We need to dig deeper to find cause of gun deaths

Gun control advocates pounce on each and every study that monitors gun deaths. But those very same advocates who want stricter gun control never look beyond the surface to honestly address gun violence in America.

Like clockwork, a new study is out this week listing gun deaths across the country. And Missouri is among the states cited for the fifth-highest gun deaths in America.

Here’s the problem, which should be so abundantly obvious.

The gun control advocates do nothing more than simple math to come to the conclusion that Missouri and others are dangerous states when it comes to gun death.

Missouri has 21.38 gun deaths per 100,000 population. Alaska, by way of comparison, leads the nation with 24.33 deaths per 100,000.

For starters, over 60 percent of those gun deaths are suicide. Though obviously tragic, the suicide rate has no connection with stricter gun laws. If someone, God forbid, is hellbent on suicide, the means to that end are unimportant.

But the anti-gunners also fail to dig deeper into the gun issue.

What is the ratio of gun violence and deaths in urban areas versus rural areas? Maybe, just maybe, gun violence is more closely tied with population density than the availability of guns.

How many of those gun deaths are gang-related or drug-related? In the gang and drug culture, violence seems to be part of daily life. But even with much stricter gun laws, that violence and those deaths would undoubtedly continue.

When will we learn that additional laws are not needed to control guns but stronger enforcement for those who use guns is the key component.

If you are serious about reducing gun deaths in this country, then look deep into the statistics and find the underlying cause of these violent deaths.

It’s both lazy and sloppy to do some simple math and come to the erroneous conclusion that more restrictive gun laws will somehow reduce deaths.

Look at those who resort to violence of any nature. And then look at what prompts those individuals to resort to that violence.

I’m not one who believes those who want greater gun control are out to confiscate all guns. I simply believe those advocates shy away from the heavy lifting to determine the root cause of this violence.

It’s simplistic to say, but it’s true. Guns are not the problem. The problem lies squarely in the hands of those who resort to violence of any sort.

If gun control zealots would at long last honestly address the dynamics that result in these deaths, they would find several avenues to improve our national statistics.

The easy path is to blame guns. But it’s the wrong path.