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America, We Don’t Have a Crime Problem; We Have a Gun Problem | Commentary [1]

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Date: 2023-04-10  

Merry Christmas and Welcome to Louisville, from the Rep. Thomas Massie Family

The FBI and other crime reporting agencies have consistently released data verifying falling crime since the 1990s, but it seems we feel more unsafe than ever. The varying diet of crime statistics fed to us by left and right-wing think tanks, pundits, and observers is devoured by the public—depending on which side your political bread is buttered. In science, an independent variable is a variable you manipulate or vary in an experimental study to explore its effects. In the American Revolution, British soldiers stood in fields firing Brown Bess muskets, and the Americans fired whatever flintlock was available. The variable was how effectively the rifle could kill an enemy coupled with the user’s skill.

With advances in a simple weapon of war weighing nearly twenty pounds that fired a single one-ounce ball, homes and streets of America are now rife with lightweight killing machines. According to ShooterHit, an AR 15 can fire around 2 to 3 bullet rounds per second, this means that in 15 seconds, an AR 15 can fire about 30 to 45 bullet rounds, so in a minute, an AR 15 rifle can fire up to 120 or even 180 bullet rounds (depending on how fast the shooter is to reload the gun with bullet rounds while continuing to squeeze the trigger). In a perverted version of the news adage, if it bleeds, it leads; anyone living in a city waits for the nightly news to get the daily body count due to too many guns in cities with too many people.

It is not just the Armalite Rifle-15. There are towns and cities in America where you can walk into your local Walmart and buy milk, light bulbs, diapers for Junior, a bottle of wine, and a gun. I am appalled that I can walk 15 blocks from where I live and purchase a gun on the street.

Before I could finish this piece, the familiar breaking news banner flashed across my tv screen: another mass shooting, this time in Louisville, Kentucky. From what is known so far, the story is all too familiar, innocents dead, motive unclear, and families left to grieve. There is a twist to this shooting. This time it occurred in a guarded bank despite right-wing gun advocates telling the public that this cannot happen in hardened, guarded targets. Early reports are that some occupants saved themselves by sheltering in a bank vault. Four are dead, eight are wounded as of this writing, and two of the injured were also police officers. The conversations around gun violence have gotten so skewed that we quantify the number of deaths by how many survived.

In Nashville two weeks ago, the country praised the rapid response of the police and the heroes who charged into the building. Increasingly, we hear only five or six died, which is becoming a victory. The real story is that a person purchased seven weapons from 5 stores, at least two of which were semiautomatic rifles. Subsequently, we learned that the shooter’s parents asked for help and reported that their child posed a danger. After this morning’s murders, experts’ analysis will begin, the teary-eyed recounting of facts by local officials will tug at our hearts, and the endless merry-go-round of do nothing will turn once more. Until America finally admits we do not have a crime problem; we have a gun problem; nothing will happen except more slaughter.

Continue to Vote for Change.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/10/2163150/-America-We-Don-t-Have-a-Crime-Problem-We-Have-a-Gun-Problem-Commentary

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