I was responding to @mom60 “Nor do I know anyone in my circle of friends and family who would feel they needed to carry a weapon on a regular basis for safety. Obviously it’s a matter of the locations I have lived in.”
It got me interested and as of July last year there were only 80 closed carry permits issued in my county. In my county the sheriff approves each permit. One must show a need. I might know a few holders based on the occupations of those who have permits. As I said it is obviously a function of where one lives.
A number of years ago in my state, a father heard noises in his yard, and was called by a neighbor. He went outside with his gun…and shot his own kid …and killed the kid. I’m sure he thought he was protecting himself…right? But how heartbreaking can it get when you shoot someone you know. And a kid.
https://www.cnn.com/2012/09/28/justice/connecticut-father-kills-son/index.html
Chicago has strict gun laws in place, but other states do not. State borders are porous. Unless and until we have strong federal laws, guns from states with lax laws will find their way to states with strict laws.
The root causes are not mental health and isolation. Other countries have those problems too; they just don’t have guns available the way we do.
If more guns made us safer, we’d already be the safest country in the world.
@VeryHappy I take your point and agree with strong federal laws. I live in a state adjacent to Chicago. So why don’t the states with “lax” laws have the same level of gun violence as Chicago? It’s not the guns - it’s the people/gangs/culture in Chicago. Solve that problem.
I can’t. I don’t have that ability, or power. But I do know that other countries have inner city violence as well but they don’t have guns available the way we do.
It may not solve the entire problem, but it is likely to reduce the problem. But reducing the problem is still a better situation than what we have now.
Like Mexico?
Even if guns were banned tomorrow - good luck collecting and securing or destroying them all. Tough to estimate how many guns are out there but on the low end, estimates are in excess of 200 million. Assuming nobody has the political or military will to pry them from the cold, dead hands of their owners that means millions of guns still out there. Other than the rim fire .22s, most of the calibers are not difficult to make your own ammunition, so even if you start to control ammo, people will just make their own.
Controlling the guns and ammo will be next to impossible and won’t significantly change the issue. We’re too far down the road, too many guns out there, too many ways to make your own ammo even. Addressing the crime and mental illness might, though.
Is every murderer unwell mentally? I mean, is the act of killing someone other than in self defense always a sign of mental illness? Are all terrorists or misogynists or criminals defending their profits or angry people who kill others over a disagreement all mentally ill?
I am genuinely curious.
Really, as per this thread, we just deserve the consequences of the apathy of the populace.
Looks like New Orleans LA, Memphis TN, Birmingham AL, and several other cities (some of which have more permissive gun laws or are in states with more permissive gun laws) have higher firearm homicide rates than Chicago IL.
https://247wallst.com/special-report/2019/08/04/cities-with-the-most-gun-violence/
No solution will prevent all gun violence, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try various ideas, IMO.
I hope that we can dismiss both extremes in this conversation – those who want to get rid of all guns (that’s not many people, and it’ll never happen) and those who think any common-sense legislation infringes on the 2A.
The various states have tried various measures. The effectiveness or lack thereof of many types of measures that have been tried by the states was studied and reported on in a paper linked to in reply #47. (Of course, some measures have not been tried enough to have been studied, such as “red flag” measures.)
WalMart is very influential. I’m glad they did what they did. I think it will have an impact.
Baby steps.
I’m going to start going out of my way to get to Walmart.
I have never thought much of Walmart. This raises my respect for them a little bit. I will still go to a regular grocery store, Amazon, and Target for the most part, they treat their employees better. (I know people that have worked various places including WaMart, grocery stores, and Amazon warehouses and so know generally what the pay rates, benefits packages, holiday pay etc. are.)
Happy people tends to equal a happy society.
Walmart has made measurable strides in improving pay and work environment. They deserve credit for making changes.
@doschicos you are right, they have made improvements. My son works there now and it is still not nearly as good as Target. One example: He worked for straight pay on both 4th of July and Labor Day, just like all of the other Walmart workers. Target workers get paid time and a half on holidays. There are other examples.
And, before someome tells me he should quit and find another job, I will say that a job at Walmart is better than no job. And, unemployment here varies 8-10% based on the agriculutural calendar, so he will keep the Walmart job while he looks for another.
Florida does not have open carry but I never lived anywhere (and I’ve lived in 9 states) where there were so many guns. Many concealed carry permits, but lots of people just carrying them because it is legal to open carry when you are going fishing or hunting. You’d openly see them on fishing piers and walking paths (where they really are needed as there are often alligators or other critters). I’d see people checking into hotels with a gun on their hips or under a jacket. I told my kids to assume anyone they met had a gun.
But mostly it was TALK of their guns. How many guns they had, where to get ammo, alligator shoots (need a permit for that!), where they could have them in the office or in a car (not at our office and there was a lot of whining about that).
I think the real solution is to control the ammo. Have 10,000 guns if you want but only 1 pack of bullets. When that one is gone, you can buy another (turn in your empties). I also think there should only be sales in dealerships. No sales at sporting stores (the first time I walked into a Big 5 in California and saw the WALL of guns I was really shocked). It should be controlled like states control alcohol sales, but the buyer should have to show a license to buy the gun, a license that required hunters/shooters safety course completion to qualify. The state requires you to qualify to drive a car, why not qualify to buy a gun? (and the firsts pack of ammo).