The Second Amendment Fight

Gun rights and information warfare

I am following the string of recent shootings in California and considering why the state with some of the strictest gun laws has such abundant violence. With over twenty-five dead in eight days, California is top of mind right now. However, there have already been thirty-nine mass shootings across the United States this year as of January 23. And this number does not include any shootings involving less than four people. So, we must ask if gun control is the answer and what this has to do with information warfare.

Information warfare and gun control

Remember that information warfare is no more than propagating misinformation to the public. On April 5, 2022, the University of Connecticut Gun Violence Prevention Research Interest Group hosted a panel on gun violence and policy misinformation. Their goal was to demonstrate that misinformation is present in gun control policy debates and shapes gun control policies in the United States. Kerri Raissian, associate professor of public policy, said, “We see misinformation as a critical barrier to effective and informed policy. It’s hard to do anything well from a place of misinformation.”

Besides misinformation, people must also make sure they are not underinformed.

“We see misinformation as a critical barrier to effective and informed policy. It’s hard to do anything well from a place of misinformation.” – Kerri Raissian, ARMS director, University of Connecticut.

We must make sure we take the time to research and understand the issues of gun control and violence, just like any issue that affects laws and government policy.

Example of misinformation

Anti-gun activists quickly compare homicides in the USA with countries like the UK that have laws that have “proven effective at stopping mass murders.” For example, they cite that gun-related deaths are only 4% of all murders in the UK, while 79% are gun-related deaths in the US during 2020 – a difference of 75%.

However, the statistics show 4% is the percentage for only England and Wales, not the entire UK. The UK contains four states: England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. If you add England and Wales’s 11.9 murders per million residents, Scotland’s 10 per million, and Northern Ireland’s 12.6 per million, the result is 34.5 murders per million in the UK. The 2020 homicide rate by firearms in the US is 41.3 per million residents. So, the US percentage of gun violence crimes is 19% more than the UK.

As you can see, anti-gun proponents do not always accurately disclose statistics. And, if you look further, sites display individual statistics differently, making it challenging to make comparisons without considerable time and effort. Thus, it is essential to look at trends instead of raw numbers. For example, the trends show that violent crime has dramatically fallen in the United States over the past two decades, while violent crime has risen in the UK, with knives being the preferred weapon.

Responsible Analysis’

Many distinct factors play into firearm policies, effectiveness, and crime rates. Rand’s Gun Policy in America Initiative addresses many of those factors. You can also find a reasonably thorough study of various gun statistics on the KIVU website, although I cannot guarantee the accuracy of that site’s analyses.

The truth that I will stand behind is that reducing or eliminating guns will reduce gun crime, but it will not reduce violent crime.

Reliable studies show that reducing guns does not affect the overall violent crime rates. Instead, people use different means to commit crimes. Humans are, by nature, brutal and will find another way to murder each other. Studies consistently show that gun control laws typically show no evidence of positive effects on overall crime rates.

Cause and Effect

There seems to be a high incidence of gun violence due to its association with alcohol and drugs. But unfortunately, researchers do not often study drugs as a separate issue. Usually, statisticians show drug-related shootings as part of overall violent crimes. But we do see articles in the news about drug-related shootings.

Alcohol Use

Studies show that alcohol users have a higher incidence of violent firearms-related crimes. For example, a review of 40 years of studies shows one-third of violent gun offenders use alcohol when they commit crimes. It also found that liquor stores are significantly associated with increased firearm assaults.

Reducing Gun Violence

Several policies are promising in reducing gun violence. For example, multiple studies show that requiring gun licenses and restricting sales to specific groups of people reduce homicides and robberies. The following areas seem to benefit the most from such policies.

Alcohol-Related Measures

The 40-year review found that restricting the carry and use of weapons based on blood alcohol levels would reduce self-inflicted gunshot wounds. In addition, using multiple prior DUI convictions to disqualify people from purchasing and possessing firearms would also help lessen violent gun crimes. The study also recommends rezoning and enhancing policing of areas with liquor stores as a promising strategy to reduce gun violence.

Suicide-Related Measures

Studies show that alcohol increases suicide deaths, and thus reducing alcohol abuse will lower suicides. However, although restricting guns will lower gun-related suicides, the overall suicide rate will not decrease.

Mental Health Issues

Some studies show that about 3% of people with mental health issues commit firearms-related crimes against others. However, this figure is negligible compared to the number of violent shootings occurring yearly. It states that official records of people released from acute, civil inpatient psychiatric facilities tend to be the data used in studies to assess violent crimes committed by such patients. It references another study that includes self-reported incidents by those same patients within a year of discharge.

But it is questionable whether this data is accurate, considering the studies and how we treat people with mental health issues today. For example, the referenced research shows that almost 19% of people released from these facilities committed a violent crime against another person within 20 weeks of discharge. I base my doubts on how few people with mental disorders are admitted to acute care facilities in liberal western countries each year.

One example shows a woman from Ukraine who fled to Germany at the start of the Russian SMO. She lived with a German family, who reported her to authorities for her “crazy behavior.” As a result, German child protective services (CPS) removed her youngest child from her care, and the authorities put her under 72-hour observation before releasing her.

Since her release, without treatment, she has continued to post videos about having her child taken by CPS “for no reason.” In addition, she posts videos of other people’s children from the USA, claiming they are relatives, to try to get the US to intervene. She even filmed herself in a late-night brawl with CPS officers while trying to sneak in to see her son, followed by a 2 am video saying the police would not take her application to see her child. Yet, she remains free and not under the care of mental health professionals, although she is being investigated for defamation by the public prosecutor’s office.

This woman is one example of someone western professionals do not admit for obviously needed treatment. I wonder if she would use a gun to try to “free her child” if she had access to one. Without such people included in studies, we may never know the effect of mental illness on violent crimes.

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