Last night's presidential debate is over, and it's time for us to look back at the questions and answers, and give them a reality check. Since we're all about guns, here, we'll focus on that topic alone. More specifically, the statement that 33,000 people die from guns each year.
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We've extensively covered what Hillary thinks about the Second Amendment in previous articles, so there is no reason to beat a dead horse. All I'll say here, is that her claiming to support the Second Amendment made me chuckle a bit as I flipped her a bird.
Instead of going there again, however, I wanted to take Hillary's “we have 33,000 people a year who die from guns,” statement and look into it a bit more.
While many of the other media outlets said this statement was either “true” or “mostly true,” she left out a lot of details that needed to be said. For anyone willing to take her word at face value, they would never dispute her, and may believe that what she meant is that all 33,000+ people were murdered by a gun.
Let's tackle the last part of her statement first. Okay, first off, guns don't kill people. It really is just that simple. Were they designed to make killing easier? I'd be insane to say otherwise. But, just like an air hammer makes it easier to drive nails into wood, guns make it easier for people to defend themselves. In other words, guns are tools meant to do a job by a person.
A lot of the time, as we've been covering in our defensive gun use series, the job it's meant to do is defend life. And yes, sometimes guns are used in crime.
But they don't just hop up and start killing people because they feel like it. That takes a deranged nut-job intent on killing, maiming, or raping innocent people.
Moving on. If you didn't know any better, you'd believe that guns were used to murder 33,000+ people each year. What she failed to mention (likely on purpose), is that over 21,000 of those deaths were suicides. So, does that mean the rest of those “gun deaths” are homicides?
While some may think so, the rest of the numbers are actually a mixture of homicide, legally used homicide (self-defense, police use), negligence, along with some left undetermined. The number of homicides where a gun was used just shrank.
Before you accuse me of not caring about those people who did get murdered, let me say that you're wrong there. I do care. Murder is a heinous crime, but not one that can be prevented by getting rid of guns. I believe that people will use whatever they can, to include their bare hands.
In fact, I care so much that I refuse to become one of those victims and have decided to carry a gun with me wherever I go to protect my beautiful wife, my three awesome children, and myself. I refuse to let my kids grow up without a daddy. That's how much I care.
Before I let you go, let's talk about suicide for a moment. While I don't think murder can be prevented, I believe suicide can be to a certain degree, and I'm not the only one. The NSSF recently announced its partnership with an agency devoted to preventing suicide, and I think they've got a good chance at success. And, if they are successful at reducing the suicide rate where a gun was used, Hillary's number of deaths where a gun was used will drop even further.
Did you watch the debate last night? What did you think about it? Let us know in the comments below, and then make sure you sign up for Gun Carrier's FREE Newsletter so you never miss a shot.
