Our children are under siege from guns and no one cares
I am heartsick every time I read another story about a young person being shot. In today’s news, we learn that a Morehouse student was shot en route to his dorm from the library Monday. Fortunately, he survived the shooting.
A Spelman student did not. Last month, Jasmine Lynn died after being struck by a stray bullet while walking across Clark Atlanta’s campus.
And today Decatur High is commemorating a sophomore shot to death over the weekend leaving a teen club in DeKalb County.
Here’s a question: Who dies in greater numbers from firearms, police in the line of duty or preschoolers? The answer — contained in a 2008 report by the Children’s Defense Fund — is surprising and disturbing. In 2005, guns killed 69 preschoolers, compared with 53 law enforcement officers.
Among the facts in the Washington-based child advocacy group’s “Protect Children, Not Guns” report.
> Since 1979, gun violence has taken the lives of 104,419 children and teens.
> A black male has a one-in-72 chance of being killed by a firearm before age 30; a white male has a one-in-344 chance.
> While black children are more likely to be victims of firearm homicides, whites are more likely to use a gun to commit suicide. Eight times as many white kids committed suicide by gun as blacks.
For every U.S. child killed with a gun, four are wounded. The children lost to guns in 2005 would fill 120 public school classrooms. On average, in the 40-week school year, 88 students per week are expelled for bringing a gun to school. Those are only the kids caught with guns. No one knows how many more bring guns that are never discovered.
Why aren’t more people, including the governor and the Legislature, talking about making it harder for teenagers to get guns?
Why aren’t we addressing the ready availability of guns to children and teenagers, and tracing the sources of firearms that end up in teenage hands?
Few political leaders in Georgia are willing to launch an effort to crack down on guns and the dealers who sell guns to teenagers, not to mention on the irresponsible gun owners who allow children access to firearms. In the Legislature, proposing sensible gun-safety laws would be tantamount to proposing speed limits at NASCAR.
The gun lobby contends that teenagers steal most of the guns they use in crimes, but the research says otherwise: Most guns come from the children’s homes or from dealers.
As an editorial writer, I wrote dozens of editorials about the easy access to guns in this country. And I received thousands of angry e-mails from gun owners saying it was their weapons that kept them safe.
Yet, no one could ever answer this question: If our guns keep us safe, why do Americans — and their children — suffer so many more gun deaths than peers in other countries?
There are 15,000 murders in the United States each year from guns . In Britain, Australia and Canada, which have strict firearms laws, there are fewer than 350 gun-related murders combined each year.
Americans are the most well-armed citizens of the Western world and the most likely to die in a barrage of bullets.
Yes, most gun owners are sane people who don’t go on murderous rampages. Most drivers are sane, too, but that doesn’t stop states from requiring that they get licenses and register their cars.
Must we accept this bloodshed as a way of life now?
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195 comments Add your comment
William
October 13th, 2009
10:25 am
Stay away from my constitutional rights! I am sick of these sympathy laws and people like Maureen Downey. Once you get it is your little liberal mind that people are not going to live forever nor are they guaranteed tomorrow. You blame guns for the lack of morality when it is your ilk that preaches against it. The media loves evil and evil doers. So buy you some land, go there and never put yourself or your family in a place where you can see a gun. Live forever and prosper! Leave my rights alone! NO I do not want to have to do things that criminals are not going to do anyway “stupid”! The meek shall inherit the earth but there will be a gun in their pocket.
Sensibility
October 13th, 2009
10:32 am
“A black male has a one-in-72 chance of being killed by a firearm before age 30; a while male has a one-in-344 chance.”
Perhaps it is the culture to blame rather than the tools used in the commission of violent acts against others.
William
October 13th, 2009
10:33 am
This is about as sleezy as it gets! You are using children to ban guns or make it useless to own a gun. What your article leads to is parenting or the lack of it. What do you not propose a parenting class and teach everyone to rear children like YOU think they should be reared. That way you could advocate a land of rainbows, clear skies, and when it rains it will be gum drops. aaahhhh yes the children will grow just like Maureen Downey.
DeKalb Conservative
October 13th, 2009
10:37 am
Maureen- You got this one VERY VERY wrong.
In the decade that stricter gun laws where enacted in the UK, the number of gun related deaths rose 340%! Why? Because only the criminals and law enforcement had guns. When seconds not minutes count in a potential gun crime, disarming the law abiding citizens only led to increased gun related murder rates.
White society has erupted in the last 11 months. Manufacturing rates for guns and ammo remain at capacity, however there is a shortage of both guns and ammo. The stats you listed have sent paranoia through white communities and households and first time gun ownership, including GA carry permits has skyrocketed.
Legislation isn’t needed to keep guns away from people with no unlawful intent. As long as enforcement is soft on those with illegal guns, or those that use guns in crimes (that will likely be repeat offenders), then it is incredibly important to keep lawful citizens alarmed.
PUNISH CRIMINALS THAT PURCHASE GUNS ILLEGALLY, OR USE GUNS IN A CRIME TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW
PROTECT LAWFUL CITIZENS OF THEIR RIGHT AS SECONDS, NOT MINUTES COUNT IN A CRIME
KEEP FEAR IN THE BACK OF CRIMINAL MINDS THAT THE HOUSE THEY BREAK INTO MIGHT HAVE A SOCCER MOM WITH A GUN.
Maureen Downey
October 13th, 2009
10:50 am
DeKalb, In 2002-2003, England admitted 129 people to hospitals for gun injuries.
In 2006, even counting gun deaths with a Coroner’s verdict of accident, suicide, homicide and undetermined intent, there were only 210 gun deaths in the United Kingdom.
I would gladly exchange our death rate with the UK, but I don’t think they would want ours.
Maureen
Here is worldwide data: http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/world_report/wrvheng/en/
Van Jones
October 13th, 2009
10:54 am
This is like saying these pants make me look fat so I’m getting rid of these pants (by the way, you ARE fat!).
How about attacking something that kills a lot of youngsters like cars or swimming pools? I guess you think guns are low hanging fruit.
Shouldn’t the UK have ZERO gun deaths? Just sayin’.
Tony
October 13th, 2009
10:58 am
Here, in a totally different context, is a scenario where cultural and social issues are at the heart of the problem. More laws regarding guns will not change the differing values that have lead to these unfortunate incidents. Communities must rise up together and strengthen one another to eradicate violent deaths.
BlondeHoney
October 13th, 2009
10:58 am
Maureen, I am with you on this one. NO ONE is suggesting that anyone’s guns be taken away, just sensible rules/regulations to protect the innocent. And tragically the gun lobby in their shortsightedness and selfishness will never allow that to happen because god know we must have our AK47’s, musn’t we? sigh…
Maureen Downey
October 13th, 2009
11:00 am
Also, not sure where your source is on gun deaths soaring in the UK. I interviewed embassy folks on this a few years ago and they say that’s not true. In fact, gun homicides have remained steady in the UK over the last 10 years, In 2005-2006, England and Wales reported 50 gun homicides. (We, on the other hand, reported nearly 10,000 gun murders.)
And from Wikipedia, with references: “While the number of crimes involving firearms in England and Wales increased from 13,874 in 1998/99 to 24,070 in 2002/03, they remained relatively static at 24,094 in 2003/04, and have since fallen to 21,521 in 2005/06. The latter includes 3,275 crimes involving imitation firearms and 10,437 involving air weapons, compared to 566 and 8,665 respectively in 1998/99.[33] Only those “firearms” positively identified as being imitations or air weapons (e.g. by being recovered by the police or by being fired) are classed as such, so the actual numbers are likely to be significantly higher. In 2005/06, 8,978 of the total of 21,521 firearms crimes (42%) were for criminal damage.[34]
Since 1998, the number of people injured by firearms in England and Wales increased by 110%,[35] from 2,378 in 1998/99 to 5,001 in 2005/06. Most of the rise in injuries were in the category slight injuries from the non-air weapons. “Slight” in this context means an injury that was not classified as “serious” (i.e. did not require detention in hospital, did not involve fractures, concussion, severe general shock, penetration by a bullet or multiple shot wounds). In 2005/06, 87% of such injuries were defined as “slight,” which includes the use of firearms as a threat only. In 2007, the British government was accused by Shadow Home Secretary David Davis of making “inaccurate and misleading” statements claiming that gun crime was falling, after official figures showed that gun-related killings and injuries recorded by police had risen more than fourfold since 1998, mainly due to a rise in non-fatal injuries. [36][37] Justice Minister Mr Jack Straw told the BBC, “We are concerned that within the overall record, which is a good one, of crime going down in the last 10-11 years, the number of gun-related incidents has gone up. But it has now started to fall.”
Sunshine and Thunder
October 13th, 2009
11:01 am
Maureen:
You say the 69 preschool children died in 2008 but that 104 thousand died between 1979 and today. That would be about 3800 per year. You imply that they were all children but most of them likely are gang bangers in their teens. Of course many more preschool children died last year from other factors such as swimming pools and automobiles. Where is your editorial blasting the automobile and swimming pool industries?
Sunshine and Thunder
October 13th, 2009
11:03 am
Maybe the problem is that we don’t have gun education because we are too busy teaching our kids about sex.
Why do we think that teaching kids about sex will prevent pregnancies but that teaching them about guns will cause murders?
Van Jones
October 13th, 2009
11:06 am
Oh no, she quoted Wikipedia. This went downhill fast.
Maureen Downey
October 13th, 2009
11:10 am
Van Jones, I have lots of sources on gun info, but most of them are not given credence by the gun lobby. I have also cited the World Health Organization and provided the link. But I would be delighted to send you an extensive list of gun death sources.
Maureen
SouthGaDawg
October 13th, 2009
11:11 am
Maureen,
Here’s a great link for you (since you like statistics on guns in US v. England):
http://sob.apotheon.org/?p=1323
Check out this quote from that link:
“In or about 2006, there were about 60 million (actually closer to 58M, but we’ll use the rounded-up number to be kind to hopolophobes) people in the UK as a whole, including Scotland.
In England and Wales alone — discounting Scotland — there were over 163 thousand knife crimes.
By the end of 2006, there were more than 300 million people in the US as a whole.
In the US as a whole, there were fewer than 400 thousand gun crimes.
In the UK, based on these numbers, there was one knife crime commited for every 374 people (rounded down).
In the US, based on these numbers, there was one gun crime committed for every 750 people — less than half a gun crime per 374 people (about 0.4987 gun crimes per 374 people, actually).
That means that, based on these statistics, you are more than twice as likely to be a victim of knife crime in the UK as you are to be a victim of gun crime in the US.
Statistical studies can be great tools for determining the results of policy changes, but the devil lies in the details. Simply picking a number out of thin air — like the fact that 68% of murders are committed by the use of a firearm in the US — in no way proves anything other than that 68% of murders are committed by the use of a firearm.”
So as you see, England’s gun control laws just led to an increase of knife attacks. The problem with your logic is that people tend to kill other people. If you take away one of the means for them to kill people, then they will just turn to another means. Which in England’s case is knives.
Oh, and by the way, the last I checked it was illegal to kill someone in England and the US. How’s that working out for crime prevention?
Richard
October 13th, 2009
11:12 am
It is ludricrous to blame an inanimate object for the use people put it to. Guns are only tools that do what their users direct.
Maureen Downey
October 13th, 2009
11:13 am
Sunshine and Thunder, In 2005, 1,187 children and teenagers died from drowning, while 3,027 died from gunshots. There were 4,079 drowning injuries, compared to 17,450 gunshot injuries. A child or teen dies every nine hours in a gun accident or suicide.
On those rare occasions when the gun lobby is forced to acknowledge those numbers, it tries to diminish their impact by pointing out that many of the dead are teenagers. Somehow, that fact is supposed to make their deaths less distressing to the community and the families of the dead kids.
Maureen Downey
October 13th, 2009
11:15 am
FYI:
New AJC story on press conference today to beef up cops on ATL campuses.
http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/atlanta-police-to-beef-161480.html
SouthGaDawg
October 13th, 2009
11:16 am
Still waiting on a response on UK knife crime….
Maureen Downey
October 13th, 2009
11:20 am
Southgadawg,
Let’s go to the core source: We can both look at the reports here on the official UK government site,
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/stats-release.html.
I am doing so right now.
Steve
October 13th, 2009
11:22 am
“A black male has a one-in-72 chance of being killed by a firearm before age 30; a while male has a one-in-344 chance.”
I have to agree with Sensibility. Perhaps the question that needs to be asked is; “Why are black males nearly 5 times more likely to be killed by a firearm than a white male ?”
I’m curious what the ratio would be if gang-related deaths were removed or shown in a separate catagory.
Chip Jones
October 13th, 2009
11:23 am
Give them low cost housing…they tear the place down. Give them a new car and it’s ruined in less than a year.Give them food stamps and they sell them for crack and malt liquor. Let them get a gun and guess what happens. It all goes with the culture of comfortable shoes,good sex and a warm place to sleep.
TnGelding
October 13th, 2009
11:23 am
William
October 13th, 2009
10:25 am
I understand a militia is being formed to deploy to Afghanistan ASAP.
Maureen Downey
October 13th, 2009
11:23 am
Southgadawg, But while we are both checking the British crime stats, here is a 2008 story from the Guardian in London on this very issue:
The fatal stabbing of a man yesterday in one of London’s busiest shopping streets in broad daylight has again thrown up headlines about knife crime in Britain.
Boris Johnson, in accepting the office of London mayor, pledged to rid the capital of the “scourge” of knife crime.
Just hours beforehand, 15-year-old Lylle Tulloch had been stabbed to death in stairwell in Southwark, the 12th teenage fatality in London this year. Since then, 16-year-old Jimmy Mizen was murdered in south-east London, and yesterday a young man in his twenties was knifed outside a McDonalds in Oxford Street.
Incidents such as these have fuelled the public perception that knife crime is out of control, yet this is not borne out by the statistics.
According to the British Crime Survey, knife-enabled crime (any crime involving a knife) over the past decade has remained stable at around 6-7% of all crime, comprising 30% of all homicides.
In fact, the most recent crime survey by the Metropolitan police showed that knife crime has actually dropped by 15.7% over the past two years, from 12,122 to 10,220 incidents.
Nevertheless, that still amounts to a knife-related incident every 52 minutes. Knife crimes were also four times more prevalent than gun crimes; and the risk of serious injury was more than double than that for gun crime – statistics that will give the London mayor and his newly appointed knife tsar, Ray Lewis, pause for thought.
Concern over stabbings is not limited to the capital, however. The prevalence of knives on the streets has increased in recent years, according to the Police Federation of England and Wales which will be discussing knife crime and gang violence at the organisation’s annual conference next week.
Knife crime affects young people disproportionately. Statistics show that teenagers in London, particularly those between the ages of 17 and 20, are the most likely to be victims of knife crime, according to the Metropolitan police.
Also notable is the increase in violent crimes committed by 15 and 16-year-olds. According a survey compiled by the Youth Justice Board (YJB), violent offences committed by 16-year-olds rose from 17% in 2004, to 25% in 2005, while those perpetrated by 15-year-olds climbed from 20% in 2004, to 26% in 2005.
Related to this is the increased number of young people arming themselves with knives. The YJB survey reported a 12% increase in the number of teenagers carrying knives since 2002, with the proportion of girls carrying knives rising sharply in recent years, from 15% in 2004 to 21% in 2005.
One in five of those convicted for possessing a knife were aged between 10 and 17 in 2006, according to Home Office statistics.
In their report, the YJB asserted that the increase in children carrying knives was primarily out of fear of bullying or attack, the perception that all their peers carry knives, or to gain “street cred”.
“There is an overlap between teenagers who carry weapons and those who have been victims of knife crime,” Enver Solomon, deputy director of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies told the Guardian.
“If someone has been a victim of crime, they might carry a weapon because they feel unsafe. They don’t inherently want to stab someone; it’s just that the knife in the pocket makes them feel secure. The majority of children are carrying pen-knives, not machetes,” he said.
Simply clamping down on the supply of knives – such as the installation of metal detectors at schools or equipping police with mobile metal detectors, as Mayor Johnson recently suggested – is not sufficient to address the problem, he added.
Instead, the mayor should focus on the social conditions in a cluster of boroughs that have generated a disproportionate number of the capital’s knife crimes. Quoting Metropolitan police studies, Solomon said 2% of London wards have been responsible for 10% of all violent crimes involving teenagers.
“If you examine the conditions in these wards, these are areas of high social deprivation, social exclusion and lack of opportunities for young people,” he explained. “The focus should not be on enforcement, but rather on opportunities for kids, through youth support services, peer mentoring schemes and employment opportunities for school-leavers.”
Home Office measures to tackle knife crime have included an amnesty in 2006, which resulted in almost 100,000 knives being handed in, the doubling of the maximum penalty for possession of a knife from two to four years’ imprisonment, giving teachers new powers to search students for weapons, raising the minimum age for knife ownership to 18 and, most recently, imposing a ban on samurai swords.
But focusing on deterrence is inadequate, said Solomon, adding that the key to reducing knife crime was creating a safer environment for youngsters as well as increasing opportunities for young school leavers.
“You have to look at the social drivers. Why do young boys slip into the illegal drugs economy? It’s not a positive choice, but for some of them it seems to be the only choice. You have to use a range of policy levers to tackle this problem.”
atlshirt.com
October 13th, 2009
11:23 am
Maureen, I guess you want to live in China, or Iran ?? where the people can not defend themselves against a powerful government.. Why would we give up our guns ?? The criminals will not.. the government will not give them up either.. You are fighting a winless battle!!
I wonder how many of those children died at the hands of thier own parent ?? Or how many were involved in gangs ?? Why dont you target rappers, since they tend to rap about being a thug and shooting people, which glorifies crime ??
Stay away from the gun issue, or civil war will break out during your lifetime
Maureen Downey
October 13th, 2009
11:24 am
ALso, here is the link to the Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/may/13/ukcrime.boris
TnGelding
October 13th, 2009
11:24 am
Sensibility
October 13th, 2009
10:32 am
One-in-344 is acceptable? I don’t think so.
Jim
October 13th, 2009
11:33 am
The cultural and moral foundations that protected our society, particularly the young and defenseless were dismantled by the liberal intelligentsia and courts. Now, you have all of this hand wringing over guns. There was a time when everyone had a gun. You didn’t see gangs, shootings at schools, choas in the classroom, and general mayhem. We have an immoral generation mostly raised by dysfunctional adults. There is no amount of drug therapy and counselling that will bring back common decency and respect. If anything, everyone should be issued a gun! Ultimately, we will have a government tyranny with marshal law or total chaos.
Steve
October 13th, 2009
11:42 am
TnGelding,
One-in-344 = a 99.709% chance that a white male not be killed by a firearm before age 30. While 100% would be nice, it’s not realistic.
Fred
October 13th, 2009
11:42 am
Maybe if people would take the area they are going to into consideration, and not go, they would not get shot? And why in the hell was that high school student out on Memorial Drive at 1:30 in the morning? I hope the parents feel responsible, because they are!
Maureen Downey
October 13th, 2009
11:53 am
Fred. I agree that kids ought to be smarter, but I don’t think getting shot should be the price of their naivete. I grew up in an urban area and even lock my car in my driveway when I run back in the house to grab an umbrella.
Yet, I discovered that my teenager was stopping on the way home from his weekend dishwashing job at 2 a.m. to deposit his pay and tips at the ATM. (Trust me, after my flip-out, he stopped doing it.)
Kids do stupid things — despite what we tell and show them.
MikeB
October 13th, 2009
11:53 am
Are gun retailers selling illegaly to teenagers? Not seeing that. That is just a way to legitimize your argument is my guess…… Most teenagers get their guns from back alley sources, or during the comission of a break-in. The question is why are they compelled to go aquire a firearm? Solve this and you don’t impact the law abiding public who chooses to embrace their 2nd ammendment rights. That is unless its the old give an inch, take a mile S.O.P. that the liberals operate by.
This is the reason why the NRA is so passionate about defending the right to bear arms….. They know the liberals will never stop pushing until no-onw but them (and the people who will continue to not follow laws as they always have = criminals) will have weapons to defend themselves and their families….No matter what they say……..
Rather than policing society with laws, because of high risk demographic groups who don’t have self control, dicipline or exhibit some form of social deviance, why not focus your efforts on these high risk groups to educate them to an alternative way to live…….. Why should we the law abiding be forced to change/put up with laws WE don’t need? I love how people who claim to be editorial writers want to pour their opinions down your throat and just want you to shut up and accept it…..
Kind of like Obama’s aide saying Fox New works for the Republican Party…….. And CNN, NBC, ABC, and CBS along with Cox and the NY Times don’t work for the Democratic Party? If one fits, then so does the other…
Come on folks lets quit all this and just start calling things as they really are… If the shoe fits….WEAR IT……….
Chris P
October 13th, 2009
11:53 am
Yes, that’s right. The guns are attacking our children! Yes, those guns secretly communicate with each other telepathically over great distances to plot these heinous attacks! Why, I can imagine it now… a .45 in one house sends its mental vibes and thoughts out to a .38 in a car glove box… “Oh .38, it’s your turn!” So the .38 magically loads itself, frees itself from the automobile, and levitates down the street in search of a helpless victim (preferably at a school.) Then, by virtue of its demonic powers, it fires itself at a victim. After all, such violence is never actually the fault of a human misusing a firearm (according to liberals.)
I stopped trying to debate this issue with liberals long ago. Maybe I’m just in a cranky mood this morning. After all, there are plenty of appropriate sayings here… “you can lead liberals to logic but you can’t make them think…” or “never try to teach a lib to think… it wastes your time and annoys the liberal.” You can talk yourself blue pointing out the statistics that prove far more children die each year in cars or swimming pools, or from other hazards. You can remind a lib of the fact that despite an exponential increase in gun ownership in recent years, gun accidents are at an all time low… you can refer them to John Lott’s exhaustive statistical analysis of gun and crime data from every county in this country that conclusively proves armed citizens and concealed carry permits actually reduce crime…but, of course, you would be wasting your time trying to use legitimate facts on a hysterical liberal like Ms. Downey.
So, in case any of you moderates on the fence are wondering why such columns as these continue to be written by the likes of Ms. Downey, you must remember: libs don’t care about logic, rationality, and facts — they have too much fun being hysterical and emotional. Rich white privileged liberals like Ms. Downey writes columns like these not because she actually cares about some poor or minority kids (the poor are just props to liberals) — she writes these articles to reinforce her delusions of moral superiority, and to remind all of us that she is better than all of us drooling backwards peasants.
Speaking as someone who actually grew up around firearms and who is well-trained in their use, I can assure you that guns are inanimate objects that don’t do anything at all until HUMANS operate them. Unfortunately, many humans abuse and misuse guns because of decades of insane loony-left liberal activism in so many areas of our society. High crime rates and isolated accidents are the direct results of liberal stupidity: “it’s not your fault you killed three people robbing a liquor store, you’re a victim of society — those evil conservatives made you desperate!” Or how about, “no, you don’t have to be a responsible citizen and be accountable for your actions…. just have another beer and have fun, life’s a party! Just vote for us and we’ll take care of you so you can lay around in a drunken stupor all day!”
Crime and accidents are the results of human decisions. That’s why we have courts and prisons. The vast overwhelming majority of American citizens understand this; that’s why there are nearly 100 million gun owners out of a total (legal) population of 300 million. Deduct out the children, and that means statistically speaking, at least half the people in the room with you are gun owners. Also, more and more states have responded to the wishes of their citizens in recent years and enacted concealed-carry laws which have resulted in drops in their crime rates. This is in direct contrast to the staggering crime rates of urban hell-holes like Boston, DC, or Chicago, where honest citizens are disarmed and the thugs run free. (Of course, every time a state enacts or expands concealed-carry legislation and enjoys the resultant drop in crime, the mainstream media always attributes this to some idiotic government program, such as midnight basketball leagues… never giving credit to responsible citizens or hardworking cops and prosecutors.) Also, an overwhelming majority of gun owners believe in the Second Amendment because they understand that it’s their right and responsibility to defend themselves against the trash that the Left keeps inflicting on us.
So go ahead, Ms. Downey. Please continue writing your columns. You can even attack me personally in this forum with some snotty, sarcastic little comment — don’t worry, it won’t hurt my feelings. I understand your need to belittle us little people who refuse to bow down to your Intellectual Master Race attitude. I’m not going to imitate your Lord and Messiah, O’Blabla, and demand you shut up. Quite the opposite — I believe in the free marketplace of ideas for several reasons, including letting hysterical flakes make fools of themselves. Every time someone like you rants and raves and foams at the mouth with your nonsensical non-facts, my side wins another convert.
…and trust me… we conservatives have been winning a LOT of converts on many key issues since last January 20th!
Ellen Fix
October 13th, 2009
11:56 am
We should never let emotions trump statistics. Yet the pro-gun lobby has truly ransacked the truth with its emotional attacks.
Yes, let’s preserve the constitutional right to gun ownership; but it should be done RESPONSIBLY and regulated to protect the innocent and the defenseless. What sane person could argue with that? Times change, culture changes, morés change. If current statistics prove that guns are not being safely used — by virtue of rising injuries and deaths — then let’s protect the rights of gun-owners and non-gunowners alike by appropriate regulation. Laws should never be passed, or freedoms granted, based on emotion but should only rely on statistical evidence.
Sarah
October 13th, 2009
11:56 am
What makes you think we don’t care? That being said, keeping guns away from teens is as easy as keeping guns away from criminals. If they want them, they will get them and there is nothing we can do about it. Even some of the parents are helpless to influence their children.
Ben
October 13th, 2009
11:58 am
Alright Maureen, I’m late joining this gun bashing party but I’m here now and it’s on. You know how I luv my guns!!
Eric
October 13th, 2009
11:59 am
Less Guns??
How about MORE guns. Since the ATL police can not protect our students from roving bands of thugs (HINT.. it’s really not that hard to spot them), why don’t we arm the students? Nothing makes my day more than reading a story about robbers who picked the wrong (armed) citizen … only to end up DRT (dead right there).
I bet after they’ve scraped a couple of dozen of dead, useless POS off the streets around Tech. the violence will stop.
Peter
October 13th, 2009
11:59 am
I think the problem is too many Illegal guns on the street……
I don’t believe law abiding gun owners are responsible for the problems.
Now how to fix that ?
How about more Police on the streets and visible……Officers walking a beat, not being Fat riding around in a car ?
Maureen Downey
October 13th, 2009
11:59 am
Ben, I was wondering where you were.
Welcome to the debate. Although your side is already well represented.
Maureen
Chris P
October 13th, 2009
12:00 pm
Folks… Ms. Downey is the ultimate forum troll. Feeding her will accomplish nothing. Liberals like her are not into facts and logic; they are into reinforcing their Intellectual Master Race attitudes. Ms. Downey is a philosophical Aryan, and no fact or rational bit of logic will penetrate the armor of her smug elitism. She will quote distorted and fabricated “statistics” all day long and ignore reality. Her column is not about crime, accidents, or “the children”…. do you really think a rich white privileged liberal woman like her cares about poor and minority kids? It’s just all about HER and her delusions of liberal moral superiority… forget about reality and facts.
Now, let’s all just sit back, take a deep breath, and repeat the following: “OBama is our Lord and Master now… ” >yes, I’m being sarcastic<
tim from vietnam
October 13th, 2009
12:02 pm
I’m a GSU student. I am not allowed to carry a gun on campus, even with a CCW permit. Were I and my fellow students allowed to carry, there would be no armed robberies of students. Why? Because the criminals would be getting shot instead of the students. As it is now, the poor criminal is going to have to settle for having the crap beat out of him with 4 rolls of nickels in a sock. Maybe a few kicks in the ribs too.
Maureen Downey
October 13th, 2009
12:03 pm
Chris P. I have been called many things by the gun lobby, but never “rich.”
And here’s the reality that you still haven’t addressed in your two posts:
If guns keep us safe, why aren’t Americans safer?
Clueless
October 13th, 2009
12:05 pm
I had a 9th grade student (teenager, child) who died from gunshot wounds. He robbed a store, then tried to shoot at the policeman who came after him. Policeman had better aim.
atlshirt.com
October 13th, 2009
12:06 pm
more police = bigger government = more taxes = policed state.. not necessary!
Ben
October 13th, 2009
12:08 pm
Yeah I know and I don’t have much to add except that the legislature should allow the students who are getting robbed and shot down at GA Tech and the other colleges to arm themselves and fight back if they want to. I’m sure that will be an interesting topic when they convene to debate public safety after the election.
William
October 13th, 2009
12:09 pm
Maureen, how many gun deaths of children are gang related. Should you be more concern with gangs than guns. I am eager to hear that break down.
Just A Grunt
October 13th, 2009
12:10 pm
US Military 3,000,000 (est 2008)
Deaths 469 (For 2008)
1 for every 6397
And every single one of them carry a weapon and they are engaged in 2 wars. And not all those deaths were from gunshots, in fact most were IED’s.
Kind of blows that whole get rid of guns argument away doesn’t it. It is more dangerous to be a African American male in America then it is to be in the military assigned to a war zone. It isn’t the presence of guns that is the danger, it is whose hands those weapons are in.
Justin
October 13th, 2009
12:11 pm
Yep, this is a cultural issue and a degrading national morality issue…not a legal issue. While I don’t have the statistics, I would imagine that upwards of 80% or more of guns used in felonies are stolen or obtained illegally. Until the glorification of gangsta’ rap and thug-life is erradicated in the black community (not only, but primarily), gun violence will never be under control. That being said, there will forever-more be deaths associated with guns – its just a matter of fact. If there weren’t guns, we would find some other weapon to use…it goes back to the beginning of man (Cain & Abel anyone?).
Also, as it relates to kids being shot by playing with their parent’s guns (which is primarily a white issue I would imagine), unfortunately, you can’t legislate against stupid. Natural selection…the strongest (and smartest) survive. Thank Goodness, or we would be getting dumber by the minute – maybe we are.
Chris P
October 13th, 2009
12:12 pm
Ms. Downey, Americans in free gun states with concealed carry permits ARE safer… I’ll refer you to John Lott’s excellent book “More Guns, Less Crime.” Perhaps if you read it, you’ll have a chance to become… how do you libs put it… “educated” ??
Also, speaking for myself, most of my family, and most of my friends, all of who regularly carry concealed — we ARE safer because we retain additional options for our personal security. My business sometimes takes me into downtown Atlanta. I have successfully used one of my firearms to defend myself during the Rodney King riots and two mugging attempts, without firing a shot. That sort of thing happens about 2.5 million times a year in this country… (not that you’ll acknowledge it.)
Maureen Downey
October 13th, 2009
12:13 pm
William, I don’t know of any government agency that breaks down child gun deaths to that detail – whether it was gang activity or not – but I will check.
Maureen
Taxpayer Funded Option Now.
October 13th, 2009
12:19 pm
Guns are NOT the problem. There are plenty of gun laws on the books, try enforcement. When was the last time you saw anyone care that kids aren’t in school? Hold their parents responsible.