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Why the US Should Not Ban Guns
Posted: 19/12/2012 00:00
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Barack Obama , National Rifle Association , Second Amendment , Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting , Gun Violence , Prohibition , Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting , Us Constitution , UK Politics News
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That sound? The collective hand-wringing of thousands who are up-in-arms demanding Obama introduce serious gun legislation in the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy. Michael Moore and Piers Morgan began as unofficial poster boys for the action and now Mayor Bloomberg has weighed in, pushing for tighter gun control claiming, "The president and congress can and should address [gun control] at the same time they're reaching an agreement on avoiding the fiscal cliff."
Today, as a hungry pack of demonstrators circled the NRA's Washington HQ, it's looking likely Obama will attack the Second Amendment as the White House promised a comprehensive series of measures including gun control legislation.
I hate guns. I wish they didn't exist. But they do. In the wake of the Connecticut shootings this mass knee-jerk call to impose strict firearm laws is an understandable reaction. Unfortunately it isn't the right one.
If stricter gun control was the solution then cities with stricter gun legislation would be the safest, right? Wrong. Let's look at some facts shall we? Chicago boasts some of the USA's most draconian gun laws but 10 people were shot in Chicago on Friday alone. It's considered 'the deadliest global city' and the murder rate is 25% higher than last year.
Post-Dunblane when guns were outlawed here in the UK, six years later gun-crime had more than doubled. By 2009 gun crime had escalated by 89%.
Down Under, gun murders rose by 19% and armed robberies by 69% after a gun ban was introduced in 1997.
And thus the story goes.
Prohibition; in whatever form, does not work. It didn't work for alcohol, it certainly doesn't work for drugs and as evidence shows, will not work for guns either. All outlawing does is willingly gift supply and control to gang cartels and remove things from the hands of law-abiding citizens. Criminals and the mentally ill intent of murder or mass-crime will still be able to get their hands on guns, no matter what the law.
Adam Lanza broke three Connecticut gun control laws; had more been in place would not have made a difference. The shooting will still have happened.
The Newtown tragedy is a perfect example of problem-reaction-solution; an event which causes people to request the end result the powers that be desire. We can very clearly see a police-state grid being unrolled across the USA and beyond - is it easier to do that against an armed population or an unarmed one? Fundamentally gun control is not for the protection of people but for the