New York Times: More guns = more killing
The left is grasping at straws in this “national conversation” that we’re supposed to be having about guns. In the New York Times, Elizabeth Rosenthal thinks she has a teachable moment by comparing Central America to NRA’s vision of America;
I recently visited some Latin American countries that mesh with the N.R.A.’s vision of the promised land, where guards with guns grace every office lobby, storefront, A.T.M., restaurant and gas station. It has not made those countries safer or saner.
Despite the ubiquitous presence of “good guys” with guns, countries like Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Colombia and Venezuela have some of the highest homicide rates in the world.
“A society that is relying on guys with guns to stop violence is a sign of a society where institutions have broken down,” said Rebecca Peters, former director of the International Action Network on Small Arms. “It’s shocking to hear anyone in the United States considering a solution that would make it seem more like Colombia.”
First of all, we’re talking about a region of the world which has been at war with itself since before Columbus landed. Those countries are rife with communist guerrillas, drug cartels and corrupt government officials which are more of threat to their citizens than the guy next door who may or may not own a gun.
Ms. Rosenthal writes like she’s never been to Washington, DC where nearly every building in the city has at least one armed security person at the door to greet visitors. In fact, it was an armed security guard, Leo Johnson, at the Family Research Council in DC that stopped a mass shooting by a gay activist, Floyd Lee Corkins II, a scant few months ago.
I also noticed that Ms. Rosenthal doesn’t include Mexico in her little condemnation of guns. I guess that could be because it’s illegal to own a gun in Mexico, there’s only one place in the country where a Mexican can buy a gun – in the center of a massive military base. Still, 2011 still saw 11,000 gun deaths in Mexico. Mexico even tried destroying toy guns to bring down crime rates in one city.
She does, however mention Guatemala, which just this week announced a falling homocide rate according to Reuters.
The Central American nation of nearly 15 million people registered 5,174 murders in 2012, an 8.9 percent drop from 2011.
“We have improved coordination between the state prosecutor’s office and the police … and we have a new school with more advanced training for officers,” Vice-Minister of Security Arkel Benitez told Reuters.
Guatemala has been battling a wave of violent crime for over a decade, with homicides peaking at 6,498 in 2009, giving the country one of the world’s highest per capita murder rates, according to the United Nations.
Funny how Ms. Rosenthal didn’t feel the need to mention that homocides had declined in one of her scary gun-ridden country’s and they did it without gun control.
“A society that is relying on guys with guns to stop violence is a sign of a society where institutions have broken down,” said Rebecca Peters, former director of the International Action Network on Small Arms.
The very type of people who have succeeded in destroying traditional institutions are now complaining that these institutions have broken down? That is both funny and sick.
Facts schmacks! She has a constitutional right to say whatever she wants about the thriving, enlightened utopia that is South America… Whether they are correct or not…
No one in this “national conversation” on the pro gun grab side seems to want to cite their sources. Funny how that works
What a bunch of utter nonsense, perhaps the good “Doctor” should stick to being a physician. I sure hope she is better at that than as a writer, as her critical thinking skills seem to be severely lacking.
Guatamala has no real military and is being overrun by drug cartels… it is rife for violence because of a corrupt government and the aforementioned drug cartels trying to take over the country. Really poor choice to even attempt to make a comparison to the United States.
@4: the Guatemalan Kaibil are some good dudes. I had the pleasure to train, live, and operate with those guys. They were all class acts. Unfortunately, there are not very many of them and they are currently tied up fighting the drug cartels running illegal substances through their borders.
Another article from NYT this morning a propos shooting #2 in Aurora CO:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/06/us/aurora-colo-shooting-kills-four.html?_r=0
Gunman was shot down
Ms Peters (of Austrailia disarmament infamy) wants to compare the US to Central America. Compare this-how many of those Central American countries have a 2A-style amendment in their constitution (assuming they even have one), or some other form of laws for the average citizen to openly purchase and possess firearms? I’d be intrrested to know and make comparisons.
Biggest eye opener for me was the reported rape rates for AU and GB. One of the countries has twice the number of rapes and the other four times!
Speculation, but 4 unrelated adults (5 with the one the fled) in a house with an interaction that ends in shootings and police involvement. Mmmm, sound like a drug deal and/or party gone bad. Other than the city in which they occurred, what this situation has to do with the theater shooting (deranged killer, innocent people probably not involved in criminal activity at the time) is beyond my understanding. Leave it to the press….
So she’s never been to D.C., but manages to make poor comparisons between Central America and this country?
I recall in June 2009, an 88 year old white supremacist, James VonBrunn, entered the National Holocaust Museum and killed a security guard, and was quickly shot and injured by two others. Museum officials said that had the security guards not taken the action they did, it is presumed MORE people could have been killed, including school children, who were visiting the museum that day.
She makes a poor analysis and comparison, and I believe folks on this blog have REPEATEDLY given strong logical arguements why gun bans don’t work…with emotion and feeling aside. I’m not suggesting what is discussed in other posts offer a “silver bullet”, but it’s so apparent the gun-grabbers know – deep down inside – they don’t have an arguement.
AirCav nailed it with the first comment: the left sees the institutions that exist within society as obstacles that hinder the creation of the more perfect state. Still it’s no surprise that they would pretend to care about them now, their entire worldview is based on delusion, what’s a little mendacity thrown in.
@1: exactly! I agree with her statement “… sign of a society where institutions have broken down.” But obviously the irony is lost on the speaker. Even though they are misguided, libtards can occasionally observe the truth of the matter.
Crime used to be deterred simply by the THOUGHT of the consequences. But this whole, mad experiment begun in the 60s as ‘free thought’ and relativism has just about destroyed every line in the sand between chaos and order.
Funny the NYT didn’t mention the close affiliation of IANSA and the Brady Campaign, and the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. Wait, no, that makes sense.
11 paragraphs of the story on the recent shooting in Aurora were about the theater shootings? That had what kind of bearing on what RickT probably had right in #9?
Then there is this, from the Examiner, “While one police source described Sonny Archuleta as acting like he was “mentally ill” during Saturday’s Aurora shooting standoff, one of the Aurora shooter’s neighbors reported that according to the Aurora shooter’s wife, Sonny Archuleta had been up “four days straight on a methamphetamine binge.” http://www.examiner.com/article/aurora-shooting-motive-sonny-archuleta-kills-3-woman-survives-by-jumping
There was also this, “In addition to drug problems, the Aurora shooter Sonny Archuleta had also been involved with the police due to weapon charges. The Aurora shooter had been arrested at least three times prior to Saturday’s Aurora shooting incident”. So, why was Archuleta still on the street, and not in jail?
Countries with drug cartels, communist guerrillas, corrupt government officials, weak militaries, rising abortion rates, and widespread poverty…
Sounds more like the promised land of the left to me.
You would think simple logic would apply….. almost 5 million FBR background checks in two months indicates a hell of a chunk of Americans are voting with their wallets. Or that for those who like to ONLY accept the militia provison, that the logical weapons for a “well-armed melitia” to own are the closest to what the actual armed forces use – wait, that would be the infamous AR15. Or how the “weapon of choice” of criminals is constantly morphing, from high-cap semi-auto pistols to AK47s and now over to AR/M4 clones. Damn, I keep forgetting – one of the essential qualifications for the modern gun-control enthusaiast is the willingness to chuck logic out the window.
She might as well compare us to Haiti, lol.
@17–I know some neighborhoods that would be WORSE than Port-au-Prince. YMMV.
If Guns cause crime, then pencils and keyboards cause spelling errors, and spoons made Rosie O’Donnel fat!! I honestly think that WE DO need to reform our Gun Laws, every City, County, and State needs to at least have Gun Ordinances and laws that mirror those of Kennesaw, GA, where they require every home to own a handgun, their per capita violent crime rate is NOWHERE near that of CHicago, DC, or LA, where it’s illegal to carry a handgun!