Last Updated on February 23, 2021 by Filip Poutintsev
Banning guns is pointless
Gun violence in the USA is an everlasting topic. It’s one of the main debates in every election, however regardless of efforts the government is trying to intensify, the results are nonexistent. Lack of results is mainly because the government does not see the core of the problem, and is always trying to solve the consequent rather than the cause. Banning guns or making it harder for one to buy one, will not reduce gun violence, because as the proverb says, “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people”.
The true source of the problem is not the number of guns citizens have, not generally high crime rate and not even police militarization, though these are all problems on their own. The true problem lies in the mentality of the Americans and that they view guns as everyday items.
I’m pro giving more rights to the people and believe that everyone should have the right to own a firearm. There are many upsides to having a gun, most important of it being the right to protect yourself from criminals and even your own government. There have been many cases throughout history, where the government has slaughtered their own unarmed citizens, and in some cases, right after taking their guns away. Thus owning a firearm is essential and a human right.
Guns do not belong on the street
As said before, owning a gun and keeping it at home is totally justifiable, but carrying it in public as some sort of fashion accessory is weird, stupid and dangerous. There’s no logical reason why an ordinary person should carry a gun with him everywhere he goes. The USA is a civilized country, not a war zone (actually, even in a war zone, civilians do not carry guns since it’s the surest way to get shot). It’s relative safe to go to the public without fear of being mugged or attacked. There’s police on the streets and guards indoor. If one is physically weak or such a coward, there’s an option to carry pepper spray or a taser, which will protect you in most situations but are not deadly to other people. I personally have never been in a situation where I would need a firearm to protect myself and have rarely been in situations where any use of violence was necessary. So maybe if you think you need to always gun with you, the problem is actually in you.
Carrying a gun with you in public places is the main reason for high gun violence in the USA. Mainly it’s because you are carrying a lethal weapon that is always there to be used in situations where it should not be. People lose their temper all the time, and some get very aggressive. In a country where carrying guns is not common, such violent interaction would usually lead to a fist-fight, but in the USA, it leads into someone getting shot. And this is exactly the type of gun violence that could be easily avoided by changing open and concealed carry laws.
The true problem lies in the gun culture
Let’s compare two very similar countries: the USA and Canada.
In the USA, there are 120,5 guns for every 100 citizens and 12,21 and related deaths for every 100’000 citizens.
In Canada, the numbers are 34,7 guns for every 100 citizens and 1,94 and related deaths for every 100’000 citizens.
So there are 3,5 times more guns in the USA than in Canada, but 6,3 times more gun-related deaths. In short, this means that a weapon in the USA has an 80% higher chance of killing someone than in Canada.
This is a quite huge difference when we are talking about two countries that have the same culture and religion, the same type of population, the same form of government, etc. However, there’s one difference in legislations of these countries that explains this. In the USA, carrying a loaded gun in public is legal in most states, while in Canada, it’s strictly prohibited. This fact also applies to other countries. Countries in Central and South America, where public carrying is common, have a very high number of gun-related deaths. In Europe, where there are still quite large gun arsenals in some countries owned by civilians, gun-related deaths are minimal solely because no one carries them around in public.
Other situations
I’m sure someone is thinking about mass shootings at other sorts of gun-related crimes that were premeditated. Surely they can’t be avoided by simply forcing people to keep their guns at home, but they can’t be avoided by banning guns either. There are enough illegal guns on the street in every country, so if one wants to get a hold of a gun badly, he will find a way. And if not, other weapons can be used to kill a human being, such as knives, and we can’t ban them as well. Getting rid of premeditated violence does not lie in banning the tools but in raising children correctly so that when they grow up, they will not want to hurt others.
However, when it comes to non-premeditated violence, which is actually more dangerous then premeditated violence, since anyone can unexpectedly become a victim, getting guns off the street is enough to solve the problem. Because, for as long as a gun is kept at home, it’s not a danger to the public.
