Monday, June 6, 2022

Guns Again

It seems there's a school or mall shooting almost every day in the U.S. The problem is bad guys with guns. A lot of Americans, including the NRA and Congress and most Republicans, like to say that "the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." Thus, it follows that guns need to be legal and easily accessible to keep us all safe. 

But statistics tell a different story. ALERRT (Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training) at Texas State University has compiled data on gun mass attacks in the United States since 2000. According to ALERRT:

Mass Attack Outcomes:

  • 1% - shooter fled, still at large
  • 10% - shot by citizens 
  • 11% - surrendered
  • 34% - subdued by police
  • 34% - suicide after police arrive
  • 38% - shooter fled
  • 40% - subdued by citizens
  • 70% - suicide before police arrive
  • 78% - shot by police

One in ten mass shootings are ended by a good guy with a gun. But one hundred percent of mass shootings are caused by easy access to firearms, including weapons of war.

I'm not anti-gun. I own a gun and I keep it loaded. The reason I have a gun is to defend my home from intruders. But I can own a gun and still think that guns are out of control in the U.S. They are out of control. At this point in America's history, those who oppose gun law reform are, by default, supporting the continued slaughter of American civilians. There is NO MIDDLE GROUND.

“The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.”
Dante Alighieri

The power of choosing good and evil is within the reach of all.
Origen

So choose, and choose now. Are you for the continued, unnecessary deaths of innocent people, or are you opposed to it? And if you're opposed to it, do you think that having easy access to guns will suddenly prevent the deaths of innocent people?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Greetings

You won't believe this as I hardly do --but I awoke from a dream where I was in the midst of a young adult in a classroom with a gun. In my dream I was looking around for a way to subdue him. If I had a gun (which I did not) I was worried my aim would be so bad that I would hit innocent kids.
I was able to get the AK17 from him, but only ran with it as I didn't know how to use it, screaming for the kids to follow. And even if I did --the fear inside me would surely mess up my aim.

The young adult didn't know what to do and had no backup gun --thank God.

We have some highly intelligent people not only in our country but all over the world. Even before now a plan should have been put into place that should have stopped this violence. I do not want them to arm the teachers -- I was a teacher once and would not be any good in a situation like this.
(and what's to stop a person from getting a teaching job but also wants to harm kids).

I believe people should be well vetted before owning a firearm and I do not think assault weapons are needed by your average citizen.

Of course, my biggest soapbox is that the gov't should pay much more attention to Mental Health Crisis all over our world.

Great post -- the issue is no one is listening !!

Best, LL

Anonymous said...

Good morning!

This is a scary topic to talk about.

Reading LL comment, it reminded me that I saw in social media a video of a 9 years old boy that he was interviewed by a journalist and he asked him what he wanted to be when he will grow up, the boy said that we wanted to be an assassin because he wanted to kill everybody and he likes to see a lot of blood, so he needed to start working with his brain in order to psych up himself for the future.

Just think about what is going to be our future if we are going to have one. That really scared me and my only thought was that parents don't show this video to their children.

What a terrible things are happening right now. What is wrong with this world? What is wrong with the governments in the world that they care less about what is happening.

In my country we were allow to have a gun in our homes in order to defend ourselves from thieves,etc. that get inside of the houses, so we could shot them and no problem because it was self defense, but now if you want to defend yourself using a gun inside of your house, they condemn you with no parole. So what is it?

This need to stop right away. People have to keep strong and fight against the governments. We cannot allow them to continue with this slaughter problem. They don't realize they are the ones that are killing innocent people getting their hands dirty.

I just pray everyday for the mankind and my family to be safe.

Excellent post Mr. VW. It touched my soul.

TA