Gun Control Debate

~Firearms were used in 19,392 suicides in the U.S. in 2010, constituting almost 62% of all gun deaths
Over 50% of all suicides are committed with a firearm {?}
~More than 75% of guns used in suicide attempts and unintentional injuries of 0-19 year-olds were stored
in the residence of the victim, a relative, or a friend {?}
~From July 1993 to July 2003, non-powder guns caused 40 deaths nationwide.2 Although injury rates for
non-powder guns appear to have declined significantly since the early 1990s, non-powder guns are
becoming more powerful and more accurate, and are often designed to appear almost indistinguishable
from firearms

~http://harpers.org/blog/2012/07/the-price-of-gun-control/
'Its true that Americas rate of violent crime remains higher than that in most European
countries. But to focus on
guns is to dodge a painful truth. America is more violent than
other countries because Americans are more violent
than other people. Our abundant guns
surely make assaults more deadly. But by obsessing over inanimate pieces of
metal, we
avoid looking at what brings us more often than others to commit violent acts. Many liberal critics
understand this when it comes to drug policy. The modern, sophisticated position is that demonizing
chemicals is a
reductive and ineffective way to address complicated social pathologies.
When it comes to gun violence, though, the
conversation often stops at the tool, because it is
more comfortable to blame it than to examine ourselves'
'The temptation at times like these is to do something about guns. Australia and Britain
passed tougher gun laws
after mass shootings, and havent suffered another since. I
would respectfully submit that Australia and Britain are
full of Australians and Britons,
not Americans. Moreover, neither country is home to an estimated 180 million
privately owned guns, as ours is. Guns last forever. The one with which I hunt was made in 1900 and
functions as
well today as it did then. If tomorrow President Obama signed the ultimate
gun-control lawa total ban on the
sale, manufacture, and import of gunswe would still
be awash in firearms for generations to come. Madmen like
the murderer in Aurora would
find a way to kill. Witness Timothy McVeigh'