Firearm Injury is the Leading Cause of Death of Kids
20 kids at a time shredded in schools
across the country.
The vast number of violent crimes, all mass murders,
and many suicides are committed by people brought up estranged from society. Human
beings with no roots in our civilization and no hopes for a future of a
meaningful life or joy. Lonely, depressed, miserable people left out of life. Violence
is not going to be stopped unless the country stops producing the people doing
the violence. No amount of gun legislation or policing is going to eliminate
the misery that causes violence. We must change. Eliminate poverty. Improve
schooling. Educate parents. Prevent graft and corruption.
There is no doubt that poverty produces the most
violence. Gang members, drug
addicts, and people with dead-end or no jobs commit the most crimes and have
the most guns and knives. The impoverished people have the least education, the
lowest access to health care, and the least hope for a future. Eliminate poverty,
as most European countries have, and the crime rate and violence will fall.
This is not an idle dream. The graph above shows that
death by car crash has dropped precipitously. Society invested in seat belts,
airbags, non-skid breaking, crash-worthy structural design, and extensive
testing to make cars safer. Improved highway design, good signage, and speeding
enforcement made driving itself safer. That took decades of social will to make
it happen.
Similarly, the number of lung and heart ailments deaths
has dropped because of society’s action to curb advertising and the
glorification of smoking. Acceptance of No-Smoking policies. An extensive
public debate and educational anti-smoking campaigns paid off.
Poverty is a crime against humanity, causing horrible
misery, unnecessary death, and a drag on the economy of all of us. We should
not build any more F-35s until every kid is properly fed and housed without
cockroaches and rats and attending a school that prevents bullying and
hopelessness.
Suicide accounts for over two-thirds of the yearly 32,000 firearms deaths in
the United States. Loneliness,
depression, and despair are horrible ways to
live. Individuals (rich and
poor) cut off from society by their upbringing, socially impaired people who
have no hope of finding a partner in life or a meaningful future. People who are disenfranchised from our
couple-based society.
I believe people in loving, intimate relationships will not commit suicide,
live a life spaced out on drugs, or massacre little kids with their AR-15 toys.
It should be the duty of
every parent, school, church, and community to ensure that every child is
nurtured toward a meaningful, productive life. Nobody should be left out in
misery trying to find meaning in life. Here is my presentation supporting the Sandy Hook Promise
advocacy to end violence.
Sale of Guns
Efforts to ban guns is a hopeless task against the financial
might of the gun manufacturers and dealers. Picketing NRA and gun stores will
not stop the sales or promotion of gun violence.
Regulation of the
sales of guns is effective in keeping guns out of the hands of people who might
harm themselves or others. Unfortunately, the laws are not uniform state to state
and contain too many loopholes and imperfections. Here is how Riderwood is helping. Here is a speech by Rep.Raskin on the 2nd
Amendment.
Owning an assault
rifle and dum-dum hollow-point bullets is utterly stupid. That point should be
made clear in public discussion and advertising campaigns. Social pressure
should keep these wicked things off the shelf. The obvious move to ban assault
weapons will succeed, but it will not end gun violence. Only a tiny fraction of
gun violence is done with assault weapons.
Regulation of gun use
and ownership is perfectly reasonable and achievable. We don’t let
13-year-olds drive. We license cars and require drivers to pass a test to get a
driver’s license. An excise tax on guns and ammunition would deter gun ownership
and fund education and anti-poverty efforts to reduce gun deaths.
Finally, the glorification and
promotion of violence by mass media, movies, and advertising must stop. The country did that for smoking.
It now must do the same thing for violence. Kids should not grow up feeling
that violence is normal.
The theme
for one of the most beautiful films, the Academy Award winner Avatar, is violence. The main character of
the cute comedy Short Circuit, gets blown up in the shocking
ending. Our generation grew up with Westerns, war movies, and car chases with
flying bullets. The pervasive script of today’s children’s films is
scene after scene of explosions, crashes, bombing, shooting, and terror. The
opening of the popular Finding Nemo has 500 of Nemo’s family eaten
by a giant toothsome fish. We are raising a sick
society.
I babysat my 7 yr. old grandson. All he wanted to do was play Sonic
the Hedgehog on a cellphone. Sonic is a cute little blue creature that
runs a lot. Smashes into things and people, is menaced by fearsome monsters,
zapped by lightning bolts, explodes into spectacular fireworks, violence every
second. Shock after shock after shock.
We are raising a sick society. His parents won’t let him watch Chitty
Chitty Bang Bang, or The
Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming, or It’s
a Mad, Mad World because “They are too scary.” Huh?
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12/8/2024 6:57 PM