Posted on 07/17/2013 10:07:26 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
In 1994, the United States was home to about 200 million privately owned guns. Today, that number has ballooned to between 270 million and 300 million. That's almost half of all privately owned guns worldwide, according to a new essay from the Brookings Institution.
The essay, titled The Promise by Matt Bennett, looks back at the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings and the way ahead for gun control. The piece breaks down some other big numbers surrounding the battle for more gun regulation: More than 10 firearm deaths per 100,000 Americans every year; 600 annual accidental shootings; 11,400 murders; about 31,000 total gun deaths. The most common age of people who commit gun crimes is 19, then 20, then 18. That's despite regulations that bar licensed dealers from selling handguns to anyone under the age of 21. Almost 100 million adults live in a home with a gun.
Bennett ties these numbers back to last year's tragedy in Newtown, Conn.:
Still in the arena as well are the families of Sandy Hook. Despite the glare of a spotlight that has forced them to repeatedly relive their darkest hour and subjected them to a stunning level of personal vitriol, they continue to come to Washington, meet with senators and talk to the press. They accepted early on that this was a long road—that a 20-year gridlock on gun policy was not likely to change in an instant.
The motto of Sandy Hook Promise is: "Our hearts our broken; Our spirit is not." And the extraordinary generosity of spirit that these brave people bring to this nasty, brutish political debate could, in the end, make all the difference.
You can read the full piece here.
Sweet!
That’s a good start!!!
Excellent!
Is this (for now) a great country or what?
Is that all? Then we need to do better!
Congratulations, America!
We can do better!!
Just doing my part.
How can we have a firearms murder rate of 10, when the total murder rate is 4.8? Bogusity is suspected.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate
An American with a gun behind every blade of grass; “Admiral Yammamoto”
And good luck U.N. trying to take them away!
I’ll do my part, you do yours. Buy more guns. It’s good for the economy and bad for the tyrants.
“Buy more guns. It’s good for the economy and bad for the tyrants.”
Buy one gun a month!
RE: An American with a gun behind every blade of grass; “Admiral Yammamoto”
Apparently, there is no proof that this was ever said by Yamamoto.
However, it should be noted that Yamamoto spent time in the U.S., attending Harvard for two or more years. He spoke fluent English and had a keen understanding of the industrial capabilities of the United States. He did not want war with the U.S. for this, and possibly other reason.
Therefore, while he may not have made this now-famous quote, it is likely that he may have believed it, therefore being a good person to attribute it to.
I’m also unsure about this line that was attributed to Yamamoto, quoted in the movie TORA, TORA, TORA ( afer Pearl Harbor was bombed):
“I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”
Good for us.
I’m gonna bet there’s more like 4-500 million guns out there.
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