When there
is a dramatic event like a mass shooting, emotions run high – that’s permitted;
in fact one can take comfort that Mr. Obama demonstrates such a high degree of compassion.
Unfortunately, that is where my appreciation for his dialog on the issue of gun
control ends. As the head of state he
has an obligation to express empathy for people affected AND reflect reality in
his discourse, to be responsible in representing the facts. What we witnessed
in is post Roseburg talk was a demonstration in politicking and a lack of
understanding OR willful blindness, to what the second amendment is all about.
Mr. Obama
mentions the routine response to mass shootings in the United States and yet makes
no effort at going after the cultural underpinnings of the challenge. Switzerland
has as many handguns per capita and people go there for safe holidays, so it
is clear the there is a cultural driver here. It may be the celebrity culture colliding
with gun access or some other phenomena. The press’s inclination to sensationalize
these events, their willingness to deliver the 15 minutes of fame (infamy) to
the “shooter” maybe effecting a contagion.
Mr. Obama
seemed to indicate an escalation in gun violence, there is, in fact a
reduction – the trend has been downward since 1981.
Mr. Obama
failed to contextualize the risk related to gun ownership, 11,078 or 3.6
gun homicides per 100,000 is a lower risk than taking 80mgs of aspirin daily,
which kills 8 in 100,000. The very same year, over 100,000 Americans died of preventable
medical accidents – This article in Forbs suggests an even higher number of
deaths from preventable medical accidents http://www.forbes.com/sites/leahbinder/2013/09/23/stunning-news-on-preventable-deaths-in-hospitals/
some 440,000.
Mr. Obama
indicates that public opinion is supporting his call for gun control, Pew
Research disagrees.
http://www.people-press.org/category/publications/
Mr. Obama
it seems, is looking to England for direction on gun control, a 180 degree turn
from the founders of the United States. Mr. Obama, of all people, has forgotten
that the founders were eager to protect people from oppression. The primary
consideration for including the second amendment in the constitution, is the
ongoing assurance that people can mass, armed, to uphold their rights in the
face of tyranny. Mr. Obama it seems, despite his heritage, has forgotten the lessons
the founding fathers had learned so painfully from European history – by way of
example, the English were able to quell Scottish independence for generations
by disarming them. The founders of the United States knew, from experience,
that tyranny happens when the populous has no means to enforce their will. The United
States is one of the freest jurisdictions in the world, its very founding
happened because people armed themselves to enforce their will. Mr. Obama
extended consideration for firearm use in Hunting, Sport and self-protection –
he failed to recognize the primary element for the 2nd amendment's inclusion in the constitution. It is a unique cultural and structural element
of the United States government, that it retains the right of the citizenry to
oppose government miss direction – and what a success it has been.
Mr. Obama
sites Australia as the bastion of reason for gun control; they eventually got
to central storage of long guns. Mr. Obama sites England as an example, during
IRA crime activity, England had nearly as high firearm related crime. Who
wants to live in a country that is so risk adverse that a 3.5 chance in 100,000
is too great – no one will be skiing any more, let alone driving a car.
Availability Heuristic Salient is a useful
concept by which to understand some of the public's fear and how politicians exploit
that fear. In these instances, like a mass shooting, the ease of imagining an
example or the vividness and emotional impact of that example, becomes more
credible than actual statistical probability. Because an example is easily
brought to mind or mentally "available", the single example is considered
as representative of the whole, rather than as just a single example in a range
of data. Salient events tend to distort the judgement of risk.
I would
urge the United States to resist the temptation to embrace nouveau social
engineering, over the time tested constitution and the mass of wisdom that was
brought to it by the founders of the United States; or, if you’re going to
think about changing, let reason guide you.
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