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Gun Control

From dKosopedia

Gun Control encompasses all of the efforts to legislate public policy attempting to limit gun crimes by restricting access to guns

Effective gun control in some advanced industrial countries (Britain and Japan) has dramatically reduced the numbers of gun violence victims though it has not affected the violent crime rates of these or any other country. Shamefully, the United States has the highest gun violence rates among advanced industrial societies. The victims and perpetrators of gun violence in the United States come disproportionately from racial and ethnic minorities.

Contents

An issue of rights

Unlike Japan or England which haven't had a frontier in centuries America had one till recently (and some would say it still does) thus a gun culture of sorts was born.

Thomas Jefferson himself advocated this culture:

"A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun, therefore, be the constant companion of your walks."

-- --Thomas Jefferson to Peter Carr, 1785. ME 5:85, Papers 8:407 [1]

The words of Jefferson make it clear that he considered the right to firearms to be an individual right and one that he felt America needed.

The problem

Jefferson could never have forseen the Uzi. Are we justified in seeking direction from the 18th century for a 21st century problem?

Organizations

See Also

Further Reading

External Links

Sourcewatch:

Other:

Retrieved from "http://localhost../../../g/u/n/Gun_Control_252c.html"

This page was last modified 00:32, 13 June 2011 by dKosopedia user Jbet777. Based on work by Kyler, roger, L. R. Stegall, Bartfart and Arthur Smith and dKosopedia user(s) Medley, Proxima Centauri, Cooter, Brudny, TrueLiberal, Seneca, BartFraden and PatriotismOverProfits. Content is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.


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