President says ‘epidemic of gun violence is tearing our communities apart’ after mass shootings in Philadelphia, Fort Worth, Baltimore and Chicago

        • ch00f@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Look at what happened when England reduced CO access by switching from coal gas to natural gas.

          Over time, as the carbon monoxide in gas decreased, suicides also decreased (Kreitman 1976). Suicides by carbon monoxide decreased dramatically, while suicides by other methods increased a small amount, resulting in a net decrease in overall suicides, particularly among females.

          https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/means-matter/means-matter/saves-lives/

          Suicide is often a matter of convenience. If it’s harder to kill yourself, many people are less likely to do it. I suspect reducing access to guns would reduce suicides just like it did with coal gas.

        • MrSpArkle@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          This article is about assault weapon bans, which are not exactly the go-to for suicide.

        • Dissasterix @lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          This is the sad reality. Gun violence is generally committed by sick people. Similarly, I saw this chart a few years back on Australian gun/knife violence. The plots are mirrored. Violence is sort of static.

            • betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              The loser of a knife fight dies in the street, the winner dies in the hospital.

              I don’t recall the origin of that or whether that’s the exact wording but the general idea at least has stuck with me.

              • WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                If you run away from a guy with a knife, you have to outrun the knife-wielder. If you run away from a guy with a gun, you have to outrun the bullet.

    • DanglingFury@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      About half, it was 54% in 2021. The problem with an assault weapons ban is it will do almost nothing to gun violence. More people are murdered with hammers every year then with ar15s. The vast majority of US gun violence is performed with regular pistols.

      https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/26/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/

      If they actually cared about the problem instead of just publicity, then they would look at banning pistols of all magazine capacities instead of rifles. If they wanted to do something acceptable for both sides of the aisle that could eliminate up to 40% of gun violence, they would prohibit people with domestic abuse charges from owning firearms. (See The Problem with Jon Stewart).

      Or they could address the core problems facing people at the bottom of the economic scale, like hunger and mental health amd healthcare, the problems that make them desperate and emotional. Banning guns to prevent murder is akin to banning alcohol to prevent drunk driving. It works, but it hinders the majority of law abiding citizens all because a small percent of people misuse it.

      The sad truth is they dgaf. So they do publicity shit like this that doesn’t matter.