Gun violence is a problem in America according to anti-2A activists, and I’ll agree that innocent people dying due to gun violence is a horrible thing that we should work to reduce and eliminate.
That’s where the agreement ends, though.
The problem is that anti-2A activists want to pin the blame for gun violence on guns. The thinking goes that fewer guns, less gun violence, and in a narrow way of thinking, that is true. What is also true is that fewer guns, higher overall assault and murder rates.
Focusing on guns instead of the overall violence rate leads you to wrong conclusions. Thinking that guns are the problem instead of people with evil intentions who use guns in illegal ways also leads you to wrong conclusions.
A recent story also highlights one of the big problems with how anti-2A activists approach gun violence. Alicia Marquez writes,
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reported on Sept. 8 that it had arrested 617 members of the Sinaloa cartel in a global operation.
Marquez continues:
The DEA also seized more than $11 million in currency, over $1.6 million worth of assets, and 420 firearms.
Read that last line again. The arrests of cartel members including seizing 420 firearms.
That’s a lot of guns in the hands of people who are inclined to use them in illegal ways.
Yet, anti-2A people are often the same people pushing to change criminal justice methodologies to let gang members out of prison early to be put back on the street.
The thing is, gang members put back on the street aren’t typically like The Blues Brothers on a “mission from God” to do good things for people. They typically go back to doing gang activities, including assault and murder by gun.
So, if anti-2A activists want to actually make a difference and reduce gun violence in America, they should start by putting in jail and keeping in jail the people who commit the vast majority of gun crimes: gang members and other criminals.