# Thoughts on Gun Control We absolutely need more gun control. This idea that you can buy a firearm in seconds and start using it in minutes is completely ludicrous. My problem is the methods used to deal with the problem. **==We're making political decisions based on emotions== and so are focusing on the biggest emotional triggers, ==instead of considering solutions that might actually get us somewhere==.** Take the AR-15 for instance. It's a huge emotional trigger because it can be used to kill loads of people in a short time. If the victims are children (Uvalde, TX), you can be sure emotions will dominate the political discourse. When only 3% of homicides are done with rifles (see [FBI crime statistics](https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/)), I can't help but wonder if this obsession with rifles evident among gun control advocates is justified. Mass shootings are another example, **a vast majority of homicides do not occur during mass shootings, yet the media, politicians, and the public in general, are obsessed with mass shootings.** It's like the lives of people lost in mass shootings are somehow more relevant. Yes, every life matters, but I don't think anyone thought of the downsides of this disproportionate media attention to automatic weapons and mass shootings. **We often think of gun lovers as obsessed fanatics.** They don't think of anything else but guns and ammo. **But we never stopped to think how gun control advocates appear to them. With this emotional obsession with mass shootings and rifles, ==gun control advocates seem like fanatics in their own right==. And just as we reject their opinions as fanatical, they do the same, thus furthering the political divide.** **Most gun owners are in favor of more gun control, but a lot of it will never come to pass because of distrust created by all of this fanaticism, and that is much more dangerous than automatic rifles ever will be.** As evidence I offer the famous saying "they are coming for our guns". Notice the use of 'they', as if the liberal left are somehow dirty, unworthy of nothing more than a pronoun (both sides are guilty of this). ## Pro Gun [[Sam Harris]] has a very interesting view on making emotional decisions. His podcast [[283 - Gun Violence in America]], and article [[The Riddle of the Gun]], helped form some of my opinions expressed above. Harris is pro guns, this quote of his is especially interesting: ![[283 - Gun Violence in America#^et06lm]] But at the same time he urges caution: ![[The Truth About Violence#^ex1g8o]] [[Jeffrey Goldberg]] of the Atlantic is also pro-gun. His article [[The Case for More Guns]], is another excellent argument. ## Pro Gun Control Not surprisingly, a lot of research questions claims that more guns means less crime: ![[The Atrocity of American Gun Culture#^uwuath]] ![[Guns Feeling Safe Does Not Equal Being Safe#^yj8i8v]]