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Kuntzman: 3% of American adults hold us all hostage
[NYDailyNews] America is being held hostage by a tiny minority of absolute lunatics for whom owning two, three, eight or even 10 guns is simply not enough.That’s the main finding of the first comprehensive study of gun owners in two decades. No, the main finding is that the vast majority of gun owners are serious, sober, responsible people, whether they own one gun or ten. Among the many findings — that handgun purchases are soaring, that Americans wrongly believe Just a little judgmental, aren't we? hey need more guns for personal safety, and that there are more privately held guns in this country than cars — is a bit of news so shocking, it should embolden our spineless lawmakers in Washington: Why? Nothing seems to 'embolden' our spineless Congress-critters. Terrorism, economic collapse, national debt, health care, none of that emboldens them. Why should a non-crisis like gun ownership? Roughly half of all guns are owned by just 3% of American adults. The study by Harvard and Northeastern Universities — leaked to the gun website The Trace and the Guardian US before publication next year — estimates that there are now 265 million firearms in private hands in the U.S. And about 130 million of these guns are owned by that 3% — what the Guardian called “a group of super-owners who have amassed an average of 17 guns each.” Any of them committing crimes? Any of them violating the law? Any of them threatening anyone? Call them “super owners” or, as I prefer, “super paranoid whack jobs” — but whatever you call them, they have a disproportionate influence over gun policy in this country. Considering the thousands of gun control laws in this country, I'd say the obverse is true. Certainly, millions of Americans own guns — 55 million in the new study, up from 44 million two decades ago — but as a share of the population, gun owners have dropped from 25% to 22%. So if gun owners represent a smaller portion of our population — and nearly half of all guns are owned by dead-enders — isn’t it time for our politicians to realize that they don’t have to listen to them anymore? Yes. Ignore a minority. How.. American. The study also offers another reason why our lawmakers should ignore the worst fears of gun owners: Two out of three firearm owners say that self-defense was their primary motivation for getting a gun. That’s up from 46% in 1994. A motivation, but wrong. The Right to Keep and Bear Arms is to keep a tyrannical government in check. That could be a major reason why Congress leaves guns alone. What has happened during those 20 years? Crime has plummeted. FBI stats show that overall violent crime and murder are half of what they were in the early 1990s. Robbery has been reduced by more than half. Paging Fox Butterfield to the headline courtesy phone: as gun ownership grows, crime has gone down. Frankly, this self-defense argument should be handled by the psychiatrists of all these fraidy cats rather than our politicians, who should be debating concrete facts, not unfounded fears. This is the guy who was frightened at the sound of an AR firing last summer. Just who is the "fraidy cat"? Worse, the only thing the self-defense crowd has to fear is the self-defense crowd itself: Studies show that people who die in accidental shootings were more than three times as likely to have had a firearm in their home. Duh. More weapons present in any scenario means accidents will be higher than when no weapons are present. That's one of the reasons why we have an NRA, which teaches gun safety. So, memo to Washington lawmakers: The vast majority of Americans does not own guns. So when the three-percenters come to you looking for fewer gun restrictions, you can tell them to buzz off. We the people have got your back. Have their back? With what? Your good intentions? Classic case of 'othering'. Mr. Kuntzman sees gun owners, conservatives and the like as deplorable, irredeemable, and un-American. The eliminationist rhetoric is next. As Hershel Smith has remarked, why do academics think that gun owners will tell them the truth about gun ownership? Posted by: badanov 2016-09-21 |
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