An American response to an editorial in the Guardian, Sept 21, 2013: "American gun use is out of control. Shouldn't the world intervene?" by British journalist Henry Porter
Dear Editors of the Guardian / Observer newspapers of the UK:
Mr. Porter states: "The death toll from firearms in the US suggests that the country is gripped by civil war." Mr. Porter introduces this statistic: "The annual toll from firearms in the US is running at 32,000 deaths and climbing..."
Mr. Porter continues: The figures from Congressional Research Service, plus recent statistics from icasualties.org, tell us that from the first casualties in the battle of Lexington to recent operations in Afghanistan, the toll is 1,171,177. By contrast, the number killed by firearms, including suicides, since 1968, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the FBI, is 1,384,171. ... If this perennial slaughter doesn't qualify for intercession by the UN and all relevant NGOs, it is hard to know what does."
Typical of journalistic writing, not all facts are needed for an unbiased opinion. My detailed analysis of Mr. Porter's flawed statistic, and my response to his outrageous proposal HERE - Sean Linnane a.k.a STORMBRINGER
P.S. Please be aware that I am dual-citizen US/Australian, and by virtue of my father's British birth (and grandfather, great-grandfather & great-great-grandfather going back to at least 1066 and probably a lot further) I possess a British Certificate of Patriality which makes me also a British subject. Primary loyalty is to the United States, of course - due to the fact that I earned my US citizenship via military service - but because of the Special Relationship I do not see a problem with the status of my citizenship. I am not aware of Mr. Porter's status. - S.L.
Mr. Porter's article includes the following image and caption:
A man on a rifle range: 'More Americans lost their lives from firearms in the past 45 years than in all wars involving the US.' Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images
Simple image analysis tells us that it is extremely unlikely that this man is on a rifle range. A) He is indoors - yes there are indoor rifle ranges but they are a rarity, B) He is not wearing any hearing protection, C) The rifle does not have a magazine inserted into the magazine well, and D) there is a plastic zip-tie protruding out of the magazine well - standard procedure at gun stores and gun shows to weapons inoperable is to route a zip-tie through the bolt action, magazine well and/or ejection port if the weapon is so configured. There are plenty of pictures of Americans handling semi-automatic rifles on actual rifle ranges - if you're going to post propaganda, at least get the simple stuff right. - S.L.
2 comments:
Criminals should not have access to guns. See how easy it is when we all agree? Mr Porter thinks that denying access to firearms to law abiding people will keep the weapons from the criminals and that society will then be peaceful and safe. We have a natural experiment. In one location, Red State/county America, there is a large armed population with a low crime rate and a low death from firearms rate. In two other locations, Blue State/County America and the UK, we have strict rules against firearms ownership. In both places where guns are illegal there is a large uncontrolled criminal class running wild. While there are more deaths from firearms in Blue America than in the UK in neither are people safe.
All this is besides the real point of the Second Amendment and having an armed citizenry. The guns are not there to control crime but to control the government. In the UK people are not citizens but subjects of a government that allocates authority to a winner through an electoral ritual that does not alter the top down distribution of authority. In America the authority comes from the bottom with limited powers assigned to the federal government. The people do not have to engage in bloody revolution or resort to their firearms to restrain government on a regular basis. We hope that they never have to. The ability and right of the people to reject a tyrannical regime is however at the root of all the freedoms that the people form their government to protect.
Will Mr. Porter be personally joining the expeditionary force? He can reply at some later date, no rush.
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