Gun laws have become much weaker in the United States. In most other countries, when there’s a big mass shooting, it’s a time to examine your gun laws and make them stronger. Australia did that and has been incredibly successful in terms of reducing gun violence. New Zealand did that more recently. The United Kingdom did that.
For the U.S., it’s been the complete opposite. At the federal level, our gun laws are now much weaker than they were in 1999. We eliminated the assault weapons ban. We gave the gun industry incredible protections against lawsuits. I don’t know of any other industry that is so well protected against tort liability.
At the state level, some states like Massachusetts have strengthened their gun laws. But the problem is the states with the worst problems, the states that export their guns to Massachusetts and other countries for criminals to use, have weakened their gun laws.
There is now permitless carry [laws that allow people to carry firearms in public places without a permit] in more than half the states. There are stand-your-ground laws where you can defend yourself using deadly force not because you have objectively been threatened, but because you feel unsafe.
In the last 25 years our gun homicide rate has increased 70%. Our gun suicide rate has increased 33%. We used to be a real outlier compared to all the other high-income countries. We had much higher rates of gun deaths per capita than any other high-income country. Over the last 25 years, our gun fatalities have increased dramatically while other high-income countries on average have reduced their gun death rates. We’re now even more of an outlier.
— David Hemenway in Guns and public health in the U.S., 25 years after Columbine
14 Responses
“Over the last 25 years, our gun fatalities have increased dramatically while other high-income countries on average have reduced their gun death rates.”
Deliberate, cherry-picked data. The real story is, since the peak in 1990(ish), violent crime deaths are roughly one-half what they were then.
May the fleas of a thousand camels infest his BVDs…
Yep. He’s pushing propaganda. It works.
“We gave the gun industry incredible protections against lawsuits. I don’t know of any other industry that is so well protected against tort liability.”
That’s a lie, and the rest of what he says is BS.
First, the only protection the ‘gun industry’ actually got was from the frivolous lawsuits that were threatening to ‘sue them out of existence’ for simply doing legal and lawful commerce because ‘anti-gun’ entities wanted to hold them responsible for a persons deliberate misuse of a ‘product’. We do the same thing for the car industry except its not codified in law calling it such – no car manufacturer gets sued when a drunk driver uses their ‘product’ to do bad things or a person uses their product for ‘vehicular homicide’ – the vehicle industry is very well protected against such more so than the ‘gun industry’.
When was the time when a car manufacturer got sued because their ‘product car’ was used to attempt or commit mass murder or mass injury by a driver who misused the ‘product car’ to commit such an act? For example > https://heavy.com/news/waukesha-parade-videos-video-graphic/ > at least 60 people are injured and six people died – was there even one news article from MSM or a statement from an ‘anti-gun’ group that claims to be all about ‘public safety’ crying for the car manufacturer to be sued, was there even one article from MSM or a statement from an ‘anti-gun’ group that claims to be all about ‘public safety’ about it being a ‘mass-killing’ or calling it ‘car violence’? Just since Jan 1, 2024 there have been more than ~24,000 people charged with either vehicular manslaughter or vehicular homicide (either attempted or actual) across the United States – yet not one one article from MSM or a statement from an ‘anti-gun’ group that claims to be all about ‘public safety’ about it being ‘car violence’ and zero law suits against car manufacturers.
Just like manufacturers of other products the ‘gun industry’ can get sued if their product is defective, yet in reality they were the only ‘product’ manufacturer that did not have protection against the product being misused by others – and that all the law did, was provide them the same protections as manufacturers of other products.
Second, if someone misuses a gun for unlawful purposes its not a ‘tort’ the gun manufacturer manufacturer is responsible for just as its not a not a ‘tort’ the manufacturer of other products is responsible for if their products are misused by a person for illegal purposes.
Maybe we should hold you legally liable every time a driver of a car uses the vehicle for an ‘unlawful’ purpose – make you personally responsible for that ‘tort’. I’ll bet your argument would be “I didn’t do anything, I can’t control the actions of others’
“We gave the gun industry incredible protections against lawsuits. I don’t know of any other industry that is so well protected against tort liability.”
Lie, the vaccine industry has stronger protections…
No refunds, well just about with normal ones compared to the injuries involved as for the experimental ones of the last few years yeah full legal immunity.
Remove “diversity” from the “gun violence” stats and we’re as safe as the Cotswolds. Nobody wants to talk about WHO is committing the overwhelming majority of “gun violence” crimes. The left wants to blame inanimate objects rather than the creatures that are actually pulling the trigger.
??? it’s widely available information. in 2021 there were 26,054 white people who died from a gun shot and 15,290 black people. 60 percent of the people arrested for carrying a weapon in 2019 were white people.
Let’s put this in perspective using your figures.
Using your figures of 26,054 and 15,290
White = 63%; close to 2020 census, more or less represents the population
White population per 2020 census (not incl. white Hispanics or mixed/multi racial) = 58%
Black = 37%; over 3x the amount in 2020 census. In other words, over represented by a lot.
Black population per 2020 census (not incl. black Hispanics or mixed/multi racial) = 12%
Another figure to take into consideration is white on black crime vs black on white crime. There is a discrepancy there as well. Instead of using the race of who died from a gun shot, it would be more informative to use the race of who did the shooting.
“the states that export their guns to Massachusetts and other countries for criminals to use”
There are exactly zero states that export guns “to Massachusetts and other countries for criminals to use”. ZERO! Period. There is no state that is in the business of ‘exporting’ guns “to Massachusetts and other countries for criminals to use”
“There is now permitless carry [laws that allow people to carry firearms in public places without a permit] in more than half the states. There are stand-your-ground laws where you can defend yourself using deadly force not because you have objectively been threatened, but because you feel unsafe. ”
That’s a lie. Each and every state with ‘stand-your-ground laws’ has and applies objective standards for use of deadly force and there are zero such states which allow use of deadly force “because you feel unsafe”.
Yes, there are permitless carry [laws that allow people to carry firearms in public places without a permit] in more than half the states. And so? What part of ‘constitutional right’ do you not understand? If you mow your own grass do you need a permit to operate your lawn mower? Yet 37,000 Americans suffer a power mower-related injury each year.
Maybe you should need a permit to exercise your first amendment constitutional right.
Ok, I think I have it figured out. Go to liquor store and purchase favorite liquor, gas up at the local Chevron, then when I get popped for DUI, I sue Jeep,Chevron,local liquor store, and Johnny Walker.
That talking corpse is a clown show.
What a shock, a Leftist, hoplophobic moron spouting lies, and pretending to be an expert! I bet that’s never happened before!
Not one, single claim in that entire litany of lies was accurate. If i debunked every lie in that barely-coherent rant, my response would be twice as long as the original article, so I limit my response to a few of the juicier lies:
1) “Australia did that and has been incredibly successful in terms of reducing gun violence. New Zealand did that more recently. The United Kingdom did that.”
Forgetting, for the moment, the impossibility of comparing so-called “gun violence” statistics across various reporting platforms without ANY was to “regularize” the presentation of data (a statistics mistake that would get a college freshman an F in Intro Statistics), the “data” on the “effectiveness” of these countries’ gun control panics is HIGHLY questionable. Anyone want to argue that the rate of violent crime in, say, London has decreased since England decided to outlaw guns?? It hasn’t; it’s gone the other direction.
2) “At the federal level, our gun laws are now much weaker than they were in 1999. We eliminated the assault weapons ban.”
The assertion that our gun laws are weaker today than in 1999 is absurd on its face, and too stupid to be worth a point-by-point fisking, but the claim that the AWB was “eliminated” is just a flat-out lie. The AWB was finally passed in a compromise form, and ONE of the compromises was that the opposition to the ban insisted that it be for a specified period to test its effectiveness, AND that the “effectiveness” of the ban was to be tested prior to its sunset. Famously, the studies of it showed that there was NO demonstrable effect on rates of crime generally, or “gun crime” specifically. So the case for its renewal simply couldn’t be made. So it EXPIRED. It was not “eliminated”.
3) “We gave the gun industry incredible protections against lawsuits. I don’t know of any other industry that is so well protected against tort liability.”
.40cal has accurately disposed of this argument, above, but let me assure you, the PCCA does NOTHING but codify existing tort law in respect of firearms. NO other manufacturer, EXCEPT big Pharma, has sought (and received) protection against their own malfeasance in the production of their products. Mas Cool Arrow did a nice job with that argument. If I use a gun to commit a crime, there is no reason anyone other than I should be held responsible. Trust me, if I buy a gun, go to the range, and the gun blows up in my hands because of poor materials or production processes, I can (if I survive) sue the hell out of the manufacturer – just like EVERY other industry.
4) “There are stand-your-ground laws where you can defend yourself using deadly force not because you have objectively been threatened, but because you feel unsafe.”
NO such law, in ANY state, does anything of the sort. “Stand your ground” laws address one point, and one point only – to what extent you have a “duty to retreat” in a self-defense situation. California has and explicit, statutory law requiring you to retreat, if you can. In many states’ tort laws, the justifiability of your use of force will at least consider whether your ability to safely retreat counteracts your fear of eminent harm, making your use of deadly force ‘not reasonable’. “Stand your ground” means nothing more, or less, than the fact that (usually within defined spaces – your house, your office, your car, etc.) in a designated space where YOU are legally entitled to be, but the assailant is NOT (burglars, home invaders, carjackers) are NOT legally entitled to be, you have no duty to retreat (gee, no shit, Sherlock!!). That is the alpha and omega of “stand your ground”.
This guy could give that lying female dog, Shannon Watts, a run for her money on lies-per-statement ratio.
Australia, New Zealand, and England are all ISLANDS! It’s pretty easy to control what comes into an island.
The U.S. is not an island. It’s like Mexico. And in Mexico there is a very strong gun ban. (Only one shop in the entire country where you can legally buy a gun.)
Mexico is a gun control person’s wet dream. Gun bans in the U.S. would work about as well as they do in Mexico. lol.