US gun policy: the nuttiest part of the nut house?

If you thought the mad mullahs in Pakistan, Afghanistan, alltheotherstans, and the rest of the lamentable troglodytes in the nether regions of humanity's evolution (Hi, Saudi Arabia) were alone, drop into the dystopian world of the United States' guns and imprisonment policies. Most people would have a very vague understanding of it being a bit nuts, but it's really a lot of nuts. An awful, awful lot of nuts. Sort of John McEnroe 'You cannot be serious' nuts.

There are 400 million legally-held guns in the United States, and hundreds of millions more illegally-held guns. There are 325 million people in the US. Let that sink in. That relentless ceolán Trump's solution after the synagogue attack: we need more guns. It was pretty much the same 'solution' after all the other attacks. But this particular brand of insanity long predates Trump; Reagan in 1986 and Bush Junior in 2005 deserve special mentions for expanding the number of guns and reducing the liability of the gun companies. To every mass gun crime, the solution repeatedly is"we need more guns". Fear is stoked up by an enormous array of lobbyists So, compare the US murder rate with equally economically advanced countries on the planet, and explain why countries with fewer guns have fewer murders. A colossal 11.5 million guns were manufactured in the US in 2016, an increase from 2.5 million in 1986. Would you be surprised to read that violent crime has increased? What could possibly be the answer...?

"Because it's our culture!". Of all the things in the US, is gun policy the most stupid?

goose2005

https://medium.com/handwaving-freakoutery/everybodys-lying-about-the-link-between-gun-ownership-and-homicide-1108ed400be5

No correlation between gun ownership and gun homicides, either by comparing US states or countries.

A colossal 11.5 million guns were manufactured in the US in 2016, an increase from 2.5 million in 1986. Would you be surprised to read that violent crime has increased? What could possibly be the answer...?

but this isn't true. Violent crime has gone up, slightly, but only after a precipitous drop. Homicide rate was 8.6 per 100,000 in 1986; in 2016 it was 5.3; a higher number than previous years but lower than most of the 2000s

Barnseire

Agreed, there nuts. The following story always reminds how extreme they are but we seem to accept America as some sort of normal and middle east as the extremists.

From Wikipedia.
On August 25, 2014, 39-year-old Charles Vacca was accidentally shot and killed while instructing a nine-year-old girl in how to shoot an Uzi.[1] The accident occurred at the Arizona Last Stop Gun Range (also known as "Bullets and Burgers") in White Hills, Arizona, where Vacca had worked for about eighteen months. According to county law officials the shooting is being viewed as an industrial accident.The minimum age set by the shooting range to fire a weapon is eight years old provided that the child is supervised by a parent, as the girl was. It was also legal for Arizona Last Stop to own the fully automatic Uzi because it was manufactured and purchased prior to the passage of the Firearm Owners Protection Act in 1986 and added to the NFA machine gun registry where all fully automatic civilian owned firearms are registered

DEFTLEFTHAND

I suppose gun ownership is a totally alien concept for 99% of the Irish population.

It's different in somewhere like the States where it's enshrined in the Constitution and big part of the culture.

Gatling

No; feck off you big amadán

400 million guns .

But how many actual gun owners are there its certainly not 400 million owners ,take into account many will have a rifle , handgun , shotgun and a semi-automatic rifle depending on the type of shooting they do .

corner of hells

Gatling wrote: »

400 million guns .

But how many actual gun owners are there its certainly not 400 million owners ,take into account many will have a rifle , handgun , shotgun and a semi-automatic rifle depending on the type of shooting they do .

Mad , isn't it ?

Certainly lots of American's don't own firearms , but sweet Jesus above 400 million guns.