Why I do the “Gun Death” Thing.

This email from Tango was in my archives for for a future “Gun Death” Files post. As many of you know, I typically only post one “Gun Death” story per day unless its a special story, also about 99% of my “Gun Death” stories are supplied by readers. Because of this when I get a “Gun Death” story I simply sort it into a special folder and save it for a time when I’m refilling the syndication scheduled. So this story is older, and I wish I had published it when I first got it.

Gun homicides were down last year in New York City. But according to a report published in the New York Times, authorities say the number of killings committed with knives or other “cutting instruments” rose 50 percent. New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne theorizes that authorities have made it harder for killers to get their hands on guns. But it’s easy to legally acquire knives.

Now I’ve read many reports that the NYPD might be “adjusting” crime reports to make the city look safer than it is. I’ll let you decide how legitimate the drop in “Gun Death” in NYC is for yourself, but taking this story on its merits shows one of the big reason why I took up this project.

The tag line is this:

Overall, homicides rose slightly. There were 523 last year, up from 496 in 2007.

So according to these numbers “Gun Death” is down, but overall homicides are up. For People who use “Gun Death” as a metric NYC became SAFER, as “Gun Deaths” were down, but for people living (and DYING) in NYC the city is MORE DANGEROUS!

Of course the other reason why I do the “Gun Death” files is to also show that a world without guns would NOT be a world without murder, but like the times before the discovery of black powder, it would be a world where the strong have power over the weak.

In the middle and dark ages of time women were essentially property. Why? Because men are stronger than woman, and if a woman attempted to stand up to men they would lose. Weapons like knives, swords, clubs, and bows all required strength to effectively use. A woman, the elderly, or people of slight stature or strength simply couldn’t compete to violence. As Marko said: “The Gun is Civilization”. In martial arts competitions the competitors are divided up by sex and weight, simply because they can’t directly compete, no matter how skilled they are. Of course there are no referees or officials on the street that make sure attackers only fight their own weight and skill class, nor do they forbid GROUPS from attacking single targets. Now add in the gun. I’ve taken many people to the range for their first shots, young and old, big and small, male and female, their shooting skills with appropriate firearms is only a direct is only related to how well I can teach and how well they can pick up the shooting basics. If they have a good stance and grip, make a good sight picture, and exercise good trigger control they will ALL land shots in the black of an NRA slow-fire target.

Add in some repetition and they’ll be as competent shot as anybody else, and their physical capabilities will only be an issue when you really start pushing things outside the standard realm of defensive shootings. No, you generally won’t need a .44 Magnum or a .454 Casull to stop an attacker, a .38 Special or a 9×19 firearm will likely do as well as anything else, and with the current selections of firearms ANYBODY can get a gun that they can effectively conceal, carry, deploy and most importantly AFFORD. These guns will allow them to not only fend off more powerful attackers, but MULTIPLE attackers (even when you discount that many group attacks will scatter when a defensive weapon is produced, or one of the attackers is neutralized).

So effectively the gun neutralizes direct force as a tactic to be used. By eliminating lawful guns you foster “Might Equals Right”.

So this is why I run the “Gun Death” Files. Also I’ll remind my readers that the “Gun Death” tag is there for YOU to not only read but USE! When you see somebody using “Gun Death” as if it is a legitimate metric, let them give my files a read, and see if the literally HUNDREDS of entries sway them. (BTW I just did a quick count and I’m well over 800 entries, almost all of them murders at the time of writing this)

And carry your damn guns!