My Column this time was inspired by the new video of Madonna Gun Control
I think that is the greatest purpose that artist could follow to put attention of the public in a simple universally understandable emotive way to the important issues.
To be honest, I was shocked to see statistics at the end of the video, it said that 36 thousand Americans are killed in acts of gun violence every year. To compare conflict at the East of Ukraine for five years took about 13 thousand.
I understand the historical roots of the question and, of course, it's the choice of Americans as for implementing gun control or not.
My plight here is that from time to time I hear voices in my country about the liberalization of gun ownership.
A few young men my acquaintances support such attitudes: "because there are cases where adequate people become victims of impunity for intruders, therefore, only for the sake of the fact that the attackers themselves will also be victims (in the case of self-defense) - we need to move toward the permission of guns". They also say that statistics of gun violence in other countries is not that drastic like in the U.S. for example in Switzerland.
But at the moment Ukraine can't be compared to Switzerland where the security of people is on such a high standard, not saying about the level of living. So what works for Switzerland might not work for Ukraine. And again even there mass shootings did happen there before as it said in the article. Even one life how trivially this might not sound is one life to keep.
To see a bigger picture there is an interesting chart on Overview of gun laws by nations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overview_of_gun_laws_by_nation
Obviously, different countries deal with the question of whether to allow citizens to acquire firearms for self-defense in their own way. But as long as we in Ukraine didn't have an experience of its liberalization before is it really a time to risk now and what the cost of it in human lives could be.
Of course, after the war there is a problem with illegal guns on the streets so after new Parliament elections, we going to have soon, it is a big field for work for newly elected powers. Still, Ukraine is considerably safe if not talk about East regions Donetsk and Luhansk. Personally, I think there should be very strict control and harsh responsibility for having the unregistered weapon not talking about using it hurting others. When we historically are used that the right for the weapon only has the Ministry of Internal Affairs, to arm society by liberating guns is a way to even more violence in a weak after all the turbulence country.
Humans shall try to find other ways to soothe conflicts as unfortunately guns only have a tendency to escalate the pressure. An unarmed person will use the reason first.
To clarify my experience is in the US where Madonna hails from and not in your nation. This is just my view from here as I am not not the ground in your country.
Honestly you can view it anyway you wish. As a gun owner and supporter of "all to keep and bear arms", so you know my stance. Firstly, you have to examine the statistics that you are viewing. These deaths include suicides (which most likely would be done with another method) and justified homicides such as those that are a result of a police incident. What they don't state are two main points. For the amount of firearms owned by citizens in the US and its vast size our gun deaths are fairly low. Additionally, there is no metric that shows how many lives private gun ownership has saved. If someone tries to hurt or rob you and you pull a gun and the person runs you may have just stopped a murder. Often when those shootings that are so publicized and pushed by media happen ypu never hear about (or hear much less) when a gun owner takes doen someone with evil intent. There are bad people everywhere and if you don't think that a knife wielding attacker can kill you faster (actually proven fact) than one with a gun you are wrong. Now here's the best part Madonna is talking about gun control but won't leave her home without private security. Bet she doesn't care that I dont have a security team so when someone attacks me because of say my watch or wallet I can't do what she will. She will be shielded and then the attacker either subdued or killed by her security. I am my family and my owns protection. Just my view and everyone's willing to have one. Is worth noting that private gun ownership does weight into other countries invading nations as well and governments harming citizens. Just saying. Thanks for the view and have a good one.
Coming from two countries where guns a scarce and regulated... I find the idea of liberalised ownership of guns to be quite disconcerting. I definitely agree that reason and talking is always going to be a much better alternative... and that is helped by keeping the tools of violence a little bit further away!
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Most legal owners in the US will tell you they never want to use their weapon at all. Being reasonable is the first step in gun safety but when life comes into the equation talking down goes out the window.
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Yes, I'm not really making a comment on other countries...only the ones in which I have lived long periods of time and in which there is already an established culture of non-ownership (Australia and Netherlands). All countries come to it from different histories and different ingrained cultures... Things can't be too easily compared and transplanted... Especially not overnight!
Oh I know my friend. As are my comments I can only speak for my experience in the US and in some other minor nations. That's why conversing is so important brother. Different views should always be discussed with respect as I believe we have for our friends in the community.
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It's a different gun culture of non-guns in Canada too. And statistically the majority of imported and unregistered guns are in the hands of Gangs protecting their turf from rivals. The much touted long gun or rifle registry ended up costing billions in tax payer money did not stop any unregistered weapons used in a crime.
I had a stranger break into my basement he had a kitchen knife, I have a Katana. He said, "I'm sorry, I must have the wrong house."
I said, "I got a real knife so 'F__k off!'." The police picked him up 20 minutes later a few blocks away. Case closed.
It was probably hard to run with his pants soaked. Well done pirate sis!
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I come from Canada where people would rather say sorry, than fire a gun haha
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Very interesting thoughts. I also agree with you. We never needed guns in Portugal and we shouldn't need them, in a sane society.
I know that Americans have that reasoning of having weapons to protect themselves from the Government, in case the Government turns on them... but that is a stupid reasoning, really. Why? Because they have tanks, planes, ships, bombs of all kind.
The US Citizens picking up guns against the government would be like me trying to fight a pack of 300 lions with a single slingshot. They are delusional, if they think they have a chance.
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Being the American in this bunch....
Yes deaths and accidental shootings due to guns are out of control. The laws, changes or what have you that people like Madonna want changed will not affect those who they are intended to control. Any type of restriction or change will only hurt those that have obtained their weapons legally.
The only answer is to remove them completely. That will never happen. Most 'gun toting' Americans are those that actually collect them, go hunting and have a healthy respect for what a gun is capable of.
There are more and more stories coming out about those that have managed to stave off an attack due to having a gun of their own. In fact, more an more states are not requiring permits for conceal and carry. Which works in opposite of what gun control wants. To be honest there is no real threat of the citizens turning on the government. Although there are times we probably should.
If someone is intent on harming another it will happen. If we do keep up this thinking of taking everything away, then we better pull fertilizer from the shelves. Timothy McVeigh taught us that lesson... oh wait you can still purchase everything he did to bomb the federal building in Oklahoma City.
Violence of this nature is from ignorance, frustration and lack of hope. When you see no other way out, people tend to lean towards violence.
So how do you fix something of this nature? How do you affect those that have guns illegally, those that really do have no reason to have access to them without harming the rights of the populus?
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