By Fareed Zakaria
People point to three sets of causes when talking about events such as the Newtown, Conn., shootings. First, the psychology of the killer; second, the environment of violence in our popular culture; and, third, easy access to guns. Any one of these might explain a single shooting. What we should be trying to understand is not one single event but why we have so many of them.
Lets look at the facts. According to the U.N.'s office on drugs and crime, the U.S. gun homicide rate is 30 times that of France or Australia and it is 12 times higher than the average for other developed countries. Why is that?
Watch the video for the full take.
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Thank you for this, Fareed. Sadly you seem to be one of the last reasonable guys out there.
There's more readiness to shoot, if one has a gun. How a dispute is settled, depends on who's quicker with his/her gun. It's nothing short of a duel.
Your essay is the best I've seen so far. Considering that the guns are already out there, how do we deal with this problem? Here are two laws that could be passed to mitigate this problem.
1. As of Jan 1, 2014 possession of an unregistered gun, or a gun registered to someone other than the possessor, is a felony. (Possession means on the person or property of the possessor.)
2. The owner of a gun will be charged with felony accessory to any crime committed by another person with the owner's gun.
The rationale for the first law is to encourage registration of unregistered guns. To help facilitate this the government could play an active role to make registration easy for owners. The government could even offer to purchase unregistered guns.
The rationale for the second law is to encourage gun owners to secure their guns so they don't fall into the hands of others, especially those who might do harm, such as happened at Newtown. Many domestic shootings occur because guns are not secured. Stolen guns are often used in crime. People might think more carefully about the responsibility of owning a gun before buying one.
Both seem like sensible laws that would encourage responsible gun ownership and in no way impinge upon the right to own a gun. As a gun owner, I would have no problem adding a 5 business day waiting period as well. If you need a gun in faster than five days, then you probably should be seeking help from the police or a psychiatrist and not your local pawn shop.
Another practical idea to prevent gun related deaths would be to encourage local police departments and shooting ranges to open up gun storage facilities. Many people can't afford or don't properly use gun safes in their homes, this puts them at risk for having their guns stolen or mishandled to tragic consequences by family members. Low cost out of house storage would keep guns safe from theft, protected from corrosion, and in a place where young children or someone in a heated argument can't access them.
The U.S. Government cannot even produce an annual budget; what makes you think it can wrest 200 million guns from the hands of 150 million Americans without inciting a coup d' etat?
It is time to hold the Gun industry and its insane clown posse to the same standard as the automobile industry.
Start with registration, licensing, taxing, and requiring insurance on for all new gun sales period.
Enact a requirement that all previously purchase weapons be be registered during a short grace period. Same taxes, same insurance, etc.
Heavy fines with heavy prison sentences for those that disobey.
Just what this country needs is more damn taxes. I am already paying in 40% to the country. Not to mention outrages fuel and road taxes oh the state sales taxes...utility taxes....now taxes on guns I paid taxes on when I bought them. Won't happen here. How many people died due to DUI how many died due to smoking. How many to drugs. How many due to texting while driving. Taxes and gun bans are not the answer.
Fareed,
Your essay on the gun issue was absolutely terrific. Your show repeatedly shows that comparing policies across a variety of countries can usually show the right way to go on an issue. The world has about 200 countries – that's 200 experiments going on at any one time on any issue.
You present data that is very clear. Violence in America is driven mostly by the easy availability of deadly weapons. This needs to stop and should begin with the repeal of the 2nd amendment. Begin with that a movement to repeal the 2nd amendment and the gun lobby may compromise and allow the absolute ban on assault weapons and large magazine clips.
I also applaud Piers Morgan for his stance on this issue.
Sadly enough, there is no true solution to the "gun problem" as we call it. We already have enough laws on the books to regulate guns. The bottom line here is that we're all living in a sick society and we must inure ourselves to it! Moreover, if you abolish the 2nd Amendment and outlaw guns, then only criminals will have them!
"Guns don't kill people, people do."
This is an incomplete and loony thought.
People kill people with any weapon or "tool" they can find. Guns just do a really good job with the deed.
To continue to allow a loophole in weapons registration and licencing (national gun registry is need) is foolishness. Owners and guns should be tracked, a database to include the purchase of ammunition for those weapons. strict laws in place to judge the worthiness of gun owners, etc.
I could go on but this information is already provided by a well throughout organization.
Check out the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
Solutions exist.
Interesting that Fareed wants to change the drug laws, because prohibition does not work there, why he believes it will work here, will be one of life's mysteries. Perhaps ballistophobia (the irrational fear of inanimate objects) is at play. Also, later in the program they left out one of the key factors that allowed the rise of communism, was the disarming of the populations. Hypocrisy is is no stranger to Fareed. . .
THIS IS A QUICK FIX FOR NOW IF YOU SAVE 1 LIFE IT IS WORTH IT........... IT MIGHT BE YOURS OR 26 KIDS OR A FIREMAN OR A POLICE OFFICIER OR A _______________________BLANK LETS GET GOOD GUN SAFES AND SAVE SOME LIFES ............................................................................
“A tax credit for gun owners to buy gun safes what a GREAT IDEA... why not Its because some Dems want to take your guns rights AWAY that is the facts just read the comments here or online. The NRA needs to get a BILL for A TAX CREDIT on gun safes that would be a BIG first step from keeping the crazy's from stealing our guns or robbers from taking them ,Gun shootings could be cut by a lot.....If a crazy lives in your house you can only have a 1 shot or 2 shot gun in a safe if a robber or crazy gets it they must reload after 1 or 2 shots. NRA please think out this IDEA......”
IT COULD REPLACE ALL THE 150.00 SAFES THAT ARE JUNK AND YOU CAN OPEN THEM WITH A SCREWDRIVER OR A TIRE IRON .....!!! THIS MAKES GOOD SENSE
THIS IS A QUICK FIX FOR NOW IF YOU SAVE 1 LIFE IT IS WORTH IT............ IT MIGHT BE YOURS OR 26 KIDS OR A FIREMAN OR A POLICE OFFICIER OR A _______________________BLANK LETS GET GOOD GUN SAFES AND SAVE SOME LIFES ............................................................................
“A tax credit for gun owners to buy gun safes what a GREAT IDEA... why not Its because some Dems want to take your guns rights AWAY that is the facts just read the comments here or online. The NRA needs to get a BILL for A TAX CREDIT on gun safes that would be a BIG first step from keeping the crazy's from stealing our guns or robbers from taking them ,Gun shootings could be cut by a lot.....If a crazy lives in your house you can only have a 1 shot or 2 shot gun in a safe if a robber or crazy gets it they must reload after 1 or 2 shots. NRA please think out this IDEA......”
IT COULD REPLACE ALL THE 150.00 SAFES THAT ARE JUNK AND YOU CAN OPEN THEM WITH A SCREWDRIVER OR A TIRE IRON .....!!! THIS MAKES GOOD SENSE
if you are crazy and have mental issues, you should be kept off the streets any way.. A gun, knife or whatever weapon they can use will be used.. the issues is NOT with a gun, it's with people we let roam free in society.
Agreed 100%. I can kill someone with a gun, a knife, a club, a gallon of gas, a screwdriver, a rock, a sharpened stick, a tank of propane, a jug of acid, a rope, a rock, a plastic bag, a roll of duct tape, my bare hands. What are you going to do? Outlaw everything? This is the way Hitler got started. Try taking away guns and the U.S. Government will be overthrown in less than a month. You want to stop crime dead in its tracks? Issue guns to every citizen who turns 30 years of age and who has never been arrested. Add biometric scanners to guns so that triggers can't be pulled if the fingerprint of the user doesn't match the fingerprint of the owner / legitimate user.
Any people aneyrwhe, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable a most sacred right a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world.We are asking the nations of Europe between whom rivers of blood have flowed to forget the feuds of a thousand years.
our liberal judicial system is to blame for letting these psychos roam free on the streets..our judicial system needs fixing, not gun laws.
Ever notice that gun crime is worst in the cities that most supported Obama? D.C., Detroit, Chicago, LA, Miami?
why is Obama even talking about banning rifles when the shooter in Conn used 2 pistols and the rifle was found in his car not fired..?? I think the media is to blame for creating these lies we are told when these so called "bad" rifle wasn't even used.. It was 2 pistols..Get your facts straight MEDIA..CNN, your reporters are nothing more then liars.
Bring capital punishment back to the USA and our homicide rate will drop in half..taking guns from honest citizens isn't going to scare the criminal straight..putting these guys to death once they take a life will.. our judicial system needs to grow a set of balls and stop letting killers walk free..
Thanks, Fareed! What a rational presentation of the facts! I posted it to my Facebook wall.
Put all the gun owners out on the street and let them shoot each other until you get to a manageable number of gun owners and then let them back indoors.
If all the gun owners are on the street, they won't shoot at each other; however, if they know you are unarmed, who's gonna stop criminals from breaking into your house and entering your wife? Society remains safe largely because criminals and the government don't know where all the guns are stored. Hint: they are behind every blade of grass, as Admiral Yamamoto said when he refused to launch a ground attack on the USA during WWII because he knew that Americans are armed.
No, the better solution is an immediate public televised beheading of anyone who is found guilty of using a gun in the commission of any crime.
Guns and ammo are flying off the shelves. Americans are buying them for any number of reasons, one of which may be attributed to Mr. Obama .
Perhaps at some point he'll explain. The American people with be waiting with loaded magazines.
A good start would be swift and decisive punishment, as long as defendants aren't railroaded by ambitious prosecutors and law enforcement officers.
The short analysis: Americans don't fully trust their leaders. Look at the budget crisis.
Your welcome.
Danny,I really think it is bcasuee far left liberals are typically agnostic or atheists and their progressive causes serve as a kind of religion for them; hence Obama is kind of like the Messiah–futhering their pet causes, like gun control or healthcare. My problem is that many people who are not liberals buy into the Obama worship. I think bcasuee he represents some kind of change over the Bush administration and this is good enough–for the moment anyway. I think people are also tired of the negativity thrown at the Bush administration and are gravitating towards a candidate who they feel will "lighten the mood." Just think, everytime we turn on the tv or MSM of any kind, with Obama as president, the world will be a fluffy wonderful place full of possiblities instead of the hellhole it is portrayed to be now.
*this is for the 'militia' of the lone-star state,i here you goofs are born with a 2nd amendment tatoo on ya butts?
*this is for the 'militia' of the lone-star state,i here you goofs are born with 2nd amendment tatoo on ya butts?
This issue needs serious debate and understanding on both sides that people will passionately disagree with each other because that's how american experimentation is suppossed to work.
I believe you should be able to own a gun for protection.Now that has been said I believe that the only way we can fix this problem is to put a tax on weapons like they do cars in Missiouri. The owners of guns have to register his/her Guns and pay a personal property tax on the guns that he/she owns on January 1st of each year that means that if you own 1 gun or 50 guns you will have to pay a tax. I believe that with a tax like this will make people be more responsible with there guns and be accountable with there Guns. With a system like this if someone sells a gun this tax would in courage the Gun owner to report it that they no longer own the gun and they have sold it to whom ever it was sold to so they will not have to pay taxes on that gun any longer and if the gun was stolen it would be reported because they don't want to pay the tax on a weapon they no longer own. With that there will be some people that's going to try and beat the system and just report there guns stolen so they can get out of paying taxes on them if that was to happen and they where ever caught with the guns they could face being charged with a felony and would be fined a large amount.
There's a lot of ideas on this issue and most of them only treat the symptoms. If you really want to treat the cause you need to look at things like the family, the monetary system, belief in god (or the lack of it)....
If you want your children to be athletic, you might want to enroll your kids in sports....
If you want your children to be successful, you might send them to the best possible schools....
If you want your children to be good and honest people, take them to church....
It don't matter what you believe, it matters what kind of people your children become because they will run things when you're gone!
There are no guarantees, but if you follow this simple concept you might be surprised what you find.
It's nice to think you can just ban guns and remove the problem while we all sing and dance because there will be no more gun violence....but then we wake up and realize that you can't put the genie back in the bottle, guns are out there and they are not going anywhere.
Plus, our founders made sure that "we the people" could defend ourselves from the inevitable (people or governments that could become tyrants).
I know that we have been a great and fairly free country for sooo long that many of you can't possibly imagine any reason why civilized people would want or need guns, but all you have to do is look around the world at all of the countries with people fighting and dying for their freedom (some of which we have AND do train and arm with weapons) and it becomes very clear that our founders knew what they were doing.
What scares me more than a bag guy with a gun, is the supposed good guys that say to my countrymen "you don't need those guns anymore so hand them all over and everything will be just fine"!
Now that was well said!
I feel inclined to write about the tragedy that happened in Sandy Hook Elementary Newtown, CT. First off, my condolences to the families that lost someone; most of us will never know exactly how you feel, and we will not pretend to. Our prayers will be with you, and may you find the strength to continue forward. These repugnant incidents are becoming a thorn in American society. I was watching a very interesting show about the influence society and the environment has on an individual. They stated that every living creature is fine tuned to their surroundings; that a baby that is not held will eventually die. In other words, we are all products of society. From day one we are influenced from all angles, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, work, advertising etc. I guess, in short, what I’m trying to say is–we have to start looking at society under the microscope because nothing is working properly, not government, not religion, not democracy, not money, not media, the “fiscal cliff”. We are perpetually digging a hole in which we will never get out of. And when it’s all said and done we have no one but ourselves to blame. It's better to have a gun and not need it, than need it and not have it; it doesn't matter if you implement more gun laws the black market will always exist, rather start looking at society and the REAL needs of humanity, which is not consumerism.
The point his misses and hits on is we OWN 50% of the guns. Ban Ban and there are still more guns in the us then there are people. Try to take them from peoples houses and you will have a ruby ridge every day
Math. Population of France 65 mil, population of Australia – 22 mil, population of the USA – 300 mil. But we all know, progressives never let the facts get in the way of their delusional agendas.
Also, the scope is narrowed to only consider the most affluent countries. Kindly, keep the UN`s goals for global mismanagement out of our own sovereign debates.
Shamus, it is the RATE (per 1,000) that Fareed is comparing, not the total number. An intelligent man presents intelligent comments on a serious problem and all you can do is demonstrate your failure to understand math? I don't mean to be negative or to attack, but we need to take the problem of gun violence seriously and recognize that a major part of the problem is the much greater availability of guns (per person) in this country compared to countries that have a much lower level of such violence. We can also talk about the mentally ill, the culture of violence and the possibility of armed guards at some schools, but the avilability of gun is obvious and must be included in the discussion.
IT is nightmarish to me that no one is talking about the pharmaceuticals the shooter was on. The side effects include violent behaviors and suicidal ideation. why are we not closely examining these drugs and their legal "suppliers". Wake UP.
How will the govt identify the darkest thoughts? Identify the legal drugs that are known to have violent behavior as a side effect. An assailant knifed to death a group of very young schoolchildren in China. He did not have a gun. I would like to know if he was on any legal drugs.
Why are we avoiding looking aat this causal factor? Are we afraid of the drug companies? Will this be printed?
Can't see video on my phone, but still have an opinion! Used 2 be staunchly anti-gun, but have mellowed w/age & trying 2 see both sides! I believe in the const.itution & the amendments & think it's reasonable for a person to own a handgun &/or huntingrifle! The problem is that I don't think the 2nd amendment meant that Each Person should be armed like a Militia & sadly, that is what has happened in our gun-love culture! Gun laws are lax & control nonexistant! The most disturbing cases are publicized, we have heated discussions & then forget it! Another sad truth is that people are often shot by a legal gunowner in some dispute, or kids shoot eachother or themselves w/unsecured legal guns! To claim that we need unlimited access to arms is disingenious & just as dangerous as giving unlimited access of cars to a drunk driver!!
Well, I can finally disagree with Fareed on something. It's hard for me to believe that we can have such a bad healthcare system yet our mental health care system is the best in the world. I don't believe you show any evidence to support your claim that mental healthcare in America is the best in the world. One thing for sure, it can be improved.
It's also complicated because the supreme court has already ruled that handguns in the home is protected. Most gun murders are done by handguns including the mass shooting in England of children, so a simple ban on assault rifles or clips will not be enough. Therefore we need a different solution in this country than in other countries, a more complex solution.
To do our best means more than one law and one issue. It's not about looking at gun violence but violence overall. About the same number of Californians kill more people with knives than Canadians kill people with anything.
Gun control, mental health, school security, healthcare, social services, culture, and anything else that could effect this issue should be looked at.
NO NO NO.
First time, I shot a gun I was 5.
I respect weapons!
I would never even point, unless my life was in jeopardy.
I recommend that all these brainwashed victims of globalist gungrabbers who want to disarm & strip American citizens of their 2nd amendment rights go knock on your neighbors door unarmed & demand that they surrender their weapons to you immediately & see if you don't become immediately ENLIGHTENED!
How about we do away with:
The Right to Freedom of Speech
The Right to Vote
The Right to Freedom of the Press. “This Blog Site”
The Right to Travel any where in the U.S.A. with out proper papers
The right to Marry the Person of YOUR Choice
The Right to Have AS MANY Children that you want "IE China"
The Right to OWN a HOME
The Right to Work and Receive Pay for Your Labors
The Right to Own a Baseball Bat
The Right to Own a Knife
The Right to LIVE IN PEACE and raise you family.
Nazi Germany restricted most of these rights and made people carry papers just to go see grandma.
The USSR did the same thing until their fall in the 80s. China, North Korea, Iran just to name a few restricts their people today.
Gun owner ship is a right not a privilege.
Hate this right but to take it away is just as wrong as taking away those listed above.
Just remember this SICK YOUNG MAN who killed those BABIES and their Teachers, if he had lived would speed about 5 to 10 year on a hospital and then go home. What kind of justice is this?
Most of you would not support the death penalty for him because it would make you feel real bad and have bad dreams.
spend not speed....spell checker hahah