An explanation, from a gun nut. [View all]

[CommoFreq]

[url=http://postimage.org/image/oooyelwnp/][img=][/url]

Hi everyone. I'm a gun nut.

I can imagine at this point, there's an immediate sensation of anger and hostility that follows a statement like that, especially here, and up to that point, that's really the only information that I've given. Over the last few weeks, this issue has gained a massive amount of attention, and we've had just enough time to react on emotion, and not really enough time to acquire a better understanding.

But I'm also a Democrat. And a liberal.

So, in this regard, I'm also "not so bad". And there "may be hope" for me, yet. Do me a favor and for the next few minutes, please throw away preconceived notions. They are barricades to achieving a well-rounded and intimate understanding of one another.

It's no secret that any time something happens, even if it's something rather trivial, it's generally followed with media frenzy. Sensationalism has always been a deeply engrained part of our media history. I'm always very reluctant when I see it. I try to strip it away to gain an understanding of what is actually being conveyed to me. Either way, I'm skeptical at best. Distrusting at worst. And that's a good policy to have.

Throw it away. An emotional response usually results in damage. Do not trust what you see on TV. It's bad policy.

I've taken a neutral tone to both sides of the argument, that is to say, until I did some research on the issue. Interestingly enough, it wasn't the issue itself that pushed me over to one side of the line. It was the quest for a better understanding. I chose to look at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, instead of the Washington Post. I looked at the Department of Justice rather than CNN.

What I found was very disturbing. The sensationalism has grown to the point of outright fiction. According to the FBI, you are almost twice as likely to die by a hammer, than you are a rifle. Of any type. Hunting rifles, assault rifles, sniper rifles - you name it. I've also heard the number 30,000 as the amount of annual deaths that are tied to guns. The FBI has a wildly different number. It comes out to roughly 9,000. Of those, at least 1,000 are justified homicides by police and civilians defending their homes.

Roughly 350 - 500 die from rifles, annually. And according to the US Department of Justice, rifles account for 3% of gun-related homicides (justified and unjustified). Hand guns account for the overwhelming bulk of gun-related murders.

The reaction from the gun owning community is understandable when considering that there are 310,000,000 people living in the United States. To put a percentage on this, it would use the mean, and calculate it:

425 / 300,000,000 = 0.00000137096 of Americans. Please keep in mind how many rifles are floating around the US as well. Remember, we're not thinking emotionally right now. We left this at the door to help us pursue logic and reason. I happen to find this number to be excellent. To me, it appears that our current gun control policies are working miracles right now. There are over 2,000 of them.

So, if there really isn't a "gun problem" to speak of, then what would be the motivation behind pushing such an agenda? And assuming that you don't agree with that number (even though the source is solid), then consider something else: even though the hand gun is the real culprit behind America's shootings, why are they advocating restrictions against rifles?

For the gun owning community, the answer is obvious. The mere action of going after the wrong gun, at the same time that gun control is working better than could be hoped for, is perplexing. Why would they do this?

We are living in a post 9/11 world. Since the towers fell, a series of legislation (even from Bush) has brought us unwarranted wiretapping, indefinite detention, peaceful protesting being declared terrorist activity, TSA violating us at airports, drone surveillance, and so on. These things have happened and are happening. But consider this for a few minutes:

We have federal agents going around putting fake explosives into peoples' hands and nearly forcing them to go commit an "act of terrorism" for an arrest, because they can't find ONE (1) single terrorist in this whole fucking country!


It's bullshit, folks. Made up. Fictitious. Not real. Disingenuous.

And now you should better understand all of the things that the gun owning community has been saying. Now you may turn your emotions back on.

Thank you.