I believe that this will be the last of my re-posting of op-eds on the gun debate…..I was hoping that these would generate some interest in the debate and how it could be moved forward especially this year with all the shooting deaths that have made the news……but I was mistaken.
So to conclude this series I would like to post on the gun myths that seem to always pop up during times of conversation following mass shooting ( a never ending cycle)……..
Following gun violence tragedies, familiar myths get recycled and recirculated—myths that distract from effective solutions and create smoke screens around the essential problem: We’re more interested in protecting sellers and buyers of guns than in protecting the public, says Daniel Webster, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions.
Below, read about some of the myths surrounding the issue of gun violence in America and what can be done to reduce it.
Myth: Urban homicides falsely inflate U.S. gun death statistics.
“The common trope is that places like Baltimore or Detroit or Chicago are the reason we have so many gun deaths in this country,” said Cassandra Crifasi, the center’s director of research and policy, in an interview with the Chicago Tribune. “And yes, those places … have unacceptable rates of gun homicides. But the places with the highest rates of death are not Maryland, Michigan, and Illinois. They are Mississippi, Louisiana, Wyoming, Missouri, and Alabama.”
The fact is, Crifasi says, the places with weak gun laws have higher rates of death.
“More people died from guns in Texas than Illinois, when suicide and accidental shootings are included,” she added.
Myth: Mass shootings like the ones in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York, are the result of mental health issues.
While motives in the Uvalde massacre are still unknown, “increasingly, we are seeing people who are frustrated, angry, and hateful and using firearms take that out on a particular group,” Crifasi told MarketWatch.
But there’s a distinction between this and a diagnosable mental health issue. It’s also dangerous and irresponsible to link gun violence and mental health, Crifasi warns. For one thing, mental health issues are far more common than mass shootings: More than 50% of people will be diagnosed with a mental illness or disorder at some point in their lives, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Fixating on motives and the mental health of those who perpetuate violence distracts from more actionable approaches to reducing gun violence, Crifasi said.
Not to worry my friend….there are more….
https://phys.org/news/2022-06-debunking-myths-gun-violence.html
Sadly this debate will never end….with lies, accusations and misinformation it is destined to keep any solution from every being really considered.
Maybe the next generation will find common ground for a true conversation…..
I will not hold my breath!
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
In Saner Thought 
I am sorry that the debate on guns did not work out as you had desired. However, what you have just experienced is a prime example of what I have always preached about …the example of Americans being so self-absorbed in the quest for instant gratifications that they generally do not care about anybody else except their individual selves. No time in America to be concerned about the concerns of “The Other Guy.” This is especially true among the Repukes whose driving mantra is “Individualism At All Costs” in every aspect of Life. By the way, the “Next” generation will not learn anything either … they will simply enhance the mistakes made by our own generation and make even worse mistakes than we have made. My current stance is “If the f**king idiots want to kill each other off, then let them do it. Less of them, more of us. (Unless, of course, we get in their crossfire … which, in these days, is an ever growing possibility.) Be satisfied with the knowledge that you have tried.
I know John sometimes I feel like a fart in the wind….but I cannot let it go or shrug my shoulders….Happy Father’s Day chuq
Maybe too many people are binge-watching Netflix, instead of watching the horrors on the news? Or they might be too busy buying raffle tickets to win a flamethrower…
Best wishes, Pete.
All the adherents of this idiocy are non-evolved offspring of a culture of prehistorical creatures ..It shows in their faces, in their words and in their actions. They have never adapted to the rigours of civilization .. and never will.
As I’ve said before, as long as the gun control camp prefers to legislate on a platform of lies and false narratives……there will be substantial pushback. And rightly so. Constitutional Rights are both doing judicially by strict scrutiny……legislation should be as well, instead of by mere emotion.
Should have read: “Constitutional Rights are beholden judicially by strict scrutiny…..”
I have NO faith in the legislative process it has been corrupted and both sides lie and deceive….so while we wait more die….not a sound plan in my book. chuq
The only “Constitutional Rights” there are to individual gun ownership is to members of a duly organized and recognized “Armed Militia.” But idiots cannot understand this and cannot accept this and will use any excuse to take whatever actions necessary to make sure gun violence continues in The United States. So I say “Let them go ahead and kill each other off so we will eventually be done with the problem.”
The problem is the idiots are killing people that do not deserve to die….the unarmed innocents….so they are killing anyone not of like mind. chuq