The idea that you need a gun for protection, because you’re going to save yourself from something or you’re going to save someone else from something, because there’s a good guy with a gun saving lives, needs to end if our country and society are to ever make any progress.
Because this is how they get used the vast majority of the time, or by law enforcement wrongly shooting people to death or to devastating injury.
Too many people with too many guns- this is what you get.
Need some citations? Good, I have some. Facts are facts.
https://www.safewise.com/resources/guns-at-home/
https://time.com/6183881/gun-ownership-risks-at-home/
https://www.thetrace.org/2020/04/gun-safety-research-coronavirus-gun-sales/
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/do-guns-make-us-safer-science-suggests-no/
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-06-02/guns-home-safety-research
https://research.northeastern.edu/does-having-a-gun-at-home-really-make-you-safer/
Facts are facts, sure, but they don’t speak for themselves.
These are mostly studies showing that having a gun in your house puts the people residing there at increased risk of suicide, domestic violence, and accidental injury. Well…duh?
When someone says they want a gun for safety, they are obviously referring to safety from intruders. Or that they want proactive safety from government overreach.
If you want to actually find common ground, you can’t just talk past people like that.
Reminds me of the "Gun Violence" stats that are used a lot. It's a term that, if you go pull the raw CDC data as a big .CSV for yourself, includes a whole host of things that aren't in people's minds when you say "Gun Violence".
A great example is homeowners shooting in self defence. It isn't broken down well in the categories. If a homeowner pops a home invaders head like a watermelon, I'm ecstatic. That's one more good person who didn't lose their life in the seconds of a life or death situation waiting minutes for the police to arrive and shoot them both.
