Perhaps you’ve heard a favorite saying of the NRA crew, that people can take away their guns when they “pry them from our cold dead hands.” More than just a catchy bumpersticker slogan, this is an ethos for many in the US. They say it’s part of our heritage, part of our strength, one of our sacred rights as Americans,… yata, yata, yata.
Here’s another perspective, fresh from the City of Brotherly Love. Philadelphia, like any major metropolitan city in the US, has some shady neighborhoods - but the violence lately is totally out of control. As of Wednesday, 150 people have been slain in the city this year to date. That puts the city on a pace well ahead of a quiet bloody 2006, when 406 people were murdered. It was the first time homicides topped the 400 mark since 1990. Police and civic activists point to several factors, including poverty and drugs, but by far the biggest catalyst, they say, is the availability of guns. Guns for you, guns for me, guns for everyone! They’re cheaper and easier to get than ever, and with summer sales coming, these puppies are flying off the racks.
Philly is just one of the nation’s cities trying to deal with a murder spike. Nationally, violent crime is spiking nearly everywhere. FBI data from December, the most recent statistics available, show murders and robberies rose by 3.7 percent nationwide during the first six months of 2006. Those findings came on top of a 2.2 percent crime hike in 2005 — the first increase since 2001. The Justice Department concluded that the increased violence is caused by a younger and more violent generation of criminals who have easy access to guns.
So I ask you this, is it really worth it? Is being able to own that pretty black Glock 9mm that you can polish when you’re bored, take our to the range and play with on weekends, use to shoot minorities if they get within ten yards of your front door…whatever it is that you do. Is it worth having the right to own that gun if it means thousands of unnecessary deaths nationwide? Think about it, because one day the cold dead hands may be your own.
(Statistics Courtesy of CNN)
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Joe
Phil, although I do agree with you in that something does need to be done regarding this issue, I don’t know if the correlation betweeen guns and crime is so clear. Although there are many contributing factors that affect these statistics, many anti-gun control activists cite Switzerland, etc., as examples of countries where guns are widespread yet gun related crime is extremely low. However, no matter how you slice it, instances of crime as a percetage of population here in the US have been in an umistakable downtrend for about twenty years. I would hesitate to follow sensatinalist media outlets and call that a “spike.”
Joe
Phil,
This may be repeated as I tried to post this earlier.
I do agree with you in that something does need to be done regarding this issue, however I’m not sure that the correlation betweeen guns and violent crime is so clear. Many anti-gun control activists cite countries like Switzerland (among others) where publicly owned guns are widespread and gun-related crime is extremely low. Either way, on a percentage of population basis, crime here in the US has been in an umistakable downtrend for the last 20 years or so. I would hesitant to follow the lead of a sensationalist media outlet and call an increase for a year or two a “spike.” What may be of interest is how the US compares to similar affluent countries with strict gun control laws.
Vitruvius
Sorry Joe for late upload of your comments. They were caught in electronic limbo.
