El Paso WalMart killer
By Nancy Thorner and Al Boese -
Liberals could hardly contain their glee where there were two massacres over the first weekend of August, 2019, the first in El Paso, Texas, the second in Dayton, Ohio. For those vying for the presidential nomination, it was as if Christmas had arrived twice in August.
If you were watching cable news, you would have thought that nothing else had occurred anywhere else in the world for 48 hours. But unlike the shootings in Texas and Ohio, this was just a typical weekend in our Inner-cities, where in Chicago 53 people were shot over that same weekend, and 10 of them were killed. But, of course, all those people were only murdered with handguns, not with an AK-47, the favorite scapegoat of Leftists.
Because of these two recent events, the current conversations about mass killings are inevitable and cathartic, but never address the root cause and development of effective policy and activities to eradicate the plague of such abhorrent events.
First and foremost, let us resolve to be rational and realistic in pursuit of solutions. Furthermore, let us simplify the task to manageable levels. There are essentially two identifiable population categories to whom we can assign blame for both mass shootings and killings (mentally ill young men) and intercity deliberate and accidental carnage inflicted by drug related gangs. All other shootings are but random noise.
If the politicians were serious about real actions that will yield real results, they would concentrate energy, and resources on; the mentally ill young men that have already identified themselves on social media and behavior in school and workplace settings, and the gang members who are already well known to law enforcement organizations in each city where they are active. Just enforce the laws already on the books and employ Red Flag laws already on the books of several states, in all others as this is all about mental health.
Wake up people, we are being deceived by distractions and liberal thinking unwilling to face the truth and shamelessly assigning blame for political gain.
Gun death statistics
Following are brutal but revealing statistics that go into the weeds to better understand the size, scope and source death by firearms in America.
There are 30,000 gun related deaths per year by firearms, and this number is not disputed. The U.S. population is 324,059,091 as of June 22, 2016. Do the math: 0.00925% of the population dies from gun related actions each year. Statistically speaking, this is insignificant! What is never told, however, is a breakdown of those 30,000 deaths, to put them in perspective as compared to other causes of death:
- 65% of those deaths are by suicide, which would never be prevented by gun laws, but with better remedies for mental health.
- 15% are by law enforcement in the line of duty and justified.
- 17% are through criminal activity, gang and drug related or mentally ill persons – better known as gun violence and the two we can start to seriously address.
- 3% are accidental discharge deaths.
So technically, “gun violence” is not 30,000 annually, but drops to 5,100. Still too many? Now let’s look at how those deaths spanned across the nation:
- 480 homicides (9.4%) were in Chicago.
- 344 homicides (6.7%) were in Baltimore.
- 333 homicides (6.5%) were in Detroit.
- 119 homicides (2.3%) were in Washington D.C. (a 54% increase over prior years).
So basically, 25% of all gun crime happens in just 4 cities. All 4 of those cities, all run by Democrats for scores of years, have strict gun laws, so it is not the lack of law that is the root cause, but timid enforcement.
This basically leaves 3,825 for the entire rest of the nation, or about 75 deaths per state. That is an average because some States have much higher rates than others. For example, California had 1,169 and Alabama had 1.
Now, who has the strictest gun laws by far? California, of course, but understand, it is not guns causing this. It is a crime rate spawned by the number of criminal persons residing in those cities and states. So, if all cities and states are not created equal, then there must be something other than the tool causing the gun deaths.
Gun deaths in comparison to other deaths
Are 5,100 deaths per year horrific? How about in comparison to other deaths? All death is sad and especially so when it is in the commission of a crime but that is the nature of crime. Robbery, death, rape, assaults are all done by criminals. It is ludicrous to think that criminals will obey laws. That is why they are called criminals.
But what about other deaths each year?
- 40,000+ die from a drug overdose–THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THAT!
- 36,000 people die per year from the flu, far exceeding the criminal gun deaths.
- 34,000 people die per year in traffic fatalities (exceeding gun deaths even if you include suicide).
Now it gets good:
200,000+ people die each year (and growing) from preventable medical errors. You are safer walking in the worst areas of Chicago than you are when you are in a hospital!
710,000 people die per year from heart disease. It’s time to stop the double cheeseburgers! So, what is the point? If the liberal loons and the anti-gun movement focused their attention on heart disease, even a 10% decrease in cardiac deaths would save twice the number of lives annually of all gun-related deaths (including suicide, law enforcement, etc.).
A 10% reduction in medical errors would be 66% of the total number of gun deaths or 4 times the number of criminal homicides . . . Simple, easily preventable 10% reductions! So, it has to be asked, in the grand scheme of things, why the focus on guns?
Why guns?
The answer is a simple one. Taking away guns gives control to governments. The founders of this nation knew that regardless of the form of government, those in power may become corrupt and seek to rule as the British did by trying to disarm the populace of the colonies. It is not difficult to understand that a disarmed populace is a controlled populace. This is by the way, the play book and history of any Fascist or Communist regime, emasculate the population by confiscation of any firearms. Russia, China, Cuba, No. Korea, Venezuela, citizens own no guns.
The Second Amendment wasn't given such prominence because the Founders were all that worried about street crime or deranged mass shooters. Their concern, based on their own experience, was with tyrannical regimes. And the first sign of such a tyranny is when the government raises such an alarm over guns that even people who should know better join the chorus of those calling for their confiscation.
Thus, the second amendment was proudly and boldly included in the U.S. Constitution. It must be preserved at all costs. So, the next time someone tries to tell you that gun control is about saving lives, look at these facts and remember these words from Noah Webster: “Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed.”
