Hate and Guns: A Terrifying Combination

[billh58]

- Snip -

Instances of hate-motivated individuals terrorizing communities with guns are not limited to high-profile cases involving multiple fatalities. Violent extremists and hate criminals often use guns as a tool to threaten and intimidate members of historically vulnerable or marginalized communities. In doing so, they inflict serious harm without ever pulling the trigger. New analysis of National Crime Victimization Survey data by the Center for American Progress reveals that between 2010 and 2014, roughly 43,000 hate crimes were committed in the United States that involved the use or threat of a gun.

Hate crimes and acts of violent extremism have a pernicious impact on the targeted communities—not just the most proximate victim of a particular crime but the broader community of which the victim is a member. Indeed, that is precisely the purpose of these acts in the minds of the perpetrators: to threaten, intimidate, and terrorize not just an individual but the entire membership of a historically vulnerable community with a message of fear and hatred. The use of guns by these perpetrators compounds the harm done to the victimized community by introducing a uniquely lethal instrument. The threat of a gun from dangerous extremists sends a clear message that they not only harbor feelings of bias or hate against a particular group, but also that they are willing to kill in service of this ideology.

Keeping guns out of the hands of individuals who perpetrate hate crimes is therefore a crucial measure to help ensure the safety of groups that have historically been targeted because of their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability. Yet under federal law and the law in most states, individuals who have been convicted of hate crimes remain free to buy and possess guns.

This report explores the history of hate crime laws in the United States, the gaps in those laws that contribute to sporadic and inconsistent reporting, and the challenges involved in successfully prosecuting these cases. It then considers the nexus between guns and hate crimes and the frequency with which criminals motivated by bias and hate use guns to threaten and harm their victims. Finally, it proposes a new measure to help keep guns out of the hands of violent extremists: state and federal legislation that prohibits individuals convicted of misdemeanor hate crimes from buying or possessing guns.

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/guns-crime/reports/2016/02/24/131670/hate-and-guns-a-terrifying-combination/

According to the gun nut crowd, we can't propose gun control legislation until we are well educated on the innermost workings of a gun, including all of the nomenclature used by these gun "experts." If you can't field strip an AK-47 then you're not qualified to have an opinion on guns period, they imply.

I say bullshit! All I need to know is that over 30,000 of my fellow citizens die each year by gunshot. All I need to know is that over 10,000 of my fellow citizens are threatened with a gun each year because of their politics, religion, skin color, or place of origin. All I really need to know is that the gun violence epidemic in this country is a public health threat, and the "a gun in every hand" right-wing policy is asinine.

[Georgiamountain]

1. Guns

So many reported their main aversion to Hillary was her stance on guns. As long as Democrat party is viewed as anti gun the rural vote will remain elusive.

[billh58]

3. This BS argument has

been disproven over and over again. The majority of the American people are in favor of more strict gun control legislation. It is people like you who parrot the right-wing NRA's mantra of "the Democrats are coming to take your guns" who perpetuate this Big Lie.

Thanks for playing However...

[Hoyt]

4. As long as rural vote, like in Georgia, remains ignorant, white wing and racist, DemocratIC Party

will have problems. But thanks for your input. I would hope the DemocratIC Party does not cave to rural voters who think they need a bunch of guns to protect them from scary minorities.

[billh58]

5. Yep, the dead give away for

a plant is the use of "Democrat Party."

[Hoyt]

2. Hate precipitates a lot of gun purchases. And you are so right about the Nomenclature Game.

No matter whether one knows the difference between a clip and a magazine, semi-auto or automatic fire, etc., any fool knows what most guns are intended for, especially when some fool walks around with one in their pants or stocks up on AR15s and ammo.

[guillaumeb]

6. Guns allow some people to act out their hate.

Thankfully, it is only a small minority of gun owners who act out their hate. So the obvious problem is how do we allow for responsible gun owners to use guns while better insuring against gun violence?

And yes, the "a gun n every hand" argument that the current incarnation of the NRA insists on promoting IS insane.

[billh58]

7. Yet, that small minority

presumes to speak for "80,000,000 gun owners" when they scream about gun control measures and claim that even sensible steps like improved background checks will lead to inevitable bans (slippery slope theory).

Second Amendment absolutists are the typical American gun owners' crazy uncle, but they allow him to rant and rave at clouds at will, which makes them all culpable and responsible for the consequences.

[Hoyt]

8. And let's not forget the 160,000,000+ USA adults who have decided guns aren't a necessity or

desirable in a civilized country.

[billh58]

9. When that argument is

presented the gun nuts suddenly become the "oppressed minority." On the one hand they are powerful enough to sway elections, but on the other they are delicate flowers. Go figure...