OPINION:
Karl Rove presented a popular, contra-factual, deceptive statement when saying, “the only way to guarantee that we will dramatically reduce acts of violence involving guns is to basically remove guns from society,” thereby implying repeal of the Second Amendment was required. However, a study completed a few years ago and published in the Harvard Journal of Law an Public Policy found that within the United States and across European countries, violent criminality and suicide were unrelated and often inversely related to gun ownership.
The study concluded “the burden of proof rests on the proponents of the more guns equal more death and fewer guns equal less death mantra, especially since they argue public policy ought to be based on that mantra. To bear that burden would at the very least require showing that a large number of nations with more guns have more death and that nations that have imposed stringent gun controls have achieved substantial reductions in criminal violence (or suicide). But those correlations are not observed when a large number of nations are compared across the world.” Instead, the study asserted that basic social, economic and cultural factors determined human actions.
NOLAN NELSON
Eugene, Ore.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.