Intentionally or not, the author has cherry-picked the data in a way that completely undermines the article. The conclusion that "lives are at stake" is obviously true and supported by the data, but the implication that the US has too many guns is not. An analysis is only as accurate as the data. Here, the missing data makes it painfully obvious that, while we should whatever we can to reduce gun violence, we cannot morally accomplish it by disarming US citizens.
If you merely look back to about 1939, you would find numbers for Poland alone that dwarf any statistics for the US, even ignoring differences in population! Poland isn't the only such example. Around that time, certain groups of people suffered from numerous horrific shootings, decimating their populations, despite those groups having been recently disarmed almost entirely. Of course, I'm being sarcastic. These people suffered at the hands of their own governments because they were disarmed, not despite it. There are some still alive who remember.
An honest assesment of history, even very recent history, makes it clear that America's current level of gun violence is a mere rounding error next to the real threat: descent into tyranny. We're lucky that we live in such a relatively peaceful time, but let us not delude ourselves. No human will ever live without the threat of tyranny. No government of the people or by the people will ever, by it's own internal guidance, remain civilized indefinitely. We must never surrender the tools needed to provide the most drastic of course corrections for a government gone astray.
We are fortunate that by keeping and maintaining arms, we make it more likely that we will never have to use them. Armed violence is always the absolute last resort, but if we give up our last resort, we give up all the other ones too. Speech, for example, is of little use against a tyrant with absolute power. But speech from the mouths of well-practiced riflemen, with their weapons close at hand? Those words cannot be safely ignored by anyone.
It is for this reason that the right to keep and bear arms is not unique to just the United States. Rather, it is a fundamental and irrevokable human right. The Constitution of the United States does not and cannot grant this right -- though it does explicitly recognize it, lest we forget.
Yes, gun violence is awful, and we should work hard to reduce it. But let us not forget that is is the price we pay for a civilized society, and it is a small price compared to the alternatives. I grow tired of articles that completely miss this point.
If you merely look back to about 1939, you would find numbers for Poland alone that dwarf any statistics for the US, even ignoring differences in population! Poland isn't the only such example. Around that time, certain groups of people suffered from numerous horrific shootings, decimating their populations, despite those groups having been recently disarmed almost entirely. Of course, I'm being sarcastic. These people suffered at the hands of their own governments because they were disarmed, not despite it. There are some still alive who remember.
An honest assesment of history, even very recent history, makes it clear that America's current level of gun violence is a mere rounding error next to the real threat: descent into tyranny. We're lucky that we live in such a relatively peaceful time, but let us not delude ourselves. No human will ever live without the threat of tyranny. No government of the people or by the people will ever, by it's own internal guidance, remain civilized indefinitely. We must never surrender the tools needed to provide the most drastic of course corrections for a government gone astray.
We are fortunate that by keeping and maintaining arms, we make it more likely that we will never have to use them. Armed violence is always the absolute last resort, but if we give up our last resort, we give up all the other ones too. Speech, for example, is of little use against a tyrant with absolute power. But speech from the mouths of well-practiced riflemen, with their weapons close at hand? Those words cannot be safely ignored by anyone.
It is for this reason that the right to keep and bear arms is not unique to just the United States. Rather, it is a fundamental and irrevokable human right. The Constitution of the United States does not and cannot grant this right -- though it does explicitly recognize it, lest we forget.
Yes, gun violence is awful, and we should work hard to reduce it. But let us not forget that is is the price we pay for a civilized society, and it is a small price compared to the alternatives. I grow tired of articles that completely miss this point.