Need to focus on social issues, not tools
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Dear Buzzy the Buzzard,
You recently wrote about gun control. I fully understand the intent expressed in that column. We do
need to rethink the way we address gun control.
Unlike many in the public eye you allowed emotion to control your thoughts. When Cain killed Abel was the rock to blame? As humans we want to find a reason why.
Then address the issue based on that. Your idea of one type of firearm being so evil that it must be outlawed is flawed. It is akin to saying, “We must do away with motor vehicles because they can be used to kill people.” Motorcycles are fast, readily available and often misused by the owners. We must protect the people from themselves by outlawing them. Would doing that make our highways safer?
Firearms may be the tool of choice, but not the cause of the problem. Crime/murder has been a problem since time began. Regardless of what we do it will still be a problem.
So, address the reason of the problem, not the tool used. Education, poverty, greed, drugs, sin, race, bullying, laws not being enforced, court systems that return criminals back on the streets with little to no jail time, open border policies, sex trafficking, sex offenders, and we could go on and on. The things mentioned kill or destroy far more citizens than firearms.
I challenge you or anyone to present evidence that outlawing one type of firearm would stop the issues above. Because just fixing one is not going to be the answer to the gun issue. And just so you know, the firearms industry is the most regulated industry in the United States.
Across the United States, 16.4 million firearms were sold in 2022. The U.S. firearm industry contributes $51.3 billion to the economy. The firearms industry employs 169,523 people across the U.S. This figure does not include the people who produce the metal, plastics, wood, or chemicals needed to produce the firearms and ammunition. Add those in and it exceeds $250 billion a year.
Companies in the United States that distribute and sell firearms, ammunition and hunting equipment employ as many as 172,697 people in the country and generate an additional 220,999 jobs in supplier and ancillary industries. Oddly enough those semi-automatic firearms (the black rifle and handguns people are saying are the problem in our nation) are also one of the largest exports of our nation. Other countries that do more to fix the problems mentioned above have found that gun control does not work.
We tried to outlaw certain types of firearms in the 1930s and again in the late 1960s. Then again under President Bush Senior and everyone after him. STOP BEATING A DEAD HORSE. Start
addressing the social issues instead of the tools. Because people will always reinvent the tools to do what they want.
Sincerely,
Jesse Yarbrough
Rockford, Ala.