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Nice article.

THEY SAY: There are 27,000 gun deaths a year in the U.S.

WE SAY: Not sure what to say here, except that 40 or 50% of all violent crime is committed by young black males, probably in inner cities, so that perhaps the problem is with a specific segment of the population, concentrated in specific areas, and that a gun ban won't solve the problem. I believe a significant portion of these deaths are accidental also.

Wondering how you counter this argument. Seems like the city of Richmond, VA has had some success here, though I don't know exactly what they did.

THEY SAY: There are 27,000 gun deaths a year in the U.S.

WE SAY: Not sure what to say here, except that 40 or 50% of all violent crime is committed by young black males, probably in inner cities, so that perhaps the problem is with a specific segment of the population, concentrated in specific areas, and that a gun ban won't solve the problem. (The implications are 1. that guns are racist, therefore evil and must be destroyed and 2. that if the ratios were more politically correct then their premise would be proper.)

WE SHOULD SAY: The number of deaths is irrelevant. Otherwise, you might as well kills all snakes or hippos for the numbers of people they kill every year. What is important that these tools are necessary for protecting the weak and the innocent and my loved ones.

Then, as an aside, say, "However, even if the numbers of deaths were a valid measure of the propriety of a Constitutional issue, you should note that the number of lives saved every year exceeds the number of gun deaths every year." (When they try to argue that number, remind them that in addition to private gun use for protection, every police and military person carries a weapon, and their most important purpose is the protection of life.)

Usually, the anti-gun types toss out the figure that "XX,000" CHILDREN were killed by guns last year. (I forget the number, but it's noticeable."What they DON'T say is that they define "children" to include the age range between 17-21. Far and away, the largest group of handgun deaths occurs in the range from 17-21--gang-bangers, drug deals, etc.

Acccidental deaths of REAL children from guns is less than 100/year. The real stats/numbers, etc., are available through NRA,

The Richmond program was sponsored by the NRA, by the way. It's a program whereby those perps who used a weapon in the commission of the crime are prosecuted by the FEDS (as well as the local DA) for Federal gun-law violations. Generally, a perp using a gun has violated several Federal laws, and they go to jail for quite a while.

THEY SAY: There are 27,000 gun deaths a year in the U.S.

You might tell them that there are about 1,000,000 abortions a year and 40,000 automobile fatalities.

THEY SAY: There are 27,000 gun deaths a year in the U.S.

ARCHIE BUNKER SAYS: "You would rather they wuz pushed outta windas?"