Jason Alexander long twit on Assault Weapons

[JDPriestly]

157. These facts are tried and tested and put our problem in perspective.

U.S. homicide rates are 6.9 times higher than rates in 22 other populous high-income countries combined, despite similar non-lethal crime and violence rates. The firearm homicide rate in the U.S. is 19.5 times higher (Richardson, p.1).

Among 23 populous, high-income countries, 80% of all firearm deaths occurred in the United States (Richardson, p. 1).

Gun violence impacts society in countless ways: medical costs, costs of the criminal justice system, security precautions such as metal detectors, and reductions in quality of life because of fear of gun violence. These impacts are estimated to cost U.S. citizens $100 billion annually (Cook, 2000).

http://bradycampaign.org/facts/gunviolence/

Those who love their guns should be more worried about these statistics than the rest of the country. Most people have a very moderate view on guns. Most of us don't spend much time thinking about guns or issues concerning guns. In fact the only time I think about them is when there is a major tragedy such as the Aurora theater or (as has been happening every week or two in my neighborhood) a gun shooting/killing near my home.

Therefore, it is up to the NRA and those who love guns and think about them a lot to take responsibility for what goes wrong.

I remember back in the 1950s. After every holiday weekend, we had to listen to the report on deaths on the highways. Thanks to Ralph Nader and a lot of good design engineers and creative people, we now drive autos that are comparatively safe. Fatal accidents still happen, and they are always tragic events, but they are not nearly as common.

It took a lot of effort on the part of responsible citizens to bring a reluctant automobile industry to its senses and require them to install safety features in cars.

Gun enthusiasts. If you love your guns, this is your problem. People, even those of us who are not overly averse to guns, will reach a tipping point. If you want to keep your guns, you have to take the initiative on gun safety and on keeping guns out of the hands of the irresponsible or dangerous minority of citizens. Most of us don't really care one way or another.

Get off your defensive, not-my-fault horses. We know you didn't do the shooting. We know you are responsible. But, you have an interest in changing these terrible statistics. Western Europe has lots of hunters, lots of guns, but we don't see so much gun-abuse. It's your job to figure out why we have this problem in the US and, if you really care about your gun rights, doing something about it.

It's up to you. You can't expect the rest of us, the majority of us who do not own guns or, if we do, would be perfectly OK without them, to carry your water. The challenge is yours.