The line of argument I have found most broadly persuasive is: whatever you think about rights or crime rate effects, gun confiscation is way too much like the War on Drugs to work. You have an easily manufactured, easily concealed, high value per pound and per cubic foot, non perishable commodity for which there is high demand-- and the root difference between the US and other countries is the intensity of the demand. As long as you don't address the sources of that demand, supply bans are just going to lead to institutional corruption, selective enforcement against marginalized people, and all the other pathologies we know all too well. We've seen this movie before, let's not watch it again.
We have way too many guns in America, there are historical reasons for this. This country was a frontier country and guns were nothing more than a everyday tool. This mindset has made it into the modern era of a highly urbanized society. Also, there have been gun laws (restrictions) from the 17th century on.
“There are huge racial disparities in policing. Many officers espouse explicitly racist, sexist, and homophobic views. And many police officers are avowed white supremacists. Cops have a long history, continuing to the present day, of targeting trans individuals for harassment and arrest simply for being trans.”
Well, yes but I am not sure this is entirely fair. Policing, even with educational requirements, is a blue collar job and police officers tend to have attitudes associated with that class. This is especially true since the Democratic Party no longer represents the working class. Police need strong supervision and accountability just like every other profession.
We have to find ways that work with our current system which contains a much higher proportion of firearms to people than anywhere that has post hoc implemented controls.
I agree that gun restrictions won't work and would be unfair for a number of reasons, but something to keep in mind is how the number of guns and the fact that anybody could be armed is successfully used by the police to give themselves more guns and broader authority to kill people, especially men and especially people of color, on behalf of the state, which in essence gets us back to "guns are ok for black people but not white people". Like, think of the legally armed Philando Castile getting executed on the spot, vs the open carry douchbags who like to intimidate people at the local mall.
I don't really have a solution in mind besides convincing people to disarm, engaging with and hopefully debunking the most toxic parts of gun culture...maybe lawsuits and insurance requirements?
The line of argument I have found most broadly persuasive is: whatever you think about rights or crime rate effects, gun confiscation is way too much like the War on Drugs to work. You have an easily manufactured, easily concealed, high value per pound and per cubic foot, non perishable commodity for which there is high demand-- and the root difference between the US and other countries is the intensity of the demand. As long as you don't address the sources of that demand, supply bans are just going to lead to institutional corruption, selective enforcement against marginalized people, and all the other pathologies we know all too well. We've seen this movie before, let's not watch it again.
We have way too many guns in America, there are historical reasons for this. This country was a frontier country and guns were nothing more than a everyday tool. This mindset has made it into the modern era of a highly urbanized society. Also, there have been gun laws (restrictions) from the 17th century on.
“There are huge racial disparities in policing. Many officers espouse explicitly racist, sexist, and homophobic views. And many police officers are avowed white supremacists. Cops have a long history, continuing to the present day, of targeting trans individuals for harassment and arrest simply for being trans.”
Well, yes but I am not sure this is entirely fair. Policing, even with educational requirements, is a blue collar job and police officers tend to have attitudes associated with that class. This is especially true since the Democratic Party no longer represents the working class. Police need strong supervision and accountability just like every other profession.
I think this column would be more compelling with the final quotation as introduction. The points above are excellent as well.
We have to find ways that work with our current system which contains a much higher proportion of firearms to people than anywhere that has post hoc implemented controls.
I agree that gun restrictions won't work and would be unfair for a number of reasons, but something to keep in mind is how the number of guns and the fact that anybody could be armed is successfully used by the police to give themselves more guns and broader authority to kill people, especially men and especially people of color, on behalf of the state, which in essence gets us back to "guns are ok for black people but not white people". Like, think of the legally armed Philando Castile getting executed on the spot, vs the open carry douchbags who like to intimidate people at the local mall.
I don't really have a solution in mind besides convincing people to disarm, engaging with and hopefully debunking the most toxic parts of gun culture...maybe lawsuits and insurance requirements?