Guns and Danger

I don’t know a lot about guns, seldom ever use them myself, and have never shot someone – even once. Of course I would be more likely, were I a criminal, to want a gun that has the capability of  15-17 rounds as opposed to, say, six. If I were going to shoot someone, I would want to drill them with 10-15 of those rounds as opposed to just three or four (which would hurt them more or kill them more dead). And, I would be constantly looking for a gun that is “more accurate,” and “feels good” in my hand. Why worry about my skill with a weapon when I can get one that is “more accurate” and, naturally, I would place a high priority on durability. I  would obviously expect a long career of shooting people multiple times.

Now if that sounds silly (and I think it does) – let me show you silly:

There’s a new semi-automatic handgun on the horizon for the Army that U.S. consumers may have access to almost immediately. When that happens, America’s emergency rooms better be prepared for the carnage that’s likely to follow.  (Maureen Mackey, The Fiscal Times)

The Army wants to phase out the old handguns they have been using for 30 plus years. Obviously gun manufacturing has improved a bit in 30 years. Well, read on:

“Advancements in firearms have taken place since the M9 was adopted nearly 30 years ago, and it is our intent to take advantage of these advancements,” a military spokesperson told Fox News. “The Army is seeking to replace the M9 and M11 pistols with a handgun that is more accurate, ergonomic, reliable and durable than the current pistol.” At issue, though, is that “the last time the military challenged the industry to make a better handgun, all the innovations intended for the battlefield also ended up in the consumer market, and the severity of civilian shootings soared,” writes Matt Valentine in The Atlantic. He explains: Studying gunshot wounds in the D. C. area in the 1980s Daniel Webster of Johns Hopkins University noticed an alarming trend – as time went on, more and more patients were arriving at the emergency room with multiple bullet [Editor’s Note: that would be two or more] wounds. In 1983, at the beginning of the study period, only about a quarter of gunshot patients had multiple injuries, but in the last two years of the study, that proportion had risen to 43 percent. Over the same period, semiautomatic pistols with a capacity of 15-rounds (or more) were replacing six-shot revolvers as the most popular firearms in the country. It’s not difficult to see the correlation – more bullets in the guns, more bullets in the victims. (IBID.)

15 round handguns have been around a long time. Accuracy in using a firearm has to do with the skill of the user, not the genius of the manufacturer, and handguns will last forever unless you leave them out in the rain or run over them with trains.

Dear Maureen, the problem is not guns. The problem is the hearts of men (and women) who everyday grow more immoral, less inhibited, increasingly angry and violent. In 1984 it only took one shot to kill another human being. That hasn’t changed. Perhaps shooters have watched a little too much TV, too many movies, or played too many violent, murderous, video games. Perhaps we have become a society where life is cheap, and hurting others (with guns, or knifes,  or fists, or words) is a common solution to disagreements.

The soul of America is not being destroyed by guns, but by the “lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life.” It’s time we learned that and made changes where changes need to be made.