Wednesday, October 04, 2017

is gun control the answer?

An interesting exploration in WaPo.

2 comments:

Charles said...

Fascinating read, and it does make sense. I think one of the underlying problems is the gun "culture," not necessarily the laws and regulations surrounding the purchase and possession of firearms. But I'm not sure what we do about that. Do we just live with the guns and try, as the author suggests, to win the little victories instead?

Kevin Kim said...

So much of the gun debate is recycled year after year. I heard many of the same issues being kicked around back when I was in college. One thing that I think doesn't get highlighted enough is that people in the debate often talk past each other, and the miscommunication usually falls along rural/urban lines. The only politician perceptive enough to notice this problem, in my memory at least, is Rudy Giuliani. Ol' Rudy's gone a bit nutty since his mayoral days, but I think he's right to note that country folks and city folks come at guns from totally different perspectives (farm implement versus weapon for self-defense or for murder).

As for the article: I hope it's a wake-up call to people who make arguments without first looking at actual data. Despite the perennial mass shootings, gun crime has been falling precipitously since the 1990s.