We’ve been repeatedly told by all of the smartest people in politics and the media that mass shootings such as those that we suffer in the US occasionally don’t happen in other countries.
That’s a claim that’s been proven false time and time again in places like New Zealand, Norway, France, Canada…we could go on. And those are just some of the killings using firearms.
But guns aren’t even necessary. Those determined to kill and kill a lot of people find other ways as well. They use knives, cars, trucks, bombs and, as we saw this week in Japan, a simple can of gasoline. It doesn’t take much ingenuity or imagination to get your hands on the everyday tools needed to kill dozens of people very quickly if that’s what you’re determined to do.
And yet we’re repeatedly told — scolded, really — that the impulse and means to kill others in large numbers is somehow unique to America and its embarrassing (to the effete) relationship with and culture of civilian gun ownership.
We live in a country of over 330 million people who own more than 400 million firearms (probably a lot more). And yet we suffer only about 35,000 gun-related deaths each year, two-thirds of those self-inflicted. Most of the remainder are gang and crime-related killings that no amount of gun control will eliminate.
Every death is a tragedy. But it’s worth noting the leading causes of deaths in this country.
Note that deaths by medical error or malpractice don’t appear on that list (they’d rank #3 if they did).
Deaths due to “gun violence” in the US are exceedingly rare for our population size and are dwarfed by the number of assaults, robberies, rapes and murders prevented by defensive gun uses every year.
The argument that the US has a gun problem — or that more guns means more deaths — simply doesn’t hold water.
But details like those, facts, and examples from other nations won’t stop this country’s Civilian Disarmament Industrial Complex or their compliant media stenographers from pushing that message. It’s their business and they’re not about to give it up.
Here’s the CCRKBA’s message regarding the murder of 33 people in Japan using a match.
JAPAN ARSON ATTACK PROVES MASS MURDER MANIACS FIND OTHER METHODS, SAYS CCRKBA
BELLEVUE, WA – The terrible arson attack in Japan Thursday that has reportedly claimed at least 33 lives and injured 36 others should serve as a grim, but necessary reminder that even in what is essentially a “gun-free” society, murderous maniacs will find a way to commit mass mayhem, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.
“We keep hearing from the gun prohibition lobby that in Japan, there are no mass shootings because average citizens can’t own firearms,” CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb observed. “But the shocking attack at a Kyoto animation studio provides stark evidence that madmen intent on killing have other means of creating tragedies.
“So far,” he continued, “we have not heard any motive for this attack. But we do know this much: Mass killers aren’t impaired by laws that restrict firearms, so when anti-gun-rights extremists in the United States point to Japan as an example for this country to follow, Thursday’s horrific incident belies anything they have to say.”
Published reports say the suspect in this attack was screaming “You die!” as he doused the building with some type of flammable liquid and then set it on fire.
“Our thoughts and sympathy go out to the victims of this attack and their families,” Gottlieb said. “There is never a good excuse for the mass slaughter of innocent people, no matter what the means or methods. We can only hope that Japanese authorities focus on the person responsible for this atrocity, unlike in our country where people invariably try to attach blame and attack the rights of millions of their fellow citizens in an effort to press a political agenda.
“The blame for this attack, as with any crime involving firearms, stolen trucks or bombs rests solely with the perpetrator,” Gottlieb stated. “It would be wrong in this case, as it is wrong in any mass victim attack, to penalize millions of law-abiding citizens and erode their liberties when they had nothing at all to do with the outrage.”
With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (www.ccrkba.org) is one of the nation’s premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States.