The state of the debate.

Every time the topic of gun violence in America comes up the pro gun response is “the homicide and crime rate is down from (some date in the past)”. It makes no difference that the homicide rate in the U.S. is the highest in any first world industrialized country, 6 times that of Canada and 12 times that of number 3 contender for gun deaths per capita. The response is always the same, crime is down and homicides are down. There is no problem. I call this the “flu argument”. I don't have the flu but if I do it's much better today than yesterday. Yesterday my fever was 104 and I threw up nine times, today it's only 102 and I've thrown up only five times. See? All better. Not a problem. And I don't have the flu anyway. Having fever and throwing up is just the price to be paid for freedumb and liburty.

This argument also conflates lenient gun laws to lower crime rates as if there is causation. Lots of guns and crime rates are down ergo more guns caused the crime rate to fall. There can be no other cause for decreased crime. This I call the “elephant in the yard argument”. I have four bird feeders in my yard and there are no elephants around, ergo bird feeders keep elephants away. It's as plane as the nose on my face.

It's sad but this is the level of debate with the pro gun segment.