Gun facts to remember: * There is no correlation between guns and violence. There just isn't. Look...
Gun facts to remember:
* There is no correlation between guns and violence. There just isn't. Look all you want; it's not there. Some states have very high gun ownership and very low gun violence rates; some have very low gun ownership and very high gun violence rates. And in those same places, the violence rates are about the same regardless of whether a gun is involved. President Obama says that we are not more violent than other countries, as a way to imply that guns are the cause of our violence, but the facts show that he is wrong: as a country, we are more violent than many other countries. We simply know that guns do not cause violence, but rather that violent people will use guns to commit violent acts; but if they cannot use guns, will commit violent acts anyway.
* Gun violence in America -- like all violence in America -- has been decreasing for years, and continues to do so. There may be small blips of increased violence in certain areas, but overall it is going down ... all while more guns are being bought, and more gun rights are being recognized.
* There is no basis for the view that because background checks have worked to reduce gun violence, therefore covering all sales will have a similar effect. The concept of diminishing returns applies here. In fact, extremely few guns used in crimes -- best estimates are around one percent -- were bought legally, but without a background check (the "gun show loophole"). Closing the "gun show loophole" cannot possibly have a significant effect on gun violence, because very few guns used for violence are procured this way today.
Now, all that said, I think most people are fine with covering people who make a business of selling guns into "dealers" in the understanding of the law. But what most people are not fine with is doing what the state of Washington has done, where it is now a felony for you to hand your gun to your mother in your own home just for her to look at, or to let your good friend borrow your gun to go to the gun range, and so on.
As long as this is actually limited to the President's actual legal authority, and as long as it is targeted only at actual gun dealers, then I think most people will be fine with it.
* There is no correlation between guns and violence. There just isn't. Look all you want; it's not there. Some states have very high gun ownership and very low gun violence rates; some have very low gun ownership and very high gun violence rates. And in those same places, the violence rates are about the same regardless of whether a gun is involved. President Obama says that we are not more violent than other countries, as a way to imply that guns are the cause of our violence, but the facts show that he is wrong: as a country, we are more violent than many other countries. We simply know that guns do not cause violence, but rather that violent people will use guns to commit violent acts; but if they cannot use guns, will commit violent acts anyway.
* Gun violence in America -- like all violence in America -- has been decreasing for years, and continues to do so. There may be small blips of increased violence in certain areas, but overall it is going down ... all while more guns are being bought, and more gun rights are being recognized.
* There is no basis for the view that because background checks have worked to reduce gun violence, therefore covering all sales will have a similar effect. The concept of diminishing returns applies here. In fact, extremely few guns used in crimes -- best estimates are around one percent -- were bought legally, but without a background check (the "gun show loophole"). Closing the "gun show loophole" cannot possibly have a significant effect on gun violence, because very few guns used for violence are procured this way today.
Now, all that said, I think most people are fine with covering people who make a business of selling guns into "dealers" in the understanding of the law. But what most people are not fine with is doing what the state of Washington has done, where it is now a felony for you to hand your gun to your mother in your own home just for her to look at, or to let your good friend borrow your gun to go to the gun range, and so on.
As long as this is actually limited to the President's actual legal authority, and as long as it is targeted only at actual gun dealers, then I think most people will be fine with it.
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
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