All Gunned Up

Photo by Christie Gretter

Except for abortion and bar closing hours in Georgia, there aren’t many things that can get people revved up like gun control. Politicians and activists on the left see a simple solution to the gun violence plaguing this country- just outlaw guns, seize them all, and overnight, it’ll be the dawning of the age of Aquarius, peace and understanding will abound. Excuse me, but I’m a cynic and remember what Ernest Hemingway wrote as the closing line in The Sun Also Rises, “…yes, I said, isn’t it pretty to think so...” The gun issue is more complex and defies an easy answer, because firearms ownership has always been a fact of life in our society. There’s no exact record of the total firearms in private hands, the numbers fluctuate, but everyone seems to agree the number is over 11,000,000 and some estimate it could go as high as 47% of the population. Most of the guns in private hands are rifles and shotguns used for hunting, skeet shooting or recreational purposes at a local gun club, or on private property and handguns kept at home for defense of family or property. These guns, along with ones legally owned by collectors make the firearms hobby little different from model railroaders and stamp collectors. The problem begins when firearms are used in the commission of a crime. In 2022, there were 478,400 crimes of violence involving a firearm in the U.S.  At first glance, it sounds dire, but when measured against a U.S population of 331,900,000, it’s only .0144% of the population committing over 99% of the violent crimes. The purchase, ownership and use of firearms already fall under strict federal and state law, so… maybe… it might make more sense to start looking at this as a “people” problem and direct our energy towards the .0144% who are committing the crimes rather than the 99% who aren’t?  This is a classic two-sided coin and that’s the gun owners’ argument, next time, I’ll give you the anti-gun view….