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uhhiforget OP t1_irn2pd3 wrote

Reply to comment by Starlifter4 in Gun violence in Philadeplphia. Not beautiful, but... by uhhiforget

A viscious cycle of tragic upbringings, and ultimately a lack of ownership for one's actions.

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djarvis77 t1_irn4b9y wrote

Cheap, overly available weapons for sale just an hour or two away in pennsyltucky. If it were harder to gets weapons there would be fewer weapons. The vast majority of these shootings are done with weapons bought legally at one point, and like a fraction of a percent of these are done with full auto. Why? Because no one can get full auto.

Drugs being illegal, yet also a great sales opportunity (suburban and rural people go to the city to get drugs), means that those in the drug business have only guns as their level of business protection. Make drugs legal and regulated the business drops to a trickle and the shootings drop.

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uhhiforget OP t1_irn52ja wrote

Those things would definitely do a lot to help.

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4kNest t1_irpxkaj wrote

Actual question, not looking for a Gotcha! But - should we trust the government to implement the taking of guns away? The same government that can’t stop killing people during traffic stops, is looking to take peoples voting and free speech rights, ridding women of their choice - i don’t think that would be best. Also minorities may benefit most if not the most from owning firearms as they’re the main targets of violence - gay bashing’s, women getting raped, etc… Focusing on mental health would be a better strategy imo.

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teamlessinseattle t1_irn9727 wrote

Judging by that map, poverty is unsurprisingly the #1 predictor

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uhhiforget OP t1_irncslv wrote

No doubt, it's almost a 1:1 overlap.

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teamlessinseattle t1_irnihum wrote

Just pointing out that your belief that “lack of ownership for one’s actions” is the cause assumes people living in these poorer neighborhoods are somehow morally inferior to those living in well-off neighborhoods, rather than, you know, it being about their material conditions and systemic neglect.

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uhhiforget OP t1_irnqx2i wrote

I don't believe anyone is born with better morals than other people. Someone's up-bringing can definitely give them a distorted lense that makes it much more difficult to make morally correct decisions, but the choice is still on the individual to make. And a lot of these people are deciding to shoot each other. Its not as if poverty makes you a criminal. Additionally, a lot of the people in these areas make decisions that one way or another put them in the scenario in which they have children which they cannot/refuse to properly parent. So what's ultimately the cause of the perpetuated violence? The cycle needs to be broken somewhere along the line, and policy moves slow.

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857477459 t1_irnoi8a wrote

Something else is actually the #1 predictor and we all know what it is but we're not allowed to say it.

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teamlessinseattle t1_irp4wjx wrote

Wow yeah, it’s almost as if certain groups in America are somehow more likely to live in poverty than others. Surely that has nothing to do with our history though.

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