This week, President Biden said he would push for new firearm restrictions regardless of whether Congress goes along with it.
He said, “My job, the job of any president, is to protect the American people. Whether Congress acts or not I’m going to use all the resources at my disposal as president to keep the American people safe from gun violence, but they’ve passed not a single new federal law that has reduced gun violence.”
Since the hundreds of laws on the books have not kept American’s safe from “people on people” violence, its obvious PEOPLE are the problem.
Other than accidents, suicides in America claim the lives of over 48,000 people a year again which is a solid indicator it’s a “person” problem not the technique or devise they end their lives with.
Since the suicide rate is 2.5 times the homicide rate, which is a “people on people” crime, it sounds like a stronger set of laws on not committing suicide is in order.
Like the laws on illegal drugs, I am sure a stronger anti-suicide law would work also. You think?
Other than in war, people kill people because of greed (robbery, drugs, money, objects), humiliation (public humiliation, ridicule, and shamed), safety (domestic violence, protecting self), and cheating (spousal) and a myriad of other reasons.
When legislators consider changes to criminal justice policy, they often face the question of whether the changes will prevent people from committing crimes. Deterrence theory looks at the relationship between the severity of punishment, the certainty that a criminal will be punished, and the speed with which the punishment will be inflicted.
Toward this end research has shown that: * crimes involving conscious planning can be more easily deterred but not those that relate to addiction or sudden emotions; * increases in prison sentences have little deterrent effect; and * policies that increase the likelihood of being caught deter crime. It also indicates the following:
1. Evidence indicates that crime is disproportionately concentrated in economically distressed areas and that reducing poverty can also reduce crime.
2. Addressing mental illness can also lower crime rates.
3. There is an undisputed link between addiction and crime, and that providing chemical dependency treatment is particularly effective at reducing property crime rates.
4. The most common method of addressing crime, though, is through enforcement and punishment.
Its People! Since we can’t legislate morality into the heart, more restrictive gun laws will not transform those who would seek to harm others. Rather than creating more laws that have no effect (ie: illegal drugs & its corresponding laws), we should focus on helping people deal with their mental problem.
We have a culture of violence and death, a waning respect for the dignity of all human beings, a lack of community, a need for better access to mental health care, and a host of other problems and needs that must and should be addressed first.