from Guns in America - by Kevin Powell
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For that reason America needs to be completely transparent about the fact that we have a profound and dysfunctional relationship with guns, that we are literally blowing each other away, and few seem genuine in their desire to stop the bloodshed for good.
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Why? Because we are a violent nation, a nation that was founded on violence. Just ask Native Americans, Black Americans who had to trek through slavery and segregation, poor and or ethnic Whites, Mexicans, women, the LGBT community, or any other group in our lengthy and hectic history who have had to deal with guns being aimed in their direction. No question that we are a nation that has often settled scores, in our wars, in our movies, in our video games, and, no doubt, in our political gripes, with gunplay. Or with talk or boasts of gunplay. Pump that, like a drug, into the minds and veins of any people enough, and add anger, rage, alienation, or, yes, emotional instability or mental illness, and you’ve got a recipe for American tragedy after American tragedy.
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That is why stats like these are so staggering:
Since 1968, when Dr. King and Robert F. Kennedy were murdered, with guns, over a million Americans have been killed, with guns
In any given year there are over 9000 gun-related murders in America. In developed nations like England there is 39 per year, or just 17 in Finland in any given year
Murder rates due to guns in America are 6.9 times the rates in 22 other heavily populated and high-income countries combined
Medical costs and costs to the criminal justice system, in America, plus all the security precautions (think of metal detectors at airports, at schools, and elsewhere) wind up costing us, as taxpayers, over $100 billion per year
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And this conversation is not just for everyday American citizens, either. It needs to extend to some in law enforcement who are what the singer Marvin Gaye once crooned, "trigger-happy polices," especially given the rampant use of gunfire at Black and Latino males in our urban environments. Yes, being a police officer is a dangerous job and I have the utmost respect for our police forces. But they too have been contaminated by a culture of violence where brute force, or gunshots, has often become the first and only solution for our conflicts, problems, or fears.
the article is at:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/01/24/938586/-Guns-in-America?du
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