Those who\u2019ve known me for a while (especially on Facebook) will probably know that I\u2019ve been in favour of gun control as a measure to curb gun violence.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve changed my mind.<\/p>\n
This will probably come as a surprise to a few people, but I want to explain the reasons why I, as an anarchist, can no longer in good conscience support gun control.<\/p>\n
One reason that governments embrace gun control is that the control is only ever directed at the citizens; it never applies to the state. Police forces will always be exempt from gun control laws. As such, gun control keeps power in the state while taking it from the public.<\/p>\n
State power breeds inequality, as does any institution where a handful of people hold more power than the vast majority of the people. As long as power inequality exists, all other inequality will continue (sexism, racism, homophobia, etc).<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t about the Second Amendment of the American constitution. Well, not specifically. Gun control takes away the right of the citizen to own and use a firearm as they see fit. Whether it is for hunting, target practice, or hobby collecting\u2014or, heck, even self defence\u2014gun control restricts the freedom of those pursuits. We should be advocating for more freedom, not less.<\/p>\n
If the idea behind gun control truly was about reducing gun violence, it should be working. The thing is though, it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n
Take Chicago and Washington, DC, for example. Both communities implemented handgun bans (1982 and 1976, respectfully). Following those bans, over time, murder rates actually rose in those communities instead of fall.<\/p>\n
Same goes for England and Wales. And Ireland. Australia has a ban, too, and has not seen a significant reduction in their murder rate.<\/p>\n
Even Canada isn\u2019t immune to gun violence. If Canada were part of Europe, it would rank 4th in gun violence (after France, Germany, and Italy). That\u2019s despite it\u2019s gun control laws. (And we haven\u2019t even touched on the fact that 80% of firearm-related deaths in Canada are suicides.)<\/p>\n
The problem isn\u2019t guns. It\u2019s murder. And people don\u2019t kill because they own a gun. They kill for a variety of other reasons. To lay stake in a drug war, for example. Or because of revenge. Or\u00a0rage. Or\u00a0medication side effects. Or oppression.<\/p>\n
Gun control doesn\u2019t address any of that. It\u2019s a bandaid solution that doesn\u2019t target the underlying cause of violence.<\/p>\n
I predict that decriminalizing all drugs, for example, would have a much more positive effect on gun violence than gun control does.<\/p>\n
I predict that reducing stigma that prevent people (specifically men) from seeking help in dealing with things such as rage, revenge, and jealousy would have\u00a0a much more positive effect on gun violence than gun control does.<\/p>\n
I predict that improving mental health care would have a much more positive effect on gun violence than gun control does.<\/p>\n
I predict that reducing systemic oppression would have a much more positive effect on gun violence than gun control does.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t get me wrong. I haven\u2019t switched sides. For that matter, I\u2019ve given up taking a side. I just now see this seemingly dichotomous debate through a new paradigm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Those who\u2019ve known me for a while (especially on Facebook) will probably know that I\u2019ve been in favour of gun control as a measure to curb gun violence. I\u2019ve changed my mind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2922,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[44],"tags":[84],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2017\/05\/gun-2227646_1920.jpg?fit=1920%2C1281&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4NkW7-L7","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2921"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2921"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2921\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2923,"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2921\/revisions\/2923"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}