The pull a gun over trash scenario is kind of ridiculous because the gun puller would be arrested. And it just doesn’t happen.
It would go like this:
1) I leave trash out
2) Neighbor yells and pulls out gun
3) I put up trash
4) I call police, neighbor is arrested and gun is taken away forever.
I think there’s a perception of “crazy people owning guns” means they are just randomly doing things. Gun owners are typically pretty responsible or self-destructive.
Half the US owns guns and there aren’t many crimes percentage wise. So the vast, vast majority just never do stuff with their gun.
The actual argument is about the extreme outliers who murder people and commit mass shootings. There’s 20M firearm homicides [0] so that’s still super rare as a rate but the impact of each event is super impactful.
That sort of thinking directly brought about WW1 as well as the Cuban missile crisis.
If everyone was armed then society's short-fused lunatics are the ones most likely to misjudge a situation and start shooting first over something trivial.
Goes a long way to explaining most shootings by the police too.
CCW is very common in the US now, CCW holders are less likely to commit crimes than police officers. In general CCW or constitutional carry states don't see big wild west shoutouts at grocery stores so no. People are generally good and honest. Criminals are the exception to that, except they don't really care about whether or not carrying a weapon is illegal.
andrewstuart2|3 years ago
prepend|3 years ago
It would go like this: 1) I leave trash out 2) Neighbor yells and pulls out gun 3) I put up trash 4) I call police, neighbor is arrested and gun is taken away forever.
I think there’s a perception of “crazy people owning guns” means they are just randomly doing things. Gun owners are typically pretty responsible or self-destructive.
Half the US owns guns and there aren’t many crimes percentage wise. So the vast, vast majority just never do stuff with their gun.
The actual argument is about the extreme outliers who murder people and commit mass shootings. There’s 20M firearm homicides [0] so that’s still super rare as a rate but the impact of each event is super impactful.
[0] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/homicide.htm
menacingly|3 years ago
Simon_O_Rourke|3 years ago
If everyone was armed then society's short-fused lunatics are the ones most likely to misjudge a situation and start shooting first over something trivial.
Goes a long way to explaining most shootings by the police too.
therealjumbo|3 years ago
nadavwr|3 years ago