Aug 27^th

What do we do about all the gun deaths in this country? The Republicans suggest we do as little as possible. Any hint of changing the rules controlling the availability of guns will get knowing smirks from the Fox News cognoscenti. They are right of course, because the NRA and their lobbyists have had a lock on this for years. For example, just this year, the Congress has renewed the prohibition for the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to investigate the causes of gun deaths in the United States. This leads to some very peculiar outcomes: I assume that deaths by stabbing, or cutting with a knife, can be investigated by the CDC. Suicides by gun are off limits but people who kill themselves by other means can be studied by the CDC. Perhaps we have stepped through the looking glass.

There are a lot of guns available in this country but although estimates are that about 300 million guns are in the hands of civilians most families do not own a gun. Getting accurate statistics is a problem because if you ask a householder who is concerned about crime if he owns a gun he might be reluctant to admit that he doesn’t. Still, the data are that only about a third of households have a gun. Twenty percent of households own 85 percent of the guns. Keep in mind that in Michigan there is no registry of rifles as there is of handguns. (Other states may differ; MA requires a permit to purchase a rifle.)

Some people believe carrying a concealed weapon makes them safer. Suppose you are walking down a street and a man comes toward you. When he is ten feet away he pulls out a hand gun and points it at your chest while asking for your wallet. Now you can either throw your wallet on the ground or retrieve your concealed carry pistol and defend yourself. The thief will be watching your hands and if you try for your weapon you’ll have to be fast enough to retrieve it, point it at the thief before the thief can move his trigger finger a quarter of an inch. Concealed carry usually just gives the carrier a false sense of confidence. When Congresswoman Gifford was shot in Arizona a man with a concealed carry permit nearly shot the wrong man because a rescuer had just taken the gun from the killer and the permit holder, seeing the gun in the rescuers hand, nearly shot the rescuer. (Arizona requires no training at all to get a concealed weapon carry permit.)

The NRA, for reasons not very clear, is opposing background checks on handgun purchasers at gun shows. If you want to buy a handgun and leave no record just go to a gun show where there are unlicensed gun sellers, or you can just buy the gun from the guy down the street. This “gun show loophole” allows anyone, convicted felon or psychopath, to get a weapon and kill someone twenty minutes later. This is like having a plywood gate in a twenty-ton bank vault door.

The NRA employs 35 lobbyists; about half of them have previously held government jobs. They are paid to persuade legislators to kowtow to the NRA’s position on issues concerning guns and ammunition. Until we eliminate government by unelected lobbyists we’ll have this problem.