It's a real lethal problem
In response to:
making sense of America’s gun violence problem turns out to be a fairly straightforward proposition.
393 million: That’s how many guns the United States has, according to a 2018 Small Arms Survey, more than one gun per American and about 46 percent of all civilian-owned firearms in the world. And it’s the only variable that can explain America’s high rate of mass shootings: As my colleagues Max Fisher and Josh Keller pointed out back in 2017, an ever-growing body of research consistently reaches this same conclusion.
The same can be said for gun deaths in general, of which mass shootings account for only a tiny fraction. As German Lopez has explained in Vox, “When researchers control for other confounding variables, they have found time and time again that America’s high levels of gun ownership are a major reason the U.S. is so much worse in terms of gun violence than its developed peers.”
making sense of America’s gun violence problem turns out to be a fairly straightforward proposition.
393 million: That’s how many guns the United States has, according to a 2018 Small Arms Survey, more than one gun per American and about 46 percent of all civilian-owned firearms in the world. And it’s the only variable that can explain America’s high rate of mass shootings: As my colleagues Max Fisher and Josh Keller pointed out back in 2017, an ever-growing body of research consistently reaches this same conclusion.
The same can be said for gun deaths in general, of which mass shootings account for only a tiny fraction. As German Lopez has explained in Vox, “When researchers control for other confounding variables, they have found time and time again that America’s high levels of gun ownership are a major reason the U.S. is so much worse in terms of gun violence than its developed peers.”
While debatable what the best methods for change are, to prevent further slaughter of innocent people, children & adults, it definitely needs change, not resistance to change.
Change is inevitable. Growth is possible. "Lead, follow, or get out of the way."
In response to:
The tyranny of the minority
There are other reasons policy doesn’t follow public opinion, and some of them are inherent in the very structure of American government. The Senate, for example, by giving equal representation to every state, militates against majority rule. As Harry L. Wilson writes in The Conversation, “California and New York, the first and fourth largest states and ones that favor stricter gun laws, comprise about 18 percent of the population of the United States but only 4 percent of the senators.”
Already a counter-majoritarian institution, the Senate was made even more so by the rise of the modern filibuster in the 20th century, which allows a minority to block majority-supported legislation. That means most substantive legislation must get 60 votes in the Senate to pass — often an exceedingly difficult threshold to reach.
The tyranny of the minority
There are other reasons policy doesn’t follow public opinion, and some of them are inherent in the very structure of American government. The Senate, for example, by giving equal representation to every state, militates against majority rule. As Harry L. Wilson writes in The Conversation, “California and New York, the first and fourth largest states and ones that favor stricter gun laws, comprise about 18 percent of the population of the United States but only 4 percent of the senators.”
Already a counter-majoritarian institution, the Senate was made even more so by the rise of the modern filibuster in the 20th century, which allows a minority to block majority-supported legislation. That means most substantive legislation must get 60 votes in the Senate to pass — often an exceedingly difficult threshold to reach.
Comments (34)
It underlines what is stated in the first table/graph I posted.
The rest of the world survives without a surplus of guns.
But, those top 2 tables are per a certain amount of people, so that is mostly irrelevant.
It's based on "per 100 people" (ownership) or "per 100,000 people" (deaths by gun).
You can see from the image r posted, that no other country in the entire world has the density of guns as the USA and China has a lot more people.
Regardless, this blog is about the US gun problem.
and what would you put in your car if they made antifreeze illegal
I'd vote for that change.
Same with knives with more than a 5 inch blade.
if one has a desire to kill, they will find a way.
Does the subject matter bother you?
You missed the real point here. It's Jim's blog.
Maybe you disagree with the content but pounding it shows your instability.
You made your point... move on.
You made the call... that's not discussion.
Unfortunately, there are currently loopholes to allow people to sell guns at trade shows without background checks. That's one of the things, that should be changed. But SOME people are against it. I wonder why $$$ ?
Keep on riding this crazy storm America, and pray that you are not the next victim.
You made the call... that's not discussion.
and if not, the blog should be shut down in 10 minutes.