Desirous - there are major studies that DO show a corelation between opportunity, income, education, environment and gangs, gun violence, violence in general, unemployment, poor health and so on.
And?
We watched what happend with the healthcare debate when it was mentioned that the government just wanted to 'offer' up a public option. The airwaves were full of death panel stories, fictional tales of abuse and socialism and communism and a very distinct 'I have mine get your own' attitude. Those issues won't ever be addressed because in reality, if you can't even begin to talk about some sort of resolution on the number, type and easy way to get guns, you won't have a civil dialogue on anything else. People are ready to pay another third of the pay to taxes for armed guards and for their own personal right to buy a gun - but they aren't willing to put any of their own money in taxes for healthcare. It simply shows a mindset.
If people have jobs, good paying jobs so that they can support themselves, they usually prefer that to being in a gang and running drugs. If you provide opportunity to get out of a bad environment it spurs hope and more opportunity. I disagree with the way most social programs are run but I also see the need and value for them. I think they entrap a lot of people when they shouldn't.
In the gun debate though - no matter if a person doesn't like the CDC - call it the GRD (gun research department) - the bottom line is that funding was halted 20 years ago because of the NRA. What were they scared of? One can only assume that they were getting scared of too much negative information coming out about some guns that would have changed the course of the public attitude toward some types of guns and their availability.
What I find interesting is all these people who have babies. My goodness! We DEMAND good food for them. We DEMAND that only safe car seats are installed in our cars. We DEMAND that cars are built to sustain minimal damage in an accident to save the lives of our kids. We DEMAND a recall of blinds with cords attached cos they strangle kids. We DEMAND that all toys are safe from lead and toxic plastics. We DEMAND a smoker remove themselves from the presence of our babies. The list goes on and on and on and on and yet - when it comes to guns - the rights of people to have 50 at a time with 6,000 bullets seems to take hold and the babies get left behind in the dusty debate. Astonishing.
sammieswife
