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the constitution for a reason
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Dafremen
I found the idea of doing a comparitive study of a comparably populated American state's gun related death statistics. Here's what I found...I used the first American state that I came across with a population comparable to that of New Zealand: Colorado. To prove that I wasn't trying to skew the results you'll be happy to know that Colorado has some of the LAXEST gun laws in this country. THey are as follows:
1. No licensing or registration requirements related to firearm purchase or possession.
2. No waiting period for purchase of handguns, shotguns, or rifles.
3. Handgun possession by persons less than 18 years of age is a misdemeanor. Exemptions from the prohibition on handgun possession by persons less than 18 years of age exist for attendance at a hunter's or firearms safety course, target practice at a shooting range, and other similar activities.
4. It is a felony for any person to knowingly or recklessly provide a handgun to any person less than 18 years of age.
5. It is a felony for any parent or guardian to knowingly or recklessly provide a handgun to a juvenile when that parent is aware that a substantial risk exists that such juvenile will use the handgun to commit a felony. Any parent aware of such a risk has a duty to make reasonable efforts to prevent the commission of the offense.
6. There are no age restrictions related to possession of rifles or shotguns.
I think we can both agree that if there was a test case to be made this is a fair place to start no?
Ok now for the statistics:
Population:
New Zealand - 3,846,377
Colorado - 4,301,261(more people - I thought you said new zealand was 4.2 million? OH well it's a moot piece of information as you will soon see.)
Total Land Area:
New Zealand - 266,171 Square miles on 2 Islands
Colorado - 103,718 square miles(less land area...looks like you got more folx packed into less space here.)
Number of Firearm Related Deaths:
New Zealand - You estimate 10 in a year.
Colorado - At one every 54 hours I estimate 162 people each year.
Ok so let's do the math shall we?
10 is 0.0002% of 3,846,377 people.
So 0.0002% of New Zealand's population died as a result of the presence of firearms. New Zealand has practically NO guns and EXTREMELY strict gun laws which allow almost NOONE to posses a firearm legally. Correct?
162 is 0.003% of 4,301,261 people.
So 0.003% of Colorado's population died as the result of the presence of firearms. Colorado has very lax gun laws which tend NOT to infringe upon the citizen's right to keep and bear arms. They have approximately 500,000 more people packed into less than HALF of the land area. Yet the total number of lives saved each year at the cost of the citizen's security against governmental tyranny? Approximately 152 people every year or less then 1/100th of one percent of either your country's or Colorado's respective populations.
These are the facts. Most gun control arguments are based on emotional arguments or APPEALS TO OUR MORALITY.
They are based on "shocking" numbers like "32,000 people died in the United States last year!" which are NEVER placed into the context of statistical data.(Such as the population of the United States is around 250 million making 32,000 around 1/100th of one percent of our population. EAch life is precious they say. True, why is it that the deaths of 0.01424% of our population disturbs them...but the thought of an entire future population of enslaved Americans doesn't concern them one f*cking bit? Who do you think would suffer more? The average American living with LOTTERY ticket odds of being a gun death statistic? Or some future citizen of a dictatorship or oppressive oligarchy?
There really is nothing to be argued about here which is why it never fails to suprise me when folx start agruing about it. The facts are clear while the rhetoric is spotty at best and overly charged with emotion.(Emotion is the propagandist's favorite tool.)
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