–Do guns really kill people?

Twitter: @rodgermitchell; Search #monetarysovereignty
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Mitchell’s laws:
•Those, who do not understand the differences between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty, do not understand economics.
•Any monetarily NON-sovereign government — be it city, county, state or nation — that runs an ongoing trade deficit, eventually will run out of money.
•The more federal budgets are cut and taxes increased, the weaker an economy becomes. .
•Liberals think the purpose of government is to protect the poor and powerless from the rich and powerful. Conservatives think the purpose of government is to protect the rich and powerful from the poor and powerless.
•The single most important problem in economics is the gap between rich and poor.
•Austerity is the government’s method for widening the gap between rich and poor.
•Until the 99% understand the need for federal deficits, the upper 1% will rule.
•Everything in economics devolves to motive, and the motive is the Gap between the rich and the rest..

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A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Justices Rule for Individual Gun Rights
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
Published: June 27, 2008

According to Justice Scalia, the “militia” reference in the first part of the amendment simply “announces the purpose for which the right was codified: to prevent elimination of the militia.”

Note to Justice Scalia: If that was the purpose of the “militia” reference, it has failed miserably, as the well-egulated militia has been eliminated.

But (Scalia) added that this “prefatory statement of purpose” should not be interpreted to limit the meaning of what is called the operative clause — “the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

Instead, Justice Scalia said, the operative clause “codified a pre-existing right” of individual gun ownership for private use.

Note to Scalia: It that was the purpose, the 2nd Amendment simply could have read: “The right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

Apparently Scalia, believing the framers, not being as clever as him, decided to toss in thirteen unnecessary, essentially meaningless, words.

Contesting that analysis, Justice Stevens said the Second Amendment’s structure was notable for its “omission of any statement of purpose related to the right to use firearms for hunting or personal self-defense.”

Using Scalia’s own “originalist” method of interpretation, the people would not be allowed to use guns for hunting and self-defense, but only within the context of a well-regulated militia.

Scalia however, is originalist only when it suits his biases.

The right wing interpretation of the 2nd Amendment is a recent revision of the two hundred years understanding, and at this late date, that recent revision somehow has become “originalist.”

That said, the real question is: Does this interpretation help or hurt America?

States With Most Gun Deaths Have High Gun Ownership And Weak Gun Laws, Report Shows
The Huffington Post by Amanda Gutterman, Posted: 01/29/2015

The weaker the gun laws and the higher the rate of gun ownership in a given state, the more deaths from gun violence that state will see.

That’s the conclusion of a report released Thursday by the Violence Policy Center, a nonprofit organization that researches the public health impact of gun violence.

Alaska has the highest rate of gun fatalities in the country, according to data from 2013. The state saw 19.59 deaths per 100,000 people, which is significantly above the national average of 10.64 deaths per 100,000.

VPC’s report indicates that Alaska also has the country’s third-highest rate of gun ownership, with firearms in 60.6% percent of households.

The study found a similar correlation between gun ownership and gun deaths in the rest of the country. Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Wyoming, the states that followed Alaska in terms of highest gun death rates, had some of the nation’s largest percentages of households owning guns.

VPC also noted that states with weaker gun laws tend to see higher gun death rates. All five states named above have gun restrictions that the report’s authors describe as “lax.”

States with the lowest gun death rates — the top three were Hawaii, Massachusetts and New York — were found to have strong gun laws as well as low rates of gun ownership.

States with Weak Gun Laws and Higher Gun Ownership Lead Nation in Gun Deaths, New Data for 2013 Confirms

States with the Five Highest Gun Death Rates				States with the Five Lowest Gun Death Rates
Rank	State	Household Gun Ownership	Gun Death Rate per 100,000	Rank	State	Household Gun Ownership	Gun Death Rate per 100,000
1	Alaska	60.6 percent	19.59	50	Hawaii	9.7 percent	2.71
2	Louisiana	45.6 percent	19.15	49	Massachusetts	12.8 percent	3.18
3	Alabama	57.2 percent	17.79	48	New York	18.1 percent	4.39
4	Mississippi	54.3 percent	17.55	47	Connecticut	16.2 percent	4.48
5	Wyoming	62.8 percent	17.51	46	Rhode Island	13.3 percent	5.33

 

 
But it gets even worse:

The health risk of having a gun in the home

Having a gun in your home significantly increases your risk of death — and that of your spouse and children.

And it doesn’t matter how the guns are stored or what type or how many guns you own.

If you have a gun, everybody in your home is more likely than your non-gun-owning neighbors and their families to die in a gun-related accident, suicide or homicide.

Furthermore, there is no credible evidence that having a gun in your house reduces your risk of being a victim of a crime. Nor does it reduce your risk of being injured during a home break-in.

The health risks of owning a gun are so established and scientifically non-controvertible that the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement in 2000 recommending that pediatricians urge parents to remove all guns from their homes.

Notice that the recommendation doesn’t call for parents to simply lock up their guns. It stresses that the weapons need to be taken out of the house.

Bottom line: Guns kill people. The more gun ownership, the more people are killed by guns.

Because the interpretation of the law is faulty, the implementation of the law is deadly.

Beyond mere statistics is human psychology, notably fear and loathing. The right wing, which is strongest for gun ownership, also is consumed with fear and loathing.

Right-wingers, who inordinately fear and loathe blacks, browns, yellows, gays, the poor, non-Christians, non-Americans — virtually anyone different from them in some way — most feel the visceral need for guns.

Guns are the security blanket for people who live lives of fear and hatred, and those are the kinds of people most likely to shoot first and ask questions later. Fear, hatred, guns = a deadly combination.

So in answer to the title question, “Do guns really kill people?”: Yes, if you own a gun, you have an increased chance of being killed — despite what the gun makers and the NRA tell you.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

P.S. Two recommended laws that could reduce gun deaths while not infringing even the right wing Courts interpretation of the Constitution:

1. Any person who commits a felony while carrying a gun, shall be sentenced to a prison term of 20 years to life, in addition to the term for the felony itself.

2. Any provider of a gun that is used in a felony shall have the same criminal and civil liability as the actual perpetrator of the felony. (This latter is similar to the “dram shop” laws for liquor.)

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Ten Steps to Prosperity:
1. Eliminate FICA (Click here)
2. Federally funded Medicare — parts A, B & D plus long term nursing care — for everyone (Click here)
3. Provide an Economic Bonus to every man, woman and child in America, and/or every state a per capita Economic Bonus. (Click here) Or institute a reverse income tax.
4. Free education (including post-grad) for everyone. Click here
5. Salary for attending school (Click here)
6. Eliminate corporate taxes (Click here)
7. Increase the standard income tax deduction annually
8. Tax the very rich (.1%) more, with higher, progressive tax rates on all forms of income. (Click here)
9. Federal ownership of all banks (Click here and here)
10. Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99% (Click here)

The Ten Steps will add dollars to the economy, stimulate the economy, and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest.
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10 Steps to Economic Misery: (Click here:)
1. Maintain or increase the FICA tax..
2. Spread the myth Social Security, Medicare and the U.S. government are insolvent.
3. Cut federal employment in the military, post office, other federal agencies.
4. Broaden the income tax base so more lower income people will pay.
5. Cut financial assistance to the states.
6. Spread the myth federal taxes pay for federal spending.
7. Allow banks to trade for their own accounts; save them when their investments go sour.
8. Never prosecute any banker for criminal activity.
9. Nominate arch conservatives to the Supreme Court.
10. Reduce the federal deficit and debt

No nation can tax itself into prosperity, nor grow without money growth. Monetary Sovereignty: Cutting federal deficits to grow the economy is like applying leeches to cure anemia.
1. A growing economy requires a growing supply of dollars (GDP=Federal Spending + Non-federal Spending + Net Exports)
2. All deficit spending grows the supply of dollars
3. The limit to federal deficit spending is an inflation that cannot be cured with interest rate control.
4. The limit to non-federal deficit spending is the ability to borrow.

THE RECESSION CLOCK

Vertical gray bars mark recessions.

As the federal deficit growth lines drop, we approach recession, which will be cured only when the growth lines rise. Increasing federal deficit growth (aka “stimulus”) is necessary for long-term economic growth.

#MONETARYSOVEREIGNTY