Gun Violence is NOT a Public Health Crisis – Part 2

Also Check Out: Why Gun Violence is NOT a Public Health Crisis – Part 1

Defunding The Police is Way More Dangerous Than Firearms

There has been a call by politicians, BLM, mainstream media, and others to defund the police in more than 20 cities (mostly Democrat-run) around the U.S. The push to defund the police has become a rallying cry for left-wing politicians and organizations. 

Police budgets have been decreased by millions of dollars resulting in far fewer law enforcement officers serving and protecting the public. Many police officers have also resigned, retired, or moved to another city or state as a result. Fewer law enforcement officers result in more crimes and homicides.

If gun violence is a public health crisis or epidemic, why would anyone think that reducing police budgets or law enforcement officers is a good idea or would reduce firearm-related homicides?

Firearms Are Not Even Among Top 10 Causes of Death

Nearly 150,000 people die per day worldwide, based on the latest comprehensive research published in 2017. What are the most deadly causes of death, and how many lives do they take per day?

Here’s how many people die each day on average, sorted by cause:

In 2017, approximately 109 people died each day from firearm-related deaths (including suicide which makes up 55-65% of all gun deaths depending on the year).

Gun deaths don’t come close to making the top 10 (or 20) causes of death each day with approximately 119 deaths per day occurring in 2020.

Data from Our World in Data outlines how many people die each day from specific causes as reported for 2017. 

Even accounting for the increase in daily gun deaths in 2017 (109) to 2020 (119), this is less than the number of people who die each day from heat/cold exposure (146), poisonings (196), fire (330), hepatitis (346), drug use (456), alcohol use (507), maternal disorders (531), protein-energy malnutrition (635), meningitis (789), drowning (809), Parkinson’s disease (933), road injuries (3,406), and many more including the top 10 above.

How can gun violence be a public health crisis when far more people die each day from many other preventable causes? Why hasn’t heart disease, cancer, or diabetes been deemed a public health crisis? If gun violence is a public health crisis, what about deaths from heat/cold exposure or poisonings that result in more deaths each day than guns?

Rifles & AR-15s Are Among the LOWEST Firearms Used in Crimes

In 2017, handguns were involved in the majority (64 percent) of the 10,982 U.S. gun murders and nonnegligent manslaughters for which data is available, according to the FBI. 

Rifles—the category that includes many guns that are often referred to as “assault weapons”—were involved in 4 percent. Shotguns were involved in 2 percent. The remainder of gun homicides and nonnegligent manslaughter (30 percent) involved firearms that were classified as “other guns or type not stated.”

With politicians and the mainstream media blaming “assault rifles” and mass shootings as the reasons for more gun control, why have they failed to mention that both account for only a small fraction of actual firearm-related deaths and gun violence?

However, assault weapons are what politicians and the mainstream media want you to believe are the causes of gun violence.

Gun Violence is a Political Issue – Not an Epidemic

It’s not. It’s a political issue. It’s a way for politicians and the mainstream media to use emotion rather than facts and feelings rather than logic to scare people into believing it’s a crisis when there are far more important issues that are truly a public health crisis or epidemic.

We know that the real reason politicians and the mainstream media want to make gun violence a public health crisis or epidemic is to take firearms from law-abiding citizens. We’ve seen Joe Biden publicly address gun violence along with his Executive Actions to reinstate the Assault Weapons Ban from 1994, ban high-capacity magazines and “ghost guns,” and implement universal background checks and Red Flag laws. All of these are unconstitutional.

Big Daddy Unlimited advocates strongly for Second Amendment rights because we believe that the right to keep and bear arms exists to protect all of the other God-given rights of American citizens. Become a member today to join our community of freedom-loving Americans, and let’s work together to support and defend our Second Amendment rights.