{"id":2175,"date":"2013-01-20T11:47:00","date_gmt":"2013-01-20T11:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/01\/more-suicide-than-murders-by-gun.html"},"modified":"2013-01-20T11:47:00","modified_gmt":"2013-01-20T11:47:00","slug":"more-suicide-than-murders-by-gun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/01\/more-suicide-than-murders-by-gun.html","title":{"rendered":"More suicide than murders by gun"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Ross Douthat, as is his manner, brings sense and clarity to an issue by focusing on something other than the two extremes of the gun issue<\/a>. \u00a0I admit, I don\u2019t really have a dog in this fight, apart from the sneaking\u00a0suspicion\u00a0that there are those exploiting the horrible massacre at Newtown in order to advance agendas bent on eliminating this pesky freedom stuff. \u00a0Still, not having done the homework myself, I\u2019m reluctant to throw out too many opinions. \u00a0I have no doubt there are bad apples and extremists on both sides of the debate, as there always are.<\/p>\n

Still, I\u2019m a bit shocked to see some things unfolding. \u00a0Ever since 9\/11, and during the hellstorm debate over the Patriot Act and\u00a0water boarding\u00a0 I saw and read time and again, over and over, the arguments against allowing torture. \u00a0Time and again Jefferson and Ben Franklin were quoted to remind us how stupid is a country willing to compromise its liberty for safety. \u00a0And now, some of those who dropped those quotes, are saying we must be willing to give away parts of our liberty for preventing such horrible things as Sandy Hook. \u00a0That\u2019s something I\u2019m going to reflect on for later.<\/p>\n

My concern is that all of these gun control measures will, in fact, do nothing at all, but take us one baby step closer to being at ease with seeing [anyone else\u2019s] freedoms compromised. \u00a0The fact that I don\u2019t own an assault\u00a0weapon\u00a0doesn\u2019t mean I don\u2019t care about the rights to own one. \u00a0While I would be willing to look at what rules\u00a0and\u00a0regulations exist, I\u2019m worried that the progressive juggernaut is gaining steam when it comes to intruding ever more into our lives. \u00a0Thinking that they will only intrude into their lives but not mine would be the height of idiocy.<\/p>\n

Especially if these intrusions don\u2019t actually help the problem we\u2019re all clamoring to resolve. \u00a0So Mr. Douthat, always wonderful in\u00a0his\u00a0insights, reminds us that it might be that suicide, not murder, is the number one cause of gun death to be helped by such measures. The laws could possibly help there more than the murders, which are usually perpetrated by criminals with no intention of following laws\u00a0anyway. \u00a0It\u2019s an interesting read. \u00a0Kudos to the fellow who provided the link<\/a>, as well as this\u00a0interesting\u00a0stat from Justice Breyer\u2019s dissent in District of Columbia v. Heller:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFrom 1993 to 1997, there were 180,533 firearm-related deaths in the United States, an average of over 36,000 per year\u2026 Fifty-one percent were suicides, 44% were homicides, 1% were legal interventions, 3% were unintentional accidents, and 1% were of undetermined causes.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ross Douthat, as is his manner, brings sense and clarity to an issue by focusing on something other than the two extremes of the gun issue. \u00a0I admit, I don\u2019t really have a dog in this fight, apart from the sneaking\u00a0suspicion\u00a0that there are those exploiting the horrible massacre at Newtown in order to advance agendas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nMore suicide than murders by gun<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ross Douthat, as is his manner, brings sense and clarity to an issue by focusing on something other than the two extremes of the gun issue.  I admit,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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