Guns do NOT keep us safe:
Many people believe that they need guns to protect their own safety, their homes, their families. Actually, having a gun in your home is MORE DANGEROUS than not having one!
Research has shown that having a firearm in your home DOUBLES THE RISK that you or a family member will die of homicide and TRIPLES THE RISK of suicide. These facts came from www.GVPedia.org, which researches and gathers information and supports evidence-based policies that reduce gun violence.
The organization says defensive gun use is actually rare. There are about 2,000 verified defensive gun uses per year compared to 40,000 gun deaths annually.
The organization also opposes “right-to-carry” laws, which actually increase violent crime, particularly aggravated assaults.
The U.S.’s many wars set a bad example leading to mass shootings:
Americans are alarmed and dumbfounded by the mass shootings that keep occurring here. People in other countries experience mass shootings by Americans every day. These are called “wars” and “foreign policy.”
The U.S. has a persistently arrogant and violent foreign policy that assumes the U.S. is entitled to use mass shootings and bombings against any nation – in violation of international law. Every year Congress, Presidents, and the Pentagon spend hundreds of billions of our tax dollars buying guns, bombs, and other weapons and employing troops to shoot them at massive numbers of people in other nations.
In 1945 the U.S. dropped two atomic bombs on civilian populations in Japan. Since then the U.S. has provoked and escalated a nuclear arms race that is getting recklessly more dangerous again now. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ “Doomsday Clock” is only 100 seconds to midnight – the closest to global destruction it has ever been.
The federal government spends all of this money and conducts all of this violence because it mistakenly believes shooting and bombing people solves problems. The U.S. violent foreign policy and cruel budget priority sets a horrible example for anybody who is angry and wants to vent their anger.
The U.S. government knowingly and deliberately has created mass shootings as official U.S. policy. Do not be surprised when individuals follow the official example. If we want to stop gun violence, we must change to a peaceful foreign policy and abolish nuclear weapons.
Organizations that want to reduce gun violence IGNORE “THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM”:
Several non-profit organizations say they want to reduce gun violence, but they ignore the points I made in the blog post section immediately above. Those organizations IGNORE “the elephant in the room,” so they FAIL TO ADDRESS THE MILITARISTIC AMERICAN CULTURE THAT INHERENTLY — and MISTAKENLY — assumes that shooting people solves problems.
Those gun safety organizations will not succeed until they develop strategies for changing American culture away from militarism.
Every year Congress and the President develop and pass a federal budget that devotes HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to the military and its obsession with shooting and killing people. That backfires. The “war on terror” has provoked more terror in more countries. The U.S. LOST its horribly expensive and horribly murderous wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, after having lost the war in Vietnam.
Also, as I point out in the blog post section above, the government SETS A BAD EXAMPLE that ordinary Americans follow when they shoot people in a vain attempt to solve their problems.
We must change our American culture to actually supporting world peace — and promoting modesty and fairness (instead of economic, military and political oppression) among the world’s nations. This major ethical change would allow U.S. foreign policy to actually reduce the level of violence in the world. This profound change in culture and foreign policy would create a positive change toward a nonviolent society within the U.S. — including a steep reduction in gun violence here at home.
A large portion of the public says we must DE-FUND THE POLICE and use the savings to fund programs that would really reduce crime and protect public safety. LIKEWISE, we must DE-FUND THE PENTAGON and fund programs that would really reduce violence worldwide. This profound change would also steeply reduce gun violence within the U.S.
Consumer protection laws should protect children from guns:
See this cartoon:
consumer protection laws should protect children from guns
