Let's consider that in many parts of the world gun ownership is relatively high, perhaps not as high as the US, but still a considerable amount of the population in many countries own firearms, and yet, gun-related homicides do not in all of these countries comprise a large percentage of murders. Examples, Canada and Finland, while both respectfully have lower homicide rates than the US they both also have lower percentages of homicides committed by gun than the US. Canada is under 45%, and Finland is about 14%.
The homicide rate in Switzerland is lower than the USA but the per capita gun ownership is higher. Places where guns are not allowed by legal owners typically have higher crime rates within the united states.
This really is indicative not of guns equal more violence but the united states has a violet culture. a person can own a thousand guns and never even point it at somebody. It really isn't the access to fire arms. The only reason I can think of why our country has such a violent culture is our lack of community. It seems that every thing that occurs in our nation is used to forward some ideology. Being free thinkers means allowing others to think freely also.
Certainly reducing access to weapons would reduce the capacity for violent spree killers to go on rampages, but most homicide in the US isn't the work of spree killers, and removing access to guns wouldn't necessarily significantly reduce the homicide rate as there are still highly effective instruments of murder available on the market. More importantly the vast majority of homicides in the US are performed with unregistered firearms, so I fail to see how increasing the controls on legal firearms when the problem is largely tied to illegal firearms would solve anything.
I am not aware of any national registry, individual states may have them but mine does not.
I personally am 100% for the control of illegal fire arms, they are often the ones used in violent crime. The control of these weapons being that the are aquired, traded and used outside the law making laws against non violent otherwise law abiding citizens would really have little effect. There are already laws against illegally obtaining weapons, they don't work against criminals. I am not advocating removal of these such laws, just that law only really keeps honest people honest. The law to take guns away only punishes the honest people, liberty is sometimes sacrificed for safety and I have to agree that giving up one for the other means you deserve nether.
I think the real answer is to look at why Americans are so inherently violent. What breeds the culture of violence in America? What are the causes of it? Once we've identified that, we can take logical steps towards countering it, which I think will be much more effective towards reducing our homicide rate than banning guns.
This I absolutely agree with. We are a violent culture, I am not sure why, I have suspicions, I will state shortly. This is a deeply complex problem and requires focus, and understanding of the people in the united states.
The main reason (imo) we have such a violent culture is the high percentage of people incarcerated in our country. We have a justice system that is only meant to punish people who violate the rules of our nation. I once worked in a "correctional facility" I learned that the term correctional facility was just pretty language, there is absolutely no correction, it is punishment. Once you are in the system you are institutionalized for life. You can't get work, you can't get housing you can't function legally in our world, so there us no second chance, you are doomed by your first felony.
Law enforcement (speaking as a law enforcement professional my self) is broken and currupt. But or notion of law enforcement is really to blame. My opinion on this is not very popular in my profession, but I think that law enforcement officers should be a form of community support, know the residents our other protectorates in your patrol, reach out to communities in need and understand that the people that break the law are people all the same. To many videos loo see of my colleges losing their wits and acting violently toward criminals, some times it isn't necessary.
Another issue I think is a factor in our society is our thoughts on mental health. It really doesn't get any recognition unless it is a sever mental health issue. Just like physical health is a daily thing, so is mental health. And also just like physical health mental health is different for the individual.
I am just guessing here that most Americans automatically thought of psychologists and therapy. But just like therapy for bad physical health occurs long after the problem was caused same with mental health. It is necessary to do things daily to insure mental health and stability. Just like nutritious food supports physical health nutritious mental food supports mental health.
Nobody really ever thinks of their mental health until it is tested.
mentally nutritious things are discipline, structure, and attitude. Three things desperately lacking in our nation.
Lastly love, not just the hug and kiss business but the genuine care for our fellow men and women, children too. I am falling about philanthropy, which means love of people. This is really the main idea that tends to get shuffled out of religion. I really think that this is the purpose for religion, bit that is another topic. You don't have to be religious to love people. You do have to be strong, because when somebody needs you to do very hard things that do hurt but not compared to the consequences of not doing it, like say putting a child up for adoption, or the mental anguish that people suffer breaking addiction it breaks your heart but it is the hard part of love, the person that is the object of your love may not love you back, in fact they may hate you. but your love will never change.
I could go on and on, and I am sure there are thousands of reasons all valid that I never thought of. But hopefully this discussion can move that way.
