For the year 2013 the leading cause of death in the USofA is…
2,404,054 Illness/medical
65,866 other injuries
35,663 overdose
35,612 Auto
33,636 Firearms - of which 21,175 Suicide 11,675 Homicide 502 Mass Shooting
24,936 Non Firearm Violence of which 19,974 Suicide 4,962 Homicide
so by simple math you stand about 5 times as likely to die due to an accidental non vehicle injury than from a criminal or accidental use of a firearm
According to the FBI, 48% of violent crime is gang related. And most of that gang violence is confined to very small sections of major cities. Sometimes 90+% of a city’s violent crime comes from a few specific city blocks. Gang sizes are also on the rise.
No gun control will ever stop these gangs from committing violent crime.
We don’t need gun control, we need gang control. In other words, better enforcement of our existing laws and more programs to help people get out of the perpetual cycle of gang life.
I agree that gun control will never stop it. Existing laws need to be enforced. It’s the culture that the kids are brought up in and it’s a culture that is celebrated in society. It sickens me. Until the court of public opinion realizes that there is a major problem with the values and behavior of a certain group of people, things will never change.
Speaking of gang violence and ineffective gun control laws, one has only to look at our southern neighbor, Mexico, where strict gun control laws have left innocent law-abiding citizens woefully vulnerable to murders, extortion, kidnappings and torture at an unprecedented level.
I’m sure many have now heard of the “auto-defensas,” groups of local farmers and villagers in remote towns who finally got fed up of the violence and resorted to arming themselves to protect their families and villages from spiraling organized crime violence:
so when people claim that there is a firearms issue ask them about this issue (which by the way claims more lives than firearms (not just criminal use, homicides etc)