Democrats don’t like crime, either. That’s why we favor evidence-based strategies for reducing it.

Upvoted, but I am concerned about the talk of "mental health issues." 59p68u.jpg (click to show)

My apologies. I did not mean to suggest those with mental health issues are a predominant cause of crime — rather, that our society has a tendency to over-incarcerate people who could benefit instead from treatment and counseling.

I have a relative who’s a prison psychologist and he reports that many inmates never get any sort of treatment until they are behind bars. And that is a shame.

I see. Just unfortunate wording.

Owning a firearm isn't really a true cause of crime.

It certainly contributes to gun-related crimes, but generally a person will commit a crime with or without a firearm.

That small nitpick aside, well said.

Might be more accurate to say that guns *facilitate* crime. But, guns facilitate crime so much that it’s hard to parse that distinction.

Killing people with a gun is far easier than with a knife. It makes killing possible in a wider variety of situations. Like the Las Vegas shooter. If he’d been limited to flinging knives out of his window, or even a standard handgun, he would have been lucky to have killed anyone. His crime was only possible thanks to the 20+ AR-10 and AR-15 rifles he had stockpiled in his room.

He could have hatched a different plan to go on a stabbing spree, in theory. But the toll would have been far less than the 60 dead, and 800+ injured by his rounds and the ensuing panic.

An extreme scenario, but gun violence is repeated at a smaller scale in incidents around the country to the point of causing tens of thousands of deaths per year.

He could have chucked ten pipe bombs, easily made and concealed, out his window as well. Would have likely caused comparable casualties.

Yes, firearms do facilitate crime. But they also prevent a lot of it. The CDC cites a report that estimates firearms are used defensively (Which, importantly, does not mean they were discharged) between 60,000 and 2.5 million times per year. That means people are using them for their intended purpose in our society. There is no reason to take that away. I'd rather we looked into better ways to ensure only "good" people have access to firearms.