Lately I've been thinking a lot about gun control. Yes I know pretty much everyone and there mother has too, but I've been trying to look at the issue from another perspective. Maybe gun violence is the result of some deeper problem. In the book :Better Angels of Our Nature" psychologist Steven Pinker points out that we currently live in the most peaceful time in all of human history. Now before you reach through your computer screen allow me to make my point.
There was a time about 100 years ago that seeing someone get mugged and stabbed was very common and forensics was limited to nothing because no one cared enough to investigate. In today's society we are constantly scared by the news we watch. Although the Aurora and Newton massacres were awful tragedies we need to understand that these were isolated events. In my own personal opinion we do not need any kind of legislation on gun's. I personally don't like guns, and I will probably never shoot a gun, but I also don't like sushi. Does that mean that we need new legislation on sushi, no. All joking aside if we look at other countries that allow their citizens to buy guns, we see that they have a lot less gun violence than our country. Why is this? I think that I may have an answer. Drugs. Now bear with me as I explain this thought.
a large chunk of gun violence in America is directly related to gangs. What do gangs fight for? power? control of an area? while all of these are true, the biggest reason is to distribute drugs. Think about this for a second in the 1920s America tried to ban alcohol. Many bars became havens for bootleggers that illegally made and distributed alcohol. It also brought about the classic era of gangsters like Al Capone. When the Prohibition Act was repealed the alcohol black market more or less vanished overnight. If we just made recreational drugs legal we could essentially make gangs a thing of the past. Back on the subject of gun control. Banning assault weapons may save some lives temporarily but it will inevitably create a black market that will end up spreading gang activity even further here in the states. Finally I know I've been defending gun owners throughout this but I feel I need to address one more thing to people who argue that assault weapons are alright for hunters to own. If you need AR-15 Assault rifle with a night vision scope and 100 round magazine in order to hunt, you're a shitty hunter. the deer doesn't shoot back.
Link to Mr.Pinker's website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Better_Angels_of_Our_Nature
Manny, in many ways I agree with this. Also, a hunter doesn't need that much ammunition to kill a deer. But I do understand where you are coming from .
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