons openly in schools, churches, bars, and other public spaces. Law enforcement is generally opposed to the liberalization of gun laws, seeing them as exposing the police to more danger and making it more difficult for them to do their jobs effectively.
It is only over the last fifty years that the widespread ownership of guns has soared in America. The president of the NRA in testifying before Congress in 1934 stated- “I do not believe in the promiscuous toting of guns. I think it should be sharply restricted and only under licenses.” In fact, the NRA supported the National Firearms Act which was passed in 1934 and is still in effect. This law required registration of all machine guns, short-barreled rifles, silencers, missiles, mortars, hand grenades, and other weapons considered particularly dangerous. There is a national database of the owners of these armaments, with their fingerprints and photographs. Owners must pass an FBI background check, be validated by the ATF, and pay a $200 tax. Weapons stolen or missing must be reported immediately.
Interestingly, the number of crimes committed by the owners of these weapons is miniscule, so it is a gun control law that works. But only 4 million of the more than 300 million weapons in circulation in the U.S. are registered under this law. Ronald Reagan as Governor of California in 1967 said that he did not see a reason for citizens to carry weapons in the streets. However, as people became more concerned about crime and personal safety, and then about terrorism, gun ownership escalated. What Americans don’t seem to understand is that the more people who have guns, the less safe they all will be.
Most Americans want reform measures enacted regarding gun possession and ownership. The NRA and the gun industry lobby have been blocking restrictions on state and federal levels by terrorizing members of state legislatures and Congress, threatening to withhold money and support. Our politicians need to stand up to the lobby and pass reasonable laws that will limit gun ownership by mentally disturbed individuals, criminals, gang members, terrorists, domestic abusers, and so forth. Don’t hold your breath.
Resurrecting Democracy
www.robertlevinebooks.com
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Political junkie, Vietnam vet, neurologist- three books on aging and dementia. Book on health care reform in 2009- Shock Therapy for the American Health Care System. Book on the need for a centrist third party- Resurrecting Democracy- A Citizen’s Call for a Centrist Third Party published in 2011. Aging Wisely, published in August 2014 by Rowman and Littlefield. Latest book- The Uninformed Voter published May 2020