The 'More Guns' Thesis Abandons the Rule of Law

The CDC reported that in 2003 there were 30,136 gun-related deaths in the US: 56% suicide, 40% homicide.  This is 8 times greater than our industrial allies.  For children under the age of 15 it is 12 times greater.  We have the highest rate of youth homicide and suicide among any industrialized nation.

The correlation between gun availability and gun deaths is consistent across all industrialized nations: more guns, more gun deaths.

US crime rates are NOT higher than other industrialized nations…but the lethality of our crime is a lot higher, because guns are involved in 21% of assaults, 43% of robberies, 52% of suicides, and 68% of homicides. 

• States in the US with the highest rate of gun deaths:  California, Louisiana, Alaska, Nevada, Mississippi, Alabama.  Among these…all but CA are among those with the least strict gun control laws.
• States with the lowest rate of gun deaths: Massachusetts, Hawaii, Connecticut, New York.  Among these…all but RI are among those with the most strict gun control laws (and RI laws are moderately strict).

People with guns massacre children, men and women because the weapon amplifies the hatred or mental illness or stupidity.  Guns alone do not kill anyone.  People with guns kill millions more than people without guns.  And we know we can reverse the trend, because we can see policies that work in some states and in some nations.  We need to just do it.

As Coates puts it…to fail to just do it is to abandon the rule of law for a Hobbisian state of nature that is “solitary, nasty, brutish and short.”

Quoting an analyst from the American Conservative, Coates’ blog notes:

“…what troubles me most about…the general More Guns approach to social ills -- is the absolute abandonment of civil society it represents. It gives up on the rule of law in favor of a Hobbesian "war of every man against every man" in which we no longer have genuine neighbors, only potential enemies.”

Coates himself concludes that

“One of the points of a democratic society is to put brakes on our most animal impulses--impulses which are universal across humankind. I think much of our recent firearm legislation -Stand Your Ground for instance--runs in the exact opposite direction.”

Read Coates entire blog here…well worth the time.