Gunsense! on Gun Violence in the U.S.
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We've created this brief presentation to insert some sense & sensibility into the current Gun Control debate in the United States. We put facts forward comprehensively, and editorialize on the causes & solutions associated with Gun Violence. GUNSENSE! is a volunteer organization based in Salt Lake City, Utah, dedicated to exposing the epidemic of lethal violence incurred by profit-driven, unregulated gun ownership. You can find us on Facebook at http://facebook.com/GUNSENSE.ACTION
Transcript of Gunsense! on Gun Violence in the U.S.
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U.S. Gun violence In Perspective
Sven Haynes & Ron [email protected]
GUNSENSE!Action for Gun Violence
Prevention
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Some numbers.“A 2007 survey by the U.N's Office on Drugs and Crime found that the United States, which has 5% of the world's population, owns 50% of the world's guns.” - CNN
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Total number of guns in global comparison
Source: University of Sydney http://www.gunpolicy.org
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GLOBAL Number of Guns for every 100 people
Source: University of Sydney http://www.gunpolicy.org
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A Lot of Guns• The estimated total number of guns held by
civilians in the United States is 310 Million.
• U.S. Military and Law Enforcement combined have 4 Million.
• 31,000 Americans were killed by guns in 2010 (40% Homicides & 60% Suicides).
• 73,000 Americans were injured by guns in 2010.
Source: University of Sydney http://www.gunpolicy.org & CDC http://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/nfirates2001.html
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U.S. Gun deaths in GLOBAL perspect ive
Source: University of Sydney http://www.gunpolicy.org
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Economic Cost of Gun Violence in U.S.: $174 Billion Source: www.pire.org
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$580,000 per Fatality.Source: www.pire.org
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Profits.
“Profitability of individual companies is closely linked to marketing.” – From a Gun & Ammunition Industry analysis by Dunn & Bradstreet
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The Market
• U.S. Gun Market: $11 Billion in Sales, $6 Billion in Revenue, $1 Billion in Profits annually, and rising.
• Almost half of guns sold in U.S. are imported, mainly from Europe.• The Market is over 60% civilian.• WALMART is the largest gun seller in the United States.
Source: The Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/19/seven-facts-about-the-u-s-gun-industry/
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• 1/3 less households own guns then 40 years ago.
• 20% of the gun owners with the
most firearms have about 65% of the nation's guns.
• The overall number of gun owners is shrinking.
• Hunting has been on a steady decline for 30 years.
• The market is shrinking – profits are in danger.
More guns in FEWER homes
Source: CNN http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/31/politics/gun-ownership-declining
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Marketing the Products…
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Guns, Ammo, and Accessories
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Military Accessories are providing a new source of profits
• Silencers – up 500% over the last 4 years. 110,000 sold in 2012. “Prevent hunter’s hearing loss.”
• Laser Sights.• 30 Round Clips.• Thermal Scopes. • Armor piercing and exploding
ammunition.• Weapons mimic or exceed
military issue equipment, popular with verterans. The SUV craze in the 1990’s was sparked by the Humvee. Source: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/03/guns-nra-national-rifle-association-wants-states-legalize-silencers-
supressors
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….and Marketing the Idea of Gun Ownership
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How does one Market an Idea?• The NRA is the Marketing Arm of the Gun Industry, and spends $250
Million annually. • The NRA is financed by the gun industry. For example, companies like
Glock have arrangements to donate $1 per gun sold.• The Gun Industry seized control of the NRA some 35 years ago.• The Gun Industry is extremely skilled at playing on the fears & paranoia of
people, and the political ideology of the right-wing political spectrum in the United States.
• Together the Gun Industry and the NRA have created laws banning scientific inquiry on gun violence, forbidding higher insurance rates for gun owners, and creating some of the most permissive regulations for gun ownership in the world.
• The NRA prides itself on influencing public servants at all levels of the executive, judicial and legislative branches, both on the federal and state level.
Source: The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/us/politics/13nra.html?_r=0
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The Gun Industry’s Marketing Strategy
• Turn the 2nd Amendment into an advertising slogan.
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Gun Culture.“Without guns, Obama would become emperor and force everyone to gay marry, but he can't because a guy in Kentucky named Skeeter has a .22.” – Bill Maher, Comedian
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What reasons do people give for owning guns?
• National Defense• Self-defense or
property defense• Defend Civil Liberties• Sports & Hunting
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Civil ian Guns for National defense?
• The U.S. spent 683.7 billion on it’s Military in 2011. • The U.S. has 2/3 of the world’s aircraft carriers, and the second largest nuclear
arsenal.• The United States is in the business of invading; not getting invaded.
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SELF-DEFENSE (or “PROPERTY” DEFENSE)?
Myth: Keeping a gun at home makes you safer.• Fact: Owning a gun has been linked to higher risks of homicide, suicide, and accidental death by gun.• For every time a gun is used in self-defense in the home, there are 7 assaults / m urders, 11 suicide attempts, and 4
accidents in a home.• 43% of homes with guns and kids have at least one unlocked firearm.• In one experiment, one third of 8-to-12-year-old boys who found a handgun pulled the trigger.
Myth: Carrying a gun for self-defense makes you safer.• Fact: In 2011, nearly 10 times more people were shot and killed in arguments than by civilians trying to stop a crime.• Guns brandished in self-defense or property defense involved the escalation of an argument in half the cases.• One study found that the odds of an assault victim being shot were 4.5 times greater if he carried a gun.
Myth: Guns make women safer.• Fact: In 2010, nearly 6 times more women were shot by husbands, boyfriends, and ex-partners than murdered by male
strangers.• A woman's chances of being killed by her abuser increase more than 7 times if he has access to a gun.
Source: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/01/pro-gun-myths-fact-check
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More guns make you less safe
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MASS murders are always carried out by heavily armed people, but seldom prevented by ARMED PEOPLE.
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SPORT & HUNTING?• At least 41% of gun owners explicitly say they DON’T use their
guns for hunting (Gallup)• About 13.7 million people hunted in 2011, a drop of 400,000 from
1991• 300 million guns for 13 million hunters, including Assault Rifles and
Pistols?
Source: Bloomberg http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-21/hunter-numbers-fall-to-record-low-even-as-guns-increase.html
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CIVIL LIBERTIES – FOR WHOM?• Today, privately owned guns are concentrated overwhelmingly in
the hands of White, Male, Southerners who vote Republican.
Source: Gallup http://www.gallup.com/poll/150353/self-reported-gun-ownership-highest-1993.aspx
Category / % Owning a Firearm
Total Households 42%Individuals 30%Male 47%Female 13%White 33%Nonwhite 18%Republican 41%Independent 27%Democrat 23%
• This has not been a demographic with a strong track record of protecting civil rights.
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The 2nd Amendment• In our brutal history, gun ownership has been one of many privileges reserved
for white males. The 2nd Amendment has always been meaningless for Native Americans, slaves and their descendants, and others oppressed by this system.
• Slaves were forbidden to own guns. After the Civil War, armed “disarmament posses” prevented black people from owning guns. The most infamous of these disarmament posses was the Ku Klux Klan.
• Governor Reagan, the NRA, and the Republican Party very quickly restricted California Law when the Black Panthers armed themselves to defend against police gun violence in 1968.
• From the reservations & plantations, to the American Indian Movement and the Black Panthers, to Trayvon Martin, etc. – there is no history of private gun ownership in the United States ever being used to protect civil liberties. The opposite is true.Source: The Atlantic Magazine
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/09/the-secret-history-of-guns/308608/2/?single_page=true
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Disarmament?
• There’s concern in some quarters that government organized disarmament is designed to suppress or prevent opposition forces from rising.
• Should the State have a monopoly on violence?• Regulation is NOT disarmament. It’s sensible safety
standards for lethal weapons.• Historically, insurrections & revolutions have been
carried out by people in societies where guns have been heavily regulated – e.g. the American Revolution.
• Relying on the State to guarantee the means of insurrection is naïve.
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Q: Why is there a gun culture?
A: For the same reason we used to have a cigarette culture.
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Solutions.
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SOCIAL FACTORS DRIVING violence
• Income inequality• Strength of the social welfare system• Social acceptability of violence • Availability of unregulated firearms• Political & Social Instability• It is the poor, the mentally ill or depressed, the working class who are
the victims of gun violence, who live in communities and neighborhoods brutalized and terrorized by gun violence.
Access to guns escalates any violent confrontation and increases the likelihood of lethality.
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GUN CONTROL LAWS: permissive or restrictive?
• Licensing laws that allow all but the prohibited categories of persons to acquire guns can be called permissive, since most people are able to meet licensing requirements. Before an applicant can be denied a license or a firearm owner's identification card, the administering agency must show that the applicant is a member of one of the prohibited groups.
• Another approach to firearms control is restrictive licensing. Under such a system a person seeking to buy a firearm, typically a handgun, must provide the licensing authority with evidence of good character and have a valid reason why he needs the firearm.
• Most countries employ RESTRICTIVE laws.• The United States has PERMISSIVE laws. • Other countries have similar social problems. The biggest difference between the
U.S. and other countries, when it comes to gun violence, are the gun control laws.
Source: University of Sydney http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/citation/quotes/22
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SOLUTIONS?
• Short term solution in the United States is the implementation of regulations, and moving from permissive access to restrictive access.
• Some basic, mandatory controls over existing stockpiles must be put in place.
• Gun owners must be held to much higher standards of safety and responsibility.
• The gun & ammunition industry must be regulated and prevented from pushing military weapons, ammunition and accessories to civilians.
• In order for this to happen, the gun industry will have to be exposed and it’s political apparatus dismantled.
• Doing so will require a movement of millions.
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JOIN US!
• It’s going to take a concerted effort of Tens-of-Thousands in Utah.• GUNSENSE! Is positioned to work broadly and swiftly.• WE NEED YOU!• We meet every 2 weeks locally at First Unitarian.• Drop us an e-mail, sign up for our mailing list: [email protected]• Invite us to your circle to come and speak!• Like our Page on Facebook
• www.facebook.com/gunsense.action• Visit us on the Web: www.gunsen.se
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About Us
• Founded in Salt Lake City, UT in February 2013• Created artistic and cultural events• Created a social network of like-minded people• Campaigned against HB107 • Joined city wide coalition of groups• Looking forward to rallying thousands
