this post was submitted on 18 Mar 2024
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If a country like the US had a lower violent dead per capita than other first world countries like France or Germany, I would agree with you. But given that the numbers are 3 to 6 times those of EU countries, it doesn't seem to be working.
Still, if you want to quantify how many lives were saved in any given year I can give you how many innocent ones were lost. Hard to measure, you say? Then it's a weak arguments based on feelings not facts.
It doesn't have as high of a gun ownership rate as the US (no one does), but Czechia has some of the laxest gun laws in Europe, including allowing the concealed carry of a handgun like the US (at least 1 million Czechs have permits to own a firearm, a large portion of which conceal carry them for self defense) and they have a lower homicide rate than Germany or France (Source: World Bank)
Even as a supporter of gun rights, I don't think that definitively proves that guns, on a societal level, prevent deaths. I don't believe that in general. I do believe, however, that on a personal level, a well trained individual who sees the need to defend themself or people they love can prevent harm by owning a firearm. I do also believe that in a society (America) with a broken policing system, and an increasingly authoritarian Republican party that wants to crack down on my rights and the rights of people I love, I'd like the option to protect myself and my friends/family.
The more knives people use, the more people get cut.
More guns = more gun violence.
How fucking hard is that to comprehend?
"We have dug this hole for ourselves so deep we can't get out of it. At this point our chances are better if we keep digging straight down, it has to bottom out somewhere, right?"
/ The words of a truly dying society