akambo0

[akambo0]

Do guns kill people or do people kill people?

By: Asante’ Ambo | Apr/25/2020

Previously I did a Blog on “Do guns kill people or do people kill people” and I said that guns don’t kill people but that people kill people, so now I am here to tell you how we should think of, respond to and resolve or improve this ethical issue. Like I said in my previous blog “The question do guns kill people or do people kill people have been going around for a long time now, others would say do guns protect people or kill people. Let me tell you this, I say that people are killing people. We hear people say that if we get rid of guns, mass shootings will decrease but guns are not the problem here the people are the problem. We the people of the society need to come together fix this problem with us. I say that because even if you take away guns from the equation the answer will remain the same because we the people are going to continue killing each other. We need to find permanent and efficient ways to avoid gun violence or just violence in general instead of blaming it on guns. We need to own up to our actions and stop sidetracking it on something else.”

We can prevent ourselves from this issue if we think before picking up a gun; we can avoid killing each other as well by just stopping and think for a second. If you try to rob someone, do you ever think about if that person has a gun to defend themselves? Or do you just go in recklessly. I know that is just a simple statement and a lot of things can fall into place but, if we all just think and just work for our things we wouldn’t need to rob each other and risk killing that person or getting killed by a gun.  Yeah there are people who aren’t capable of work or aren’t able to get jobs, but if we all can just work together and employ everyone, money shouldn’t be a problem. Sure robbing will continue because people always want something and feel that they should just take it.

We can prevent gun violence by not using guns to take out our anger on someone. Yes they could have done something that makes you feel the urge to kill them, but if we all can make peace, find other ways to resolve the issue, and make sensibly decisions before getting someone mad, we can avoid the chances of getting shot.

Of course we can just ban guns all together and yeah after we ban them mass shootings will stop, people would have less fatal incidents if they were to get into an altercation and etc. but it still wouldn’t change the fact that we can still kill each other by using other means like knives, bats, tools etc. That’s why I don’t see the point in banning guns, what we really need to do is come together as one and just create peace and find alternatives instead of just killing.

Here are some resolutions to reduce gun violence from (time.com).

Pass gun laws that actually reduce gun violence. “Not all gun laws are created equal. The military-grade rifles used in many mass shootings may dominate the political debate, but they account for less than 5% of homicides. Meanwhile, research published in JAMA Internal Medicine in early March found that strong firearms laws in a state, such as background checks for all private sales and restrictions on multiple purchases, were associated with lower rates of gun homicides. Researchers are also finding links between right-to-carry laws–which require governments to issue concealed-carry permits to citizens who meet certain requirements–and spikes in firearms crime. A 2017 National Bureau of Economic Research working paper estimates that 10 years after the adoption of right-to-carry laws, violent crime is 13% to 15% higher than it would have been without.

We can eliminate funding restrictions on gun violence research “According to a 2017 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, gun violence should have received $1.4 billion in federal research money from 2004 to 2015, on the basis of mortality rates and funding levels for other leading causes of death. Instead, such projects received $22 million–just 1.6% of the projected amount. Gun violence received 5.3% of the federal research funds allocated for motor-vehicle accidents, even though they kill similar numbers of Americans per year those policies.”

End legal immunity for gun manufacturer’s “Federal law offers the gun industry extraordinary protections. In 2005, Congress passed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which shields gun manufacturers and sellers from civil claims brought by victims of gun violence. NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre hailed the law as the most significant piece of pro-gun legislation in 20 years. No one benefits from frivolous lawsuits. But holding manufacturers liable for the misuse of their products, experts say, would incentivize them to make firearms safer. “If pillows caused fatalities at that level, those companies would be bankrupt,” says Fleegler of Boston Children’s Hospital. “If there were 500 deaths a year associated with any consumer product, it would be banned, regulated, fixed, but here, nothing.”

“Support for laws that penalize firearm owners who negligently store firearms under circumstances where children could or do gain access to them.”

Those are just a few solutions. All I am saying is that we need to come together as one and create alternatives instead of running straight to violence whether it is killing or fighting. This can all be avoided by making peace.

References

“7 steps to reduce gun violence” https://www.medicaleconomics.com/news/7-steps-reduce-gun-violence

“6 Real Ways We Can Reduce Gun Violence in America”  https://time.com/5209901/gun-violence-america-reduction/

[akambo0]

Do guns kill people or do people kill people?

By: Asante’ Ambo | Apr/4/2020

The question do guns kill people or do people kill people have been going around for a long time now, others would say do guns protect people or kill people. Let me tell you this, I say that people are killing people. We hear people say that if we get rid of guns, mass shootings will decrease but guns are not the problem here the people are the problem. We the people of the society need to come together fix this problem with us. I say that because even if you take away guns from the equation the answer will remain the same because we the people are going to continue killing each other. We need to find permanent and efficient ways to avoid gun violence or just violence in general instead of blaming it on guns. We need to own up to our actions and stop sidetracking it on something else.

From the article Guns don’t kill people. People kill-people it’s time we get rid of people. From mcsweeneys.net states “People are fallible, temperamental, and prone to fluctuating states like depression and anger. Frankly, not a species befitting deadly weapons designed for immediate and irreversible destruction.” Another example shown is “If you lay a semiautomatic handgun on a kitchen table, it would just sit there, not hurting anyone, making the room instantaneously safer. But, say a toddler walks into the kitchen (maybe the toddler has had a bad day or someone gave him too much juice), and goes on a shooting rampage. See how the toddler is the problem in this scenario? Toddlers should not be allowed in kitchens. Where is that legislation?” Yes I know that this may seem bizarre but it is the truth and we need to acknowledge it as a society and realize people are the problem in the equation.

From the website churchoftherock.ca, says “NO, GUNS ACTUALLY DO KILL PEOPLE!” The person says this because “A few years ago a pastor friend of mine in the American Mid-West had to conduct a very sad funeral for a 7 year old girl. The father was not law enforcement, requiring him to carry a gun, nor does the family live in a high crime neighborhood where people think they need to carry a gun for protection. In fact much of the community is made up of Mennonites and Amish, not people normally known as violent offenders. My pastor friend told me that on any given Sunday there might be a dozen men ‘packing heat’ in the church service. He felt somehow comforted by that fact. I personally would be terrified given that it is usually me that offends people in church. One ill-conceived Mennonite joke in a sermon and I might have a dozen bullets flying my way. No thanks. here is the point I am going to make in this post. The more guns that are out there, the more innocent people are going to die. Guns actually do kill people. There is no doubt that if the father did not own a handgun, his daughter would still be alive. It is that simple.” Even though he is right about the father not needing to have a gun on him when there were no treats around. That still doesn’t mean that the fact about the gun being present is the reason the girl died. She died because of a major freak accident. Yes he could have left the gun home but that still doesn’t mean that guns are the ones to blame. Humans tend to make their own decisions and that is what the father did, he made his own decision but killing the girl was not on the agenda, so I don’t see why we need to band guns because of a freak accident like this.

Yes guns don’t kill people, but they are used to kill people. But that is the same for any other object that is used as a weapon. Like for instance when someone is stabbed, you don’t hear people screaming that we should ban knives but they would’ve if it were guns, when in all honesty it’s we the people and our reckless/dangerous actions and we need to truly understand that. If we get rid of guns will the killing stop? Aren’t people going continue killing people by using an alternative as a weapon? All these are still factor, yes removing guns can lessen mass shootings; add ease to robberies, etc.  But in order to have true peace and put an end to the question, do guns kill people or do people kill people? We need to come together as one and create alternatives instead of running straight to violence whether it is killing or fighting.

References

Hutto Sarah Oct, 1, 2019, “GUNS DON’T KILL PEOPLE. PEOPLE KILL PEOPLE. IT’S TIME WE GET RID OF PEOPLE” https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/guns-dont-kill-people-people-kill-people-its-time-we-get-rid-of-people

“NO, GUNS ACTUALLY DO KILL PEOPLE!” https://www.churchoftherock.ca/blog/no-guns-actually-do-kill-people/