Gun Control: apologies, i'm on desktop and didn't notice the corpse

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Gun Control: apologies, i'm on desktop and didn't notice the corpse

sean10mm: Jun 29, 2005; It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, MAD-2R World

aniviron posted:

The US has very weird gun laws. Most of the proposed legislation responding to the past decade of mass shootings as well as ATF rulings focus on restricting rifles by disallowing various features or imposing other forms of inconvenience on owning a rifle. Overwhelmingly, however, shooting deaths are the result of handguns, not rifles, and there is almost never any pistol regulation. The FBI's 2020 statistics list 8029 handgun fatalities, 4863 unspecified gun deaths, and 455 rifle deaths. Compared to other forms of homicide ( knives ~2k, unknown 1k, unarmed 600, clubs 400 etc.) this strongly suggests that the way to reduce gun violence in the US would be to regulate pistols, but at both the state and federal level this is largely not what is happening.

Why are pistols much more utilized in killing than rifles? A few reasons. First, they're small. Yes, it's obvious, but if you are walking around in public with a rifle people will notice, and you attract attention. Pistols are easily held in a pocket or nearby in a glovebox for example. Second, there is relatively little difference in killing power between a pistol and a rifle when you are at close range and you are not shooting an armored person. Finally, pistols tend to be cheaper (though this isn't universal - you can assemble a reasonably functional AR for 200 dollars, if you are willing to build it yourself and shop for bottom of the barrel parts).

So it's been baffling to me to see the major pushes towards inhibiting rifle ownership when statistically, it's not what kills people.

Rifles (especially AR/AK types) are disproportionately used in the mass shootings that make headlines because, well, murdering a pile of kids at once is a big deal to most people.

Mass shootings are a tiny fraction of gun deaths overall, so on paper should be a low priority, except the incidence of maniacs who can buy a bunch of semiautomatic rifles with no effort and murder a school really feels like it should be loving zero.

# ¿ Jun 2, 2022 11:34

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 09:29

sean10mm: Jun 29, 2005; It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, MAD-2R World

Morningwoodpecker posted:

Does it need to be changed ?.

Just apply the "as part of a well regulated militia" section. Weapons & ammo stored in the militia's armoury, militia has to pass stringent checks to be classed as well regulated. Well regulated should mean accountable and responsible for checking members suitability for firearm access.

Yeah, the 2nd Ammendment is a red herring and saying it makes gun control impossible is to buy into the gun freak framing of things. It maybe prevents total gun bans but not 1,000 other gun control measures short of that.

Well, if the Supreme Court wasn't psychotic, but that's not just a gun thing, it's an everything thing. :barf:

# ¿ Jun 2, 2022 12:24

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Gun Control: apologies, i'm on desktop and didn't notice the corpse