• MrZee@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    how is gun control going to help the fact that some people out there want to kill as many lives as possible?

    By reducing access to a very powerful tool for murder. Here is a comparison of USA and Canadian homicide rates

    Are you pointing to a single incident from 5 years ago as evidence that non-gun mass murders are common in Canada? Do you think that when gun control is enacted, all the people that would have committed murder via gun would instead commit as much murder using improvised weapons? If so, can you show any data that bears this out?

    Even though other methods of murder can be devised, restricting access to the easiest, fastest method is effective in reducing murder.

    • Dark Arc@social.packetloss.gg
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      1 year ago

      Canada also has a health care system where mentally ill folks can get help.

      Canada is also less population dense and only has roughly 1/10th of the US population.

      Even though other methods of murder can be devised, restricting access to the easiest, fastest method is effective in reducing murder.

      The per-capita rate while a useful tool is not going to compare the effects of mass shootings. You’re more than likely talking about handguns in this context which are responsible for a lot more deaths overall than AR-style rifles.

      https://www.statista.com/statistics/195325/murder-victims-in-the-us-by-weapon-used/

      Switzerland has lots of guns but not mass shootings, and has a much lower murder rate. Finland similarly has lots of guns but not mass shootings.

      The bigger issue is that half of the US government doesn’t want to fund mental health programs, red flag laws, etc. There are some models we could follow other than “ban guns” or “ban assault rifles” … but dealing with rampant mental health issues would help a lot. It’s just a shame the Republicans will parrot “mental health” but then not vote for bills that will actually do anything to improve mental health.

      • MrZee@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        I hate this about lemmy. It looks like youve been banned/deleted/something from the thread. So now all your comments and all replies have disappeared from the conversation.

        I think I said this before, but in case I didn’t: I agree that the mental health side of this equation is also critical. That doesn’t change the fact that the gun control side of the equation is a major factor. Also, if you’re going to cherry pick Switzerland stats, then don’t forget to also look at their gun control laws, which are much stronger than the US (and it appears Canada, although I’m less sure there). You seem to want to cherry pick data to show that it’s all mental health and guns aren’t a significant part of the problem. Good luck with that.

        • Dark Arc@social.packetloss.gg
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          1 year ago

          I don’t think it was me, but the other person who was acting like a jerk… Which is unfortunate.

          I suspect we agree on more than we disagree here, I’m just sick of people who “can’t vote for Democrats because they want to take my guns.”

          I also can’t dismiss maybe there are some benefits to having a well armed population.

          I don’t expect to ever hit 0, maybe you do. But, I think we should be able to do much better than several public places shot up by someone who’s out of their mind per year. The fastest way towards that to me is effectively universal health care, research, appropriate treatment, and maybe even investment in some new technology/unexplored mitigation strategy.