To
start with, as per the Standard
Anti-Self-Defense Handbook — and using the so-far unexplained Las Vegas shooting
spree as the latest platform — the usual Second Amendment scoff-laws still
prominently include firearm suicides in their gun-death tally.
Thank goodness folks deprived
of guns won’t use overdoses, tranquilizers-plus-booze, carbon monoxide, razor
blades, poison, etc. — and bridges, tall buildings, and open windows for
jumping — if they can’t get guns!
Or are the usual
Congressional victim-disarmers misleading us again?
Suicide by any means, while
regrettable, is a voluntary act, and those determined, gun or no gun, nearly
always succeed. With that in mind, let’s put things in perspective:
The 19,392 gun suicides in the U.S. in 2010, a typical year,
swamped the 11,078 firearm homicides. That is, firearm suicides
amount to a whopping ~two-thirds of reported gun deaths, dwarfing all other
categories combined.
So by lumping voluntary suicides in with homicides to inflate
the anti-gun bogeyman — and scare the kids — the gun-grabbers are indeed trying
to mislead us again.
Another
interesting epicycle: A new study — not by the “Authorities” who, in the interest of self-preservation
try to duck it — shows that in 2015 U.S. cops killed at least 1,152 people, usually
with firearms. This is the first time that statistic has been available because
the FBI, etc. have refused to collect that data. For some reason.
That 1,152 deaths-by-cop is
very close to 10% of the 11,078 homicides reported in 2010. Are those killings-by-cop
included in the official homicide figures? Someone else will have to answer
that one. Either way, that would mean cops are responsible for about 10% of
U.S. gun homicides.
It’s
also highly relevant that, as documented in Arm
Yourself With The Facts, civilians shoot almost twice as many
criminals as cops do, and their error rate — killing an innocent by mistake
approximately 2% of the time — makes the cops kill-rate of 11% innocents killed
seem down-right criminal.
And
while we’re looking at things the misguided anti-gun folks like to coverup
and/or ignore, even government studies by hostile researchers admit
at least 108,000 defensive uses of firearms per year with other authoritative estimates as high as 2.5 million.
And
then there are those “assault
rifles.”
As
far as crime goes, statistics — and common sense — both
show, so-called “assault
weapons” are non-starters, not to mention mis-named. Despite Hollywood, carrying an
AR-15, AK-47 or other military-looking long gun concealed under your long black
“duster” — or using one in close quarters, as in a robbery or mugging perhaps —
just isn’t practical and rarely happens. Even The New York Times calls it “The Assault Weapon Myth.”
In
defending your home from an outside assault,
however, such weapons are very practical.
So maybe it would be more accurate to call them “anti-assault weapons.”
And
it isn’t always
guns – – –
And, if you’re worried about
terrorism, firearms aren’t the most deadly or easiest weapon to use, although
they may stop such a weapon – – –
…Mohamed
Lahouaiej Bouhlel drove a rented, refrigerated truck weighing about 20 tons
into crowds along a roughly 2-kilometer stretch of Promenade des Anglais on
Thursday night, killing 84 people — including 10 children and adolescents — and
injuring 202 others…. Attack in Nice – CNN
And
then there’s the prominent role drugs play in mass-murders. No, not stupidly
outlawed “illegal” drugs, establishment drugs. For example, most school shooters were on prescribed anti-depressants like
Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, etc. And of course, U.S. schools themselves were another common factor.
Las
Vegas Mandalay Bay shooter Paddock was taking Valium which can lead to aggressive behavior.
Our
last misleader — Obama — also fertilized the lie that, with our guns, we
Americans are an extremely violent people. Despite that hate-speech from the
Propagandist-in-Chief, when compared to other countries, the U.S. isn’t all
that violent. About average, in fact.
Except,
of course, Americans overseas. You know, those unfortunates in the military who
are forced to invade countries under
false pretenses, blow up wedding parties, funerals and hospitals with B-52s, drones and Hellfire
Missiles, etc. And are thus creating enemies for our kids, grand kids
and the yet unborn for generations to come.
In
that overseas arena, however, as polls show, folks indeed think the United
States — that is, the U.S. Government —
is extremely violent
and poses the greatest threat to world peace.
If
the Congressional oath-breakers were sincere about reducing violence here “in the freest country in the
world,” instead of illegitimately using “Executive
Orders“ to further
tinker with the U.S. Constitution, the chronic oath-breakers would
immediately decriminalize “illegal” drugs.
But
of course, they’re not sincere.
Judging
by the composition of the all-time world record U.S. prison population,
decriminalization would eliminate approximately two-thirds of the robbery,
burglary, mugging etc. since that would crash the price and eliminate the need
for folks to steal to support their drug habit.
Well,
at least to support their non-establishment drug
habit – – –
But
forget political new-speak, the real reason
our unpopular elected pervaricators are again attempting to disarm us is likely
the real reason the Second Amendment exists. And is second only to the First Amendment.
Which is also under attack.
HERE for updates, additions, comments,
and corrections.
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L. Reichard White [send him
mail] taught physics, designed and built a house, ran for
Nevada State Senate, served two terms on the Libertarian National Committee,
managed a theater company, etc. For the last few decades, he's supported his
writing habit by beating casinos at their own games. His hobby, though, is
explaining things he wishes someone had explained to him. You can find a few of
his other explanations listed here.
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