Richmond, Virginia and Boise, Idaho have almost identical populations. The gun laws in Idaho are less strict than Virginia. So by the Giffords worldview, Boise should be the same as or worse than Richmond when it comes to murder.
In 2021, Boise had 2 muders.
Richmond? 90.
If you think this is a "gun problem", you are either ignorant, or you are trying to deceive people.
Rep @PatGarofalo: "With 76% of homicides in Minnesota happening in Hennepin & Ramsey Counties, and both counties being under total DFL control, why in the world would we want to adopt your public safety policies across the state?"
The 2nd Amendment exists for the World we live in now, not for the World the founding fathers lived in. Think about it…the 2nd Amendment was the foundation. We already defeated tyranny in the Revolution. They knew what would come in the future.
The gun debate highlights the gap in sophistication between how each side contends with issues.
On one side, you have the simplistic notion that inanimate objects are the problem, and if we just write a magic spell saying they should go away, bad things will no longer happen.
On the other side, you have a serious consideration of culture and its effect upon human behavior. You have probing questions about motive and mental health. And you get a much deeper and nuanced prescription for solving the problem which recognizes the heart, mind, and soul as the wellspring of behavior.
It's a powerful and revealing contrast, and it should be a litmus test for determining who gets to wield political power. Who would you rather have writing, enforcing, and interpreting laws? Simpletons who point to guns as evil talismans that make people do things? Or grown-ups who recognize that we have a broader crisis in both culture and policy?
Minnesota's "red flag" bill demonstrates this disparity in sophistication plainly. It imagines a scenario where someone presents such an imminent danger to themselves and others that we must forgo due process and seize their guns. To do so, we'll walk right past them, take their firearms, and then leave them agitated in deeper crisis with no further intervention.
Take the evil talisman, and everything will be fine. That's the level of thinking informing such policy, barely more sophisticated than superstition.