I'm late to the conversation
The original argument of "other countries did it, and look at them!" is unfortunately not a very good argument. Other countries are not the same. Other countries have different cultural values, economic factors, population densities, mental health policies, etc. There are many factors that contribute to violent crime. The best way to see impact of gun laws in the nation is to compare cities with similar demographics but varying gun laws within a country. This was done already in many studies, and actually found that the gun laws did not have a correlation to homicide rates.
Without causation, you don't have much of an argument. So, let's take a look at causation then: What are common factors that researchers have found in prisons? Mental illness, drug use, low education, and poverty are pretty common. Socio-economic factors that drive people to desperation. So, how's socio-economic programs in the US? How do we treat the mentally ill, the addicted, the uneducated and the poor?
Oh . . .
Maybe instead of focusing on the tool used, we focus on the actual cause?
Guns are the great equalizer. If someone was to walk up to me today, and they wanted something from me, they have 2 ways to go about getting what they want. They can reason with me, and convince me that I want to give them what they want. Or they can use force and take what they want. But if I'm armed, I have a much better chance of being able to eliminate that second option from the equation, leaving only reasoning.
The original argument of "other countries did it, and look at them!" is unfortunately not a very good argument. Other countries are not the same. Other countries have different cultural values, economic factors, population densities, mental health policies, etc. There are many factors that contribute to violent crime. The best way to see impact of gun laws in the nation is to compare cities with similar demographics but varying gun laws within a country. This was done already in many studies, and actually found that the gun laws did not have a correlation to homicide rates.
Without causation, you don't have much of an argument. So, let's take a look at causation then: What are common factors that researchers have found in prisons? Mental illness, drug use, low education, and poverty are pretty common. Socio-economic factors that drive people to desperation. So, how's socio-economic programs in the US? How do we treat the mentally ill, the addicted, the uneducated and the poor?
Oh . . .
Maybe instead of focusing on the tool used, we focus on the actual cause?
Guns are the great equalizer. If someone was to walk up to me today, and they wanted something from me, they have 2 ways to go about getting what they want. They can reason with me, and convince me that I want to give them what they want. Or they can use force and take what they want. But if I'm armed, I have a much better chance of being able to eliminate that second option from the equation, leaving only reasoning.