On Thursday, December 19, 2019 at 11:02:16 AM UTC-5, trader_4 wrote:
On Thursday, December 19, 2019 at 10:32:11 AM UTC-5, TimR wrote:
Every year in the US, guns kill roughly 14,000 by homicide and 22,000 by suicide.

Assault style rifles account for just under .25% of the homicide and .1% of the suicide. So the very first measure to be recommended is to ban these weapons. Why? Because as a nation we fear those guns more, even though they do less harm.

There are two things we could do to start bringing homicide rates down: legalize drugs, ban capital punishment.

Talk about imagining things, how in the world do you drag deaths from
capital punishment into this? First you claim that assault weapons account
for a very low number, then you cite executions for capital offenses,
which is a very small number and totally irrelevant, as something that
would bring the number down. Wow.


No, wait, work with me here.

Assault weapons kill a tiny percentage of Americans. Removing them all would by itself have little impact.

But Americans do kill people at a much higher rate than other industrial societies. Over time the world has become a less murderous place, and Americans have followed, but not far enough. What we need is to continue the civilization process, and to stop seeing killing people as a way to solve problems. (Getting rid of ALL firearms, our murder rate is still higher than many countries.)

Capital punishment is an official recognized approval of the idea that killing people is a good way to solve problems. I suggest eliminating it as one possible step along the path to civilization.

I suggest legalizing drugs because those laws result in so many of our citizens being sent to gladiator schools called prison. Very few people are released as kinder and gentler.

Neither idea is going to have a huge immediate effect. This is a cultural problem that doesn't have quick and easy solutions. I think both (and background checks, permit process, whatever) over time contribute to a safer world.