
Gun Homicide Rate Down 49% Since 1993 Peak; Public Unaware - andrewmutz
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/05/07/gun-homicide-rate-down-49-since-1993-peak-public-unaware/
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mattkrea
Doesn't change the fact that there are more mass shootings than ever before.
As a gun owner myself I am almost at the point of giving up defending gun
rights. This is getting ridiculous.

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angersock
If the overall rate is down, why does it matter if mass shootings are up?

The Wikipedia definition is any multiple shooting, which _can_ include 4 or
more casualties. That's the bodycount of like a solid car accident, and yet
we're not banning cars yet, now are we?

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mattkrea
The concern on my end is that of course there are tons of people out there who
will do nothing wrong. I have a couple rifles and handguns. I don't hunt. I go
to the range once in a while--that's about it. I don't bother anyone and
nobody bothers me. This is likely the majority.

Unfortunately, our current laws are currently not working and with the
conversation constantly turning to mental illness after a shooting (while it
may have something to do with it of course) we see the anger about what
happened die down over time with no changes made regarding gun laws or mental
illness and how it relates to background checks. This _cannot_ continue.

I don't care if a solution manifests as more laws around background checks or
something else but our current situation is clearly a complete and utter
failure.

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johng
The default reaction from any sane person is always "Something has to be done"
\-- but that "something" is not easy to come up with. A knee jerk reaction to
do "something" just because "something" needs to be done can have far reaching
and dire consequences. We need a plan, and we need to know that this plan will
actually have an impact and make a difference, not just take rights away from
people. Emotion must be taken out of the equation.

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mattkrea
I understand that but unfortunately here the longer we don't do anything the
more people die.

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angersock
Everyone dies, and the payouts of this are non-obvious if you are also, say,
looking at the benefits of self-defense or keeping a .gov honest.

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johng
Exactly. People are going to die no matter what you do. If you magically were
able to get rid of every single gun, mass murders would still happen. So don't
think of getting rid of guns as stopping mass murders.

