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People are more afraid of being accused of profiling than they are of being responsible for shootings

Words, Laws, and Attitudes Are To Be Feared More than Guns


Ron A. Y. Rich image

By —— Bio and Archives February 20, 2018

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Words, Laws, and Attitudes Are To Be Feared More than Guns There are many ways to commit mass murder, with explosives, fires, chemical weapons, biological weapons, hijackings, trucks, knives, and so on. But far more dangerous than guns and other physical weapons are words, laws, and attitudes. It has become clear that many if not most mass murderers have given advance notice of their evil intentions, either directly or indirectly, and the guns that have caused the mass shootings generally would never have been cocked and shot had people who had advance warnings not been afraid to notify authorities in advance of their suspicions. People are more afraid of being accused of profiling than they are of being responsible for shootings. People are more afraid of being wrong than of being shot. People are more afraid of hurting the feelings of others than of preventing mass murderers who deprive innocent people of their feelings on a more permanent basis – their lives – as well as the feelings of all who knew them and loved them for the rest of their lives.

Police feel that their own hands are tied

Similarly, police officers are now so afraid of being accused of not treating suspects with respect (no matter how many indications may exist that these suspects deserve to be treated far more harshly than with mere disrespect) that many police officers are afraid to do their jobs and just let potential criminals go. Instead of putting handcuffs on potential criminals, the police feel that their own hands are tied. Even in Israel, where the army has long put itself at great risk ever since the days of the War of Independence, to avoid civilian casualties at the expense of the element of surprise that would save the lives of Israeli soldiers, Israeli missile launchers responding to terrorist missile launchers are now accused of murder when terrorists cowardly use children and women as human shields, and Israeli soldiers are often afraid of doing their jobs for fear they will be incarcerated themselves for shooting at terrorists in motion. If we were to restrict or prohibit the sale of guns by law, the criminals would get them anyway (there will always be black markets for illegal sales), and there would be MORE deaths by means of gunshots than otherwise since law-abiding citizens would be unable or less able to defend themselves -- preemptively as well as after the first shot(s) -- with guns. Chicago, for example, is among the cities with the strictest gun restrictions but ranks among the most dangerous cities as a result of gunfire by criminal elements. Far more deaths in America come about as a result of handguns than assault rifles (even though more mass murders may be caused by assault rifles), so restrictions of handguns would arguably be more helpful than restricting assault rifles, yet all of the brouhaha seems to be targeted on the use of assault rifles. Even if restricting the use of guns of any kinds would reduce the numbers of murders, the same argument can be made that reducing the sale of stoves would reduce the numbers of deaths by fires. But they would also reduce the ability of people to cook their foods, and more people would die of food poisoning caused by not killing germs.

All too many people now are afraid of exercising free speech to warn authorities of overt or indirect reasons to suspect future crimes

Reducing the number of commercial planes that fly because of fear of death would increase the number of deaths because people would then use cars more frequently, and statistics show that far more people die in car accidents than in accidents involving commercial airlines. Not a single person died in a commercial airline in the United States this past year. Furthermore, if more people would drive cars, there would be more congestion, more road rage, and more fatal accidents, not less. Reducing the numbers of knives being sold would require people to hack their food with modified axes, which would very likely result in more injuries in the course of eating than caused by the misuse of the infinitesimal number of knives that may elude metal detectors at airports and prisons. What it all comes down to are two observations: Restrictions on the sale of assault rifles will accomplish less than restrictions on the sale of handguns, so other actions must be taken to reduce the numbers of gun fatalities, perhaps by discouraging violence on television and video games, by encouraging patriotism and Judeo-Christian and Hindu values, by recognizing that the Koran encourages violence against infidels, by discouraging racism by blacks against whites as much as by whites against blacks, by discouraging relationships leading to procreation out of wedlock (which reduces the numbers of fathers as good role models and increases the incidence of violent children), by creating incentives for parents to better guide and supervise their children (and to show no tolerance of – or take away tax or welfare benefits from -- parents who fail to exercise minimally accepted levels of supervision), by refusing to turn murderers into celebrities, by requiring all photographs of murderers and suspected mass murderers to be published only in humiliating positions or with unflattering backgrounds, and by requiring all references to convicted murderers and widely witnessed mass murderers to be in a derogatory manner. Above all, all too many people now are afraid of exercising free speech to warn authorities of overt or indirect reasons to suspect future crimes. So because so many people are discouraged from taking action with respect – or disrespect – to hateful words and deeds by generating preventive words and deeds, murders are as widespread as they are, and are likely to continue to be so, whether the use of guns are restricted or not.



Ron A. Y. Rich -- Bio and Archives | Comments

Mr. Rich is a self-described liberal with common sense and an open mind.


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