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tweakabelle -> RE: Bored in Oklahoma (8/24/2013 12:05:03 AM)
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Whatever the rights and wrongs seriously of it, Zonie's point - that political forces will prevent any attempt to impose serious gun control -reflects today's political reality. So where does that leave us? Are there any points of agreement that will allow us to form a strategy that might successfully put a dent in gun crime and violence?
To begin with, I would like to draw attention to two points that seem to me to be relevant but rarely get mentioned in these discussions. The US has the world's highest incarceration rate, with over 2 million currently in prison, and another >4 million in the criminal justice system, presumably on parole or serving non-custodial sentences. So, whatever it merits or demerits, imprisonment isn't working. At the very least we might agree that it has no discernible deterrent value.
The second point is that, compared to other countries, the US welfare system is minimal. It seems reasonable to infer that levels of desperation among the marginalised are greater, which can be expected to feed into the crime rate.
I hope that all sides of this discussion can agree that limiting the availability and use of (overwhelmingly illegal) guns in the public domain is at the core of this discussion. Perhaps concentrating on this might enable a more productive conversation.
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