People clinging to guns...

[Beet]

This is really depressing. If you have a gun, you are more likely to get shot. During an assault, gun owners are four times as likely to get shot. And even if you don't get shot, in many self-defense situations, non-lethal force is more appropriate than pulling a gun. All the messages telling women that having a gun is the only way to be safe is potentially creating more dangers, IMO.

[Beet]

- General Social Survey, last conducted in 2010, continues to find a record low number of people admitting to owning guns. The methodology is biannual face-to-face survey. According to this survey, gun ownership has been falling since the 1980s.

- The Gallup annual survey agreed with the General Social Survey until 2011, when there was a six-point surge in reported household gun ownership.

- NICS raw background checks began to surge in late 2005.

- NSSF-adjusted NICS, which takes out CCW permit application checks and CCW checks on active permit databases used in some states, began to surge in 2008.

Until 2011, discrepancy between survey data and NICS data could be explained by increasing concentration of gun ownership. However, with the release of the 2011 Gallup data, there is a broadening. We will have to await the release of the 2012 GSS and the 2012 Gallup.

[Beet]

While a bunch of armed citizens might not be able to take down the state, they could do lots of damage.

Indeed.  At least until the National Gaurd showed up.

But my gut tells me that if we get to the point where mass numbers of people are willing to rise up violently against the govt, many (most?) in the military won't be all that willing to fire on their dad's and uncle's and would be much more likely to turn them around and point them at the govt.  They aint mercenaries, they are our brothers and sisters.

I'll counter myself by pointing out Kent State.  Hey dead0, KENT STATE!

By the time we reach that point, our society will be dead anyways.

[Beet]

This is why I'm unenthusiastic about higher gun sales...



The states with more guns / less restrictive gun laws clearly have more firearm deaths. And yeah, there are real studies that corroborate the intuitive message that you get from the map.

I'm not for "gun control". The phrase sounds really inappropriate... like you're trying to control who has guns. I wouldn't say that's really accurate. I'm not for controlling guns for their own sake. I also don't think there's anything wrong with owning guns, even a lot of guns, or being a gun enthusiast. I also get what Jacobtm is saying. What I don't like is the message that guns are a path to personal safety and that, the more guns there are, the more personally safe we are collectively, or individually. The opposite is true. Guns should be seen like driving-- a valid exercise, but one that has a health cost. Society must balance the right to enjoy guns with the safety benefits of minimizing gun ownership, and other regulations which may make owning guns safer to begin with.