• xyzzy@lemm.ee
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    13 hours ago

    In other words, why don’t we fix literally everything about this country instead of looking at guns?

    Machine gun sales are illegal at the federal level except for guns manufactured before Reagan’s second term, and they must comply with the 1934 NFA. That law was originally put in place because mobsters were having gang fights with tommy guns in the streets. Evading the law is evading the law.

    Look man, I like going to the range, and home defense is fine. But saying we should do nothing on guns specifically and just give up is nuts. Firearms are the single leading cause of death for children and teens in this country: homicide, suicide, accident.

    Here’s one thing you didn’t list: properly funding the ATF and FBI to go after FFL dealers who illegally sell guns to criminals and then claim they were stolen. Those guns are one of the biggest sources of street crime, and I’m sure they wind up in sales to Mexican cartels too, since they’re all supplied by America.

    Guns are a problem. They’re not the only problem, but they’re still a problem.

    • Death_Equity@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      We absolutely need to go after FFLs that allow for guns to make it to the streets.

      The biggest cause of firearms deaths is suicide, that can’t be addressed by going after guns. You have to address all the other bigger problems. Doing so will also address suicide, mental health, economic prospects, and other causes of drug overdoses, crimes including murder, alcoholism, etc.

      You can’t address gun violence by going after guns, you need to go after the actual problems and not the symptom.

      • GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml
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        7 hours ago

        Making it less easy to commit suicide actually does help reduce the rates of suicide. Spontaneous ones in particular.

      • NotBillMurray@lemmy.world
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        12 hours ago

        Wait, are you suggesting we address the material conditions which lead to violence and deaths of despair? What are you, some kind of lib?