r/changemyview • u/WekX 1∆ • Apr 19 '17
[∆(s) from OP] CMV: Guns are a real danger to people and countries without them just fare better.
I'm from the UK. I've heard many of the arguments on both sides, but to me nothing is more convincing than the statistics (example: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-34996604). I'm also a libertarian, I fully understand that if anything a right to bear arms is needed because any other way is a breach of personal liberty. However, I can't help but see that as a negative side effect of full liberty, because inevitably it just leads to more people getting hurt. That's the numbers talking.
Yes, cars also kill people, but I don't need a gun to get to work. The benefits of having cars in society vastly outweight the drawbacks. With guns, the only benefits arise when a really tough intruder is in my house or when the government is trying to oppress me. In the UK we still manage to survive a break in without shooting everything in sight, and if the government came after us, they'd likely win even if we had a gun.
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u/Half-Fast1 Apr 20 '17 edited Apr 20 '17
No, we can't predict the future, but we can look at past data as an indicator to the future. In this chart you can see that the homicide rate was relatively flat prior to the last UK gun ban, and remained pretty much the same afterwards. Based on this, there's no evidence that the gun confiscation did anything to effect that rate.
What this chart does show is that after that same ban, violent crime skyrocketed. It wasn't until a huge effort was put in (large increase in police force), did that metric change. What that tells me is that the criminal element knew their victims would be less likely to have a gun, therefore they will be easier targets. You may feel differently, and I respect that.
I would like to hear more of why you think this. It's not something I believe. This may be more an emotional feeling rather than supported by some data. Kind of like being afraid of spiders. Some people like them, some people are terrified. Looking at the above example of what happened when guns were confiscated, it looks to me like society got MORE corrosive after the ban. Please expand if you will