Happy One Year Anniversary

Technically it's tommorow, but I don't think the four people who read this blog really care. It's been fun for me and I feel it's a great way to stay invovled in what's going on and I hope to continue and really start posting more often to make this blog more of a weekly editorial and analyzation of what's going on. So, to anyone who reads this - I'm just getting started.

Guns and the Second Amendment

In my last article I discussed the root of Gun Violence, as opposed to constitutionality of a gun ban. However, I would like to explain why we shouldn't use the second amendment to argue that Americans can own handguns -

1. The Firearms that we have today are much more advanced than the muskets and other guns around during Washington's time. I doubt the phrase "concealed weapon" meant anything to a colonist. Handguns are smaller, more powerful, easier to reload, and more accurate than anything that was available back then. Simply put, it's wrong to use second amendment against anti-gun lobbyists when the definition of what a gun is and what capabilities it possesses have completely changed in the more than two centuries between the present day and the day the Bill of Rights was signed.
2. In addition, the Political situation following the Revolution and the one existing nowadays are completely different. The idea of everyone having a gun was found acceptable partly because the Government wanted the American people ready for a possible second war with the British, which did in fact happen. Moreover, the Revolution was fought mainly with ordinary militia men and therefore the government deemed it acceptable that regular folk keep their guns and not take away the nation's primary defense.

One cannot impose laws on a technology that has been constantly evolving since its invention several hundred years ago and expect that the current conditions existing in America would be similar to the conditions present more than 200 years ago. Nevertheless, I do not write this article to declare partiality in this gun rights battle, but to instead point out a fallacy in the arguments of our politicians. While Americans must remember to attack the cause of this gun problem(poverty and a lack of education), we must also keep these false arguments from appearing in our politics.

The Relationship Between Guns and Poverty

In light of the Supreme Court's recent decision to declare Washington DC's handgun ban unconstitutional, I've done some research on the issue. As opposed to arguing the effectiveness of ineffectiveness of such bans, I decided to take a more proactive approach and went looking for the cause of gun-related homicides in my home state (Michigan) at the local library. Here's what I found -

According to the "2001 Uniform Crime Report" compiled by the Michigan State Police Criminal Justice Information Center, in Michigan, among a population of 10,079,985, there were:

-661 murder offenses committed(with estimates)

• 32 offenses using a rifle
• 28 with a shotgun
• 346 with handguns
• 69 with unknown gun type

Therefore, 71.9% of homicides in Michigan were caused by firearms. However, to truly analyze this data I compared these statistics to a particular region. And so, I examined the city of Detroit, which is unfortunately known for its violence. After reading through the same Crime Report and also statistics from the US Census Bureau spanning 1999, 2000, and 2003, I found that 59% of the homicides of 2001* were committed in a city with only 9.4% of the state's population**.
Nevertheless, Detroit is also known its "other" characteristics." In addition to its gun-related infamy, Detroit often brings the image of poverty to mind as these statistics show**-

• 69.6% of Detroiters, age 25+, have a high school degree and only 11.0% have Bachelor's degrees or higher, compared to 83.4% and 21.8% of Michiganders
• Detroit's homeowner rate is 54.9% compared to the state's 73.8%
• The Median Household income is $29,526 to the state's $44,667
• The Median Value of owner-occupied housing units is $63,600 to the state's $115,600
• The percent of persons below poverty was 26.1% compared to the state's 10.5%

After reviewing all of this data, it's reasonable to say that Poverty, a lack of Education, and Gun Violence are intertwined. While the effectiveness of gun bans is still under scrutiny, the causes of most Gun Violence is known. America needs to look at their poor and uneducated intercity areas and identify the reasons behind them. For Detroit we must regain a solid base of taxpayers by getting jobs for Detroiters. Due to the mass exodus from this city following the riots and the recent recession, many remaining people are destitute. Moreover, fewer people can contribute much tax money, leaving the education system underfunded. Thus, Detroit has become a horrible cycle that entails problems like Gun Violence.

In closing - fellow Americans, we must turn our troubled inner cities into strong economic areas. Then we can see the decline of gun violence.

*"2001 Uniform Crime Report", Michigan State Police Criminal Justice Information Center.

**1999, 2000, 2003 housing, demographic, income, and population estimates from U.S. Census Bureau ,(http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/26/2622000.html).