Yet another gun-related post here. Yet another examination of guns and their impact on society. This will relate mostly to the USA but it stretches further. It also relates to someone I have encountered before – ‘Dolphinwrites’. My experiences with them have not exactly been positive – see here for an example – for they seem determined to ‘talk past’ others. They also appear to believe that showing common sense and understanding only applies if one is in agreement with them. For someone who once admonished others for not making an effort at communication, Dolphinwrites strikes me as being quite unwilling to listen.

Principles remain through time. Our rights remain the same….

                Every once in a while, I think encouraging reading and research benefits others to better understand the dynamics of our second amendment rights.  The framers knew that our individual freedoms were paramount, and that to better secure those rights, we each needed the ability to defend those rights.  Our second amendment rights are to protect our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, which included freedom of speech along with the others.  They knew, that one of the first steps tyrannical governments take to subvert a people is to take the populace’s ability to protect themselves.  And they use the institutions of information, taking them over, to propagandize the citizenship into becoming sheep.  To those who honestly study history, including socialist and communist nations, they know this to be true. Every time I’ve read about dictatorships, thus far, I’ve noticed the ability of the people to defend themselves and others is taken away.

All well and good, but let’s face facts – the USA has a unique and serious problem with gun crime, when compared to other first-world nations. One of my recent posts highlights this problem:

In recent years the US death rate per 100,000 people with guns (be it murder or suicide) was 12.21. In France it was 2.83. In Australia it was 1.04. It was 1.75 in Norway and 1.6 in Sweden. It was 0.99 in Germany and 0.62 in Spain. In the UK it was 0.23. You can check out the source for this information here.

Is it a coincidence that there are 120.5 guns per every 100 people in the USA? The next country with a significant number of guns per 100 people is Germany, with 32 guns per 100 people. Germany has considerably fewer guns in circulation, but also has tighter restrictions on the types of firearm, the quantity of firearms any one person can own, and on ammunition. Is it a coincidence that Germany is significantly safer?

Sweden has 23.10 guns per 100 people. Sweden has different gun control laws to Germany, yet they prove to be nearly as effective. In France there are 14.96 guns per 100 people. France has more deaths from guns per 100,000 people than Germany and Sweden combined, but less than a quarter of the US death rate. Once again, France has robust and sensible gun control measures.

To discuss tyranny and the threat of tyranny is all well and good, but how many would-be tyrants have been foiled by an armed US citizenry, compared to the number of children killed in mass shootings? How can it be that a supposedly safe (because it’s armed) society has a death rate from guns much higher than several other countries combined?

It’s older data now but still accurate – the US homicide rate with guns alone is higher than the total homicide rates of the UK, France and Japan combined. This is the reality. It is a fact. Let’s continue.

In the blogging world, sometimes it’s difficult to explain, for many readers are concerned to lose support if they support our constitutional rights.  They also fear being labelled and “official monitors” knowing who they are.  I get it. But that’s how countries lose their freedoms.  One individual at a time.  That’s why I encourage reading and research, for in the end, they have to follow the rabbit of reason leading to understanding. No nation can be free without the ability to protect themselves and others. And this principle works all across societal spectrum. But there’s more. It’s not just us. It’s protecting our children and future generations’ rights and ability to protect themselves, their families, and others, including their country. Then, that extends to protecting other nations.

If Dolphinwrite is to encourage reading and research, they should already be aware of the statistical reality regarding guns and deaths from guns. They should be aware that the narrative they speak of could just as easily be called scare-mongering. Freedom defined by access to deadly weapons (and let’s call them what they are – deadly weapons) and a culture defined by deadly weapons is… dubious to me. The right to guns often seems to impinge upon the right to to life and the pursuit of happiness. You cannot pursue happiness if you’re dead. The right to life is secondary to being able to own firearms, to the degree where it seems to be irrelevant.

Across the nation, law-abiding, concerned citizens, train to protect and defend.

                We return to following the rabbit of reason.  We’ll try it this way.  We never see people put on their homes, “This is a gun free zone.”  The reason is simple.  Even the possibility that guns are in a home is enough to prevent criminals from entering.   And people know, if they tell all that no guns are allowed in their homes, that they’ll never be able to sleep.  That’s a huge tell.  And where law-abiding citizens, armed, are gathered, are prepared, we don’t see criminals attempting robbery.  That’s another huge tell.  But it’s principle.

Hmm. Do guns really act as a deterrent to burglary? The US and UK robbery and burglary rates are quite similar, which is unusual if the mere presence of firearms wards off criminals. If you compare the US with Japan (a country with virtually no guns), you find that the US is more dangerous in terms of rape, burglary and robbery, as well as murder. There are more rapes, burglaries and robberies in the USA than there are in France – another country with robust gun control laws. The last time I checked, the UK, France and Japan are not under tyrannical rule.

If guns weren’t necessary, the police, FBI, military, and other agencies wouldn’t need them.  Guns have a purpose.  They are necessary.  And many a home owner have realized that when needed, not enough time exists to wait for the police or any other to arrive before they must defend themselves.  Some stranger is in your house or apartment, and you don’t know what they’re carrying or how many there are. What do you do? What is your training? How are you prepared?

Guns are necessary in the USA because of… guns. They are widespread, easy to obtain, and when everyone is armed, instead of making life safer… well, it appears to be having the opposite effect. There are armed police in the UK but for the most part cops don’t carry guns here, because there is simply no need to. This (unsurprisingly) has an impact on the frequency of police being too trigger-happy.

But it’s more.  The propaganda.  If people thought about it, asking themselves where their beliefs came from, they might start putting two and two together.  From that point, should they choose to “practice” at a gun store that allows patrons to “try out” guns, they might further realize they are just tools, like any other tools, but with a purpose to protect. 

Just tools? Guns aren’t tools. They cannot be compared to a hammer, or a wrench, or a screwdriver. Guns are designed to kill. They have been redesigned over the centuries to become better and better at killing. The Las Vegas shooter was able to purchase many of these ‘tools’ and he sprayed a crowd with bullets at range to kill scores of people with his ‘tools’.

 I have asked that question before.  In addition to who’s funding the anti-second amendment commercials, I asked what could their reason be for wanting us not to have the right of self-protection?  I will say, following the rabbit, many realizations came to the fore. 

                As I’ve shared some reasons before, and people can read my previous articles, but also research on their own, I will leave this here. 

Without seeing one of these ‘anti’ 2A adverts I can’t comment on them. However, this bogeyman of rights being stripped away has long trumped the right to life that the Constitution is meant to enshrine. There is a saying about liberty being watered with the blood of patriots as they oppose tyranny – between 2000 and 2010 108 children were killed in school shootings. Many more have died in similar shootings and that’s not counting the ones killed by guns in other circumstances. Why is the right to firearms more important than their right to life?

Updated 19/6/22: Dolphinwrites wrote a post quite recently, which you can see here. I’ve left a comment, whether they publish it, and how they address it, remains to be seen:

Out of interest, what are your thoughts on the Buffalo and Texas mass shootings? Do you believe in looking at examples of other countries, that took steps to address mass shootings, as and when they happened? What are your thoughts on the comparatively low homicide rates in other developed nations, and why do you think that guns form 80% of all US murder weapons?