it's the Guns

[thucythucy]

9. Avoiding the question yet again.

The rate of gun violence in the US, including school shootings, is vastly higher than in any comparable developed nation. This makes the overall death by violence much higher here as well. It's simple, really. The use of a firearm vastly increases the chance that a violent interaction will be lethal.

How many dozens of children have been killed in schools this year in any western European nation you care to name? How many killed by guns? Compare that to the number killed in the US thus far this year. What do you see?

Here, I'll help. In Germany, thus far this year, there has been exactly one student shooting. In the US: 288 shootings as of the last count.

Overall, and just by comparison, in 2012, the most recent statistic I could find with a quick Google search, there were a grand total of 62 gun deaths in Germany. In the US in 2014 there were 10,945.

And you seriously believe that easy access to guns in this country has nothing to do with this disparity?

This "it isn't guns, it's people" argument is an old chestnut gun enthusiasts have used for decades. That line is wearing thin, as is "thoughts and prayers."

But then anything to avoid looking at the need for common sense gun regulation.